Keetoowah

Introduced in: Native Lights

Appearance
Keetoowah is a brown and white mare with long, flowing locks of the same color.

Tribe
The tribe this steed is based on are located in North Carolina, Tennessee, Ozarks. They are one of the bands of the Cherokee people. Also, the original Cherokee city, the “Mother Town,” on the Tuckasegee River, North Carolina.

The Cherokee people are among the largest Native American tribes in the United States. The Cherokee evolved from a mound-building culture which lived in the Mississippi Basin at least 3000 years ago. The Cherokee practice the Green Corn Ceremony which honors Selu, the Corn Mother. The ceremony combines dance with ritual. After the arrival of European colonists, a Cherokee named Sequoyah developed a written language—it took him 12 years and is an extremely rare example of a single person creating a written language single-handedly. In 1828, the first Native American newspaper, the Cherokee Phoenix, was published using this alphabet (it was a bilingual publication). The fact that Cherokee has a written component has ensured its survival as a vibrant, living language. Sequoyah had a gigantic tree named after him when they were discovered in California. When the Cherokee were forcibly removed from the southeastern US in 1838 and driven west to Oklahoma, this event was named “The Trail of Tears.”  One-quarter of all Cherokee people died on this trek.

Inspirational Message
"Everyone does better when we take care of each other."