page_title: Cherokee society
hierarchical_section_title: Cherokee society
caption_attribution_description: English: Little Miss Cherokee (Age 4-5) at Cherokee National Holiday, Park Hill, Oklahoma, 2007
context_page_description: Cherokee society refers to the traditional society and culture of the Cherokee it also refers to a family and a village people. The Cherokee are a people native to North America who at the time of European contact in the 17th century inhabited the mountain and inland regions of the southeastern United States in areas of present-day Tennessee, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia, before the majority of the tribe was forcefully moved to Indian Territory.
  Cherokee society was traditionally organized into seven clans, with Cherokee villages having two governmental units and a medicine chief, who would resolve disputes between the Red Chief and White Chief should they disagree. Family was central to Cherokee society. During the year, the Cherokee celebrated the Cherokee Moons Ceremonies.
  The capital of the Cherokee Nation and the United Band of Cherokee Indians, both federally recognized Cherokee tribes, is Tahlequah, Oklahoma. According to local legend, after the arrival of the Cherokee on the Trail of Tears, three tribal elders had scheduled a rendezvous near present-day Tahlequah in order to select a site to settle and use as the seat of tribal government.
context_section_description: Cherokee society refers to the traditional society and culture of the Cherokee it also refers to a family and a village  (or ᎠᏂᏴᏫᏯᎢ (a-ni-yv-wi-ya-i) in Cherokee language) people. The Cherokee are a people native to North America who at the time of European contact in the 17th century inhabited the mountain and inland regions of the southeastern United States in areas of present-day Tennessee, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia, before the majority of the tribe was forcefully moved to Indian Territory.
  Cherokee society was traditionally organized into seven clans, with Cherokee villages having two governmental units (with one government handling affairs in peacetime and the other during times of war) and a medicine chief, who would resolve disputes between the Red Chief and White Chief should they disagree. Family was central to Cherokee society. During the year, the Cherokee celebrated the Cherokee Moons Ceremonies.
  The capital of the Cherokee Nation and the United  Band of Cherokee Indians, both federally recognized Cherokee tribes, is Tahlequah, Oklahoma.  According to local legend, after the arrival of the Cherokee on the Trail of Tears, three tribal elders had scheduled a rendezvous near present-day Tahlequah in order to select a site to settle and use as the seat of tribal government. Two elders arrived and waited for the third. After waiting until dusk they decided "two is enough" (Ta'ligwu).  In Cherokee, "Ta'li" represents the number two and "gwu" means "it's enough", or translated as "Two is enough". This legend purportedly began in the 1930's. A more likely origin comes from the ancient eastern Cherokee town of Great Tellico, spelled Talikwa in Cherokee. Still others trace it to the word tel-i-quah which is interpreted "plains" though there is no specific word for "plains" in the Cherokee lexicon.
  The third federally recognized Cherokee tribe is the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, whose headquarters are in the town of Cherokee, North Carolina in the Qualla Boundary, south of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. They are primarily the descendants of those persons listed on the Baker Rolls of Cherokee Indians.
caption: Little Miss Cherokee 2007, Park Hill, Oklahoma
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