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Author: Deanna Butler

Events, Florida Seminole Tourism

Festival Season is here! This week on the blog, we are giving you the inside details on the first of three back-to-back events from the Seminole Tribe of Florida. The 2nd annual Big Cypress Indigenous Arts and Music Festival will be held on the Big Cypress Reservation February 2 & 3, 2024. Both days gates will open at the Junior Cypress Rodeo Complex at 9:30 am and close at 6:00 pm. Admission is FREE for this exciting event. This year’s theme is “Honoring Our Youth.” Stop by for Indigenous performers, speakers, vendors, and more from throughout the United States and Canada. Below, you can see comprehensive profiles on many of the musical artists, speakers, and more!   Master of Ceremonies: Chance Rush Chance Rush will emcee the event both days. Chance travels throughout the United States and Canada to work with Native communities in effort to inspire, heal, motivate, and energize. He has

Florida Seminole Tourism, Learn the Seminole Culture

Welcome back to our Seminole Spaces series! In this series, we explore places and spaces important to Seminole culture, history, and tourism. Last week, we talked about Seminole Cowkeepers, and learned a bit about the legendary Seminole Cowkeeper Ahaya. Ahaya amassed nearly ten thousand head of cattle, and drove them on the Alachua savanna near Gainesville by 1775. But, how did this Alachuan savanna become known as Payne’s Prairie? This week, we will explore Payne’s Prairie. There, the Seminole relationship with the land, as well as the landscape itself, has shifted and changed over time. In our featured image this week, you can see a shot taken from the observation tower at the Payne’s Prairie Preserve State Park in 2022. Around 300,000 people visit the preserve annually to take in the wide grassy vistas and marshy woodlands. Home to hundreds of species of birds, fish, alligators, and even bison, Payne’s Prairie

Featured, Florida Seminole Tourism, Learn the Seminole Culture

Last month, we shared some sweet and savory Seminole treats and recipes that you can try at home. As we touched on previously, Indigenous cooking and harvesting represent acts of resistance to the pressures of colonization. Therefore, it is increasingly important to recognize, uphold, share, and support Indigenous cooking methods, patterns of subsistence, and what they represent. This week, we will look at several uniquely Seminole cultivated foods, and how they became important staples in the Seminole diet. We will look at Seminole pumpkins, coontie, and cabbage palm, as well as how Seminole gardens were uniquely designed to thrive in the Florida ecosystem and hide their important food resources. In our featured image this week you can see corn planted in a Seminole camp, probably early to mid 20th century. You can see chickees around it in the background (2007.46.27, ATTK Museum). Below, you can see a Seminole pumpkin. Seminole Foods Although Florida