The White Feather Story:
Inspired by the Cherokee Beloved War Women
In 2015, I was invited to Ghost Ranch as a Blackbird Fellow of AROHO, a gift made possible by Cathleen Richland, a woman I'd never met but who became beloved to me by her generosity. This same year, the author of The Woman Warrior, Maxine Hong Kingston came to Ghost Ranch as a featured speaker. My old, dog-eared copy of her iconic book was in my backpack and she signed it for me, "Sisters." Alongside many AROHO sisters, we shared meals together, talked about books and dragons and braiding long hair, and considered Georgia O'Keeffe, how she was afraid every moment of her life, but it never let her keep from doing anything she wanted to do.
I was invited to present my narrative on the Ghigau, the Beloved War Women of Cherokee, as an opening before Maxine shared her feature presentation. So I brought a woven basket full of white feathers to share the gift of metaphor, to symbolize the narrative of the swan wing carried by the Ghigau as a sign of their extraordinary compassion and courage. As the women passed the river cane basket around, I shared how these symbols could serve as a powerful lesson for all women and their narratives: My story will live.
An unexpected wave upon wave, Maxine got up afterwards and held up her white feather, and said a significant archetype had just been altered. In her culture and many others, a white feather has long been an archetype representing the cowardice of men. She took the white feather I'd given her, placed it in her hair, and suggested the white feather as a symbol of courage for all women. I looked around the great hall; and I saw a wave of white feathers, women had tucked them quietly into books and pockets. Two days later, getting ready for a horseback ride deep into O'Keeffe's country, I saw a horse wrangler walk into the stables, right past me, a white feather tucked in her hat.
Maxine is wearing her feather, a gift I gave her alongside other women at Ghost Ranch, in honor of the Ghigau, Cherokee's Beloved War Women, and the power of their narrative, which has longevity from ancient times to now. Nearly two years later, I would sit in another circle in New Mexico, and gift more symbols during A Room of Her Own's Retreat, the fire-stoking women I'm proud to work alongside as we share an interconnected message for women of all narratives, histories, and experiences, your stories will live.
Waves Anthology
Alongside original works by Maxine Hong Kingston and other creative women, the story of the Ghigau will continue in the pages of the Waves Anthology: A Confluence of Voices, a publication featuring the voices of women around the world, edited by the wonderful Diane Gilliam, Pushcart Prize author and poet, teacher, and AROHO's 2013 Gift of Freedom award-winner. Publication date to be announced.
Honoring Culture
Please note, cultural appreciation and cultural appropriation are two different acts. By definition, cultural appropriation is "the act of taking or using things from a culture that is not your own, especially without showing that you understand or respect this culture.” (Cambridge). However, in our day and time, we understand this definition can be highly nuanced. Similar to plagiarism, cultural appropriation borrows or takes without providing respectful credit or acknowledgement, whereas cultural appreciation honors the source and inspiration, appropriately crediting the culture at the onset and not commodifying. Additionally, certain authentic feathers are considered sacred and are only worn by those who've earned them.