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Ah-Tah-Thi-Ki Museum offers a unique educational experience for everyone. Guided tours enable visitors to learn first hand about the Seminole's rich culture and heritage. Teachers... |
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A Day in the Life of a Seminole is recommended for grades 3-5. Students tour the museum using clipboards to answer questions about Seminole life during the 1800s, and a visit... |
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Here you will find answer to our most Frequently Asked Questions regarding our Museums, Tours, Costs, Affiliations and much more... |
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Get a unique glimpse into the sacred religious tradition of the Green Corn Ceremony, an annual event which is still celebrated among the Seminole Tribe today. Enter the ceremonial grounds and view fifteen life size figures dressed in colorful period dress in the midst of performing the Catfish Dance. This dance is performed by mimicking the movements of a feeding catfish and unique in the sense that some of it is danced backwards! Experience the gentle swishing of turtle shell rattles as you hear the call and response vocals set the cadence. The scene is completed by a beautiful star lit night and a glowing campfire. The exhibit is accompanied by numerous informational text panels on the significance of the Green Corn Ceremony, the Catfish Dance, plus artifacts from our museums permanent collection and loaned objects from the Smithsonian's National Museum of the American Indian!
Experience the frenzy of the Seminole Stickball Game! On the first evening of the Green Corn Ceremony, as the coming evening cools the heat of a June day, the young adults gather to engage in this vigorous contest. The ball pole, located just outside the dance circle, was a tall pine sapling twenty to twenty-five feet tall with all but the topmost branches trimmed off. Teams were divided, boys against girls and each team took up positions on either side of the pole. The game starts when the ball is launched towards the pole. From that point on, players block, scuffle, push and shove each other while trying to gain an advantage. In this scene a young woman has just thrown at the ball pole. A near miss! The man at the center attempts to catch the ball with his ball stick, the lady behind him is ready if he fails. Its no holds barred action!
This exhibit is a total immersive experience! Seminole Tribal history, beliefs and ethics are explained to children by word of mouth in formal and informal sessions with elders. More formally, male elders would relate to youngsters the important lessons they need in life. Less formally, but just as important, lessons are learned by children through stories and legends. This knowledge is usually passed down by a female elder or mother. Each story expresses a moral, told through the actions of animals the children know from nature. As you enter the gallery space it feels like you are climbing into the chickee and sitting down to listen to a story by a tribal elder. You not only get to listen to a story about the tortoise and the hare you get to see the story unfolding on screen!
In this exhibit the visitor will get a sense of what traditional Seminole camp life was like. The camp is characterized by numerous chickees, which in Miccosukee means house. The Seminole used a separate dwelling for each daily routine. As we see here a family enjoys each others company by sharing a meal of lapali, which is large flat pan bread cooked in a skillet, and sofki, which is a traditional hot soup of soaked and stewed corn. At meal time the men would eat first. This was out of necessity and respect for it was their job to be away from the camp for days on end either hunting or protecting the camp. Children would eat second, then the women because they were around the cooking fire for much of the day and ate periodically. Today, with the exceptions of sofki and fry bread, traditional foods are usually reserved for special occasions.
In the center of the gallery, three women are busy around a fire preparing the daily meal. The woman sitting down is the grandmother; she supervises her daughter and teaches her granddaughter. The woman leaning over cooking is the Mother; she does most of the physical labor. The youngest woman is the Daughter; she is at the age where she will play less and start to pay close attention to learn more about women's work. In traditional Seminole camps the cooking fire is unique. Four large logs are set in the four cardinal directions. When women would cook, they would add more logs to the fire and when they where done would remove them. They could also increase or decrease the strength of the fire by sliding the logs in or out of the center. This fire, if properly tended to, could last for weeks.
This is truly one of our museum’s most unique exhibits. Wearing some of their finest clothes, this family glides down a quiet stretch of river in their full size dug out canoe on their way to a trading post. The mother and father seem serenely content while the inquisitive child wonders what could be lurking beneath the lily pads. These canoe's were usually large, with some spanning almost thirty feet. With large canoes such as this one, an entire family plus household and trade goods could be moved. Small platforms are arranged along the canoe's length to keep the supplies out of any water in the bottom. The father powers the canoe from a flat platform in the stern with a push pole. The distal end of the push pole had a unique boot attached. This allowed the canoeist to push off the bottom without getting the pole stuck in the overlying mud. Seminole canoes were also generally fitted with a step to hold a sailing mast. When this family exits the narrow river and enters open water they can employ the help of the wind to get to their destination.
Using incredible skill and a steady hand our Seminole silversmith heats a coin on a small fire. It is then removed with a pair of pincers. An axe head, which is driven into a log, serves the purpose of a makeshift anvil. The process of alternating between heating and pounding are repeated until the coin has been flattened out considerably. A ridge or boss is made around its edge with the point of an antler. Lastly, two small holes are made near the center to allow the newly formed brooch to be sewn on a lady's blouse. The Seminoles have produced many distinct styles of silver jewelry. The type most easily constructed was the coin necklace worn by Seminole women. The coins were merely punched near the edge and then suspended on a string of glass trade beads. The more involved forms of silverwork made by the Seminole may be separated into what is known as pierced work and bossed work.
In this exhibit, a young couple takes a glimpse at each other as the groom-to-be arrives at his future mother-in-law's camp. Accompanied by an uncle, the groom brings his share of new household items, which includes various wedding presents from his family. The bride is equipped with new pots and pans and the man has a new gun, axe and gardening tools. Traditionally, the marriage might be formalized in the camp, but was frequently a part of the festivities at the annual Green Corn Ceremony. An elder conducted the ceremony by giving them marital advice, the bride and groom then joined hands and were officially married. They retuned to the village of the bride’s parents where they started their new life together.
Two Seminoles start out on an overnight hunt. To keep their packs light the men wear all the clothing they may need. They carry all the equipment necessary to make a modest hunting camp at a remote location. The next day, each hunter goes out individually. If either hunter is successful, he would return to the camp and leave a piece of his kill hooked on a nearby branch. This would signal his success to his partner and indicate that he had taken his kill home. The Everglades and Big Cypress swamp habitat provided an enormous variety of food in the forma of wild animals, fish, and birds. These along with dozens of cultivated vegetables provided the Seminole with plenty to eat.
