<body><div><figure><img src="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?type=thumbnail_580x000&amp;url=0B8vMp_1GnECEXj00" alt="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?url=0B8vMp_1GnECEXj00" width="1500" height="1002" ><figcaption>This bell at the Cherokee Nation Durbin Feeling Language Center is tolled when first-language speakers pass.&nbsp; CHAD HUNTER/CHEROKEE PHOENIX</figcaption></figure>TAHLEQUAH – Historically, rural Cherokee communities tolled church bells when an elder passed away, and today, an adjusted version of that tradition lives on at the Durbin Feeling Language Center in Tahlequah.When a first-language Cherokee speaker dies, a bell in front of the language center is tolled once for every year of the speaker’s life to honor their memory and heritage.<figure><img src="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?type=thumbnail_580x000&amp;url=2Ii1W5_1GnECEXj00" alt="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?url=2Ii1W5_1GnECEXj00" width="1500" height="1000" ><figcaption>The bell in front of the Cherokee Nation Durbin Feeling Language Center is seen Oct. 30.&nbsp; MICAH FLETCHER/CHEROKEE PHOENIX</figcaption></figure>“The same thing that was happening in Cherokee communities for over a century is now happening here at Durbin Feeling,” CN Secretary of Language and Culture Howard Paden said.Originally, Cherokee villages would light ceremonial fires in the middle of their communities to signify the passing of elders, Paden said. Eventually, churches became the community center and tolling bells became tradition. <figure><img src="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?type=thumbnail_580x000&amp;url=3i8QKm_1GnECEXj00" alt="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?url=3i8QKm_1GnECEXj00" width="1500" height="1057" ><figcaption>Howard Paden speaks during his swearing-in ceremony as the Cherokee Nation’s first secretary of language and culture Sept. 24.&nbsp; COURTESY/CHEROKEE NATION</figcaption></figure>“When we started the master-apprentice (language) program, we were working with different families from places like Cave Springs, Bunch and Greasy,” Paden said. “When we were working with the speakers, they would run back home when a community member passed and ring the bell at the church for the community.”Today, the ceremony can be heard throughout the language center, which is home to the Cherokee Immersion School. When the bell tolls, teachers and students will stop what they’re doing and pay their respects, Paden said.“Once I was here at the school at about 7:30 a.m. and a whole family was here,” he said. “They said, ‘Grandma passed away last night; we’re here to ring the bell.’ Now, we get with the family and coordinate with them so they can be here, and we give them a blanket to put on the casket.”CN Deputy Secretary of State Canaan Duncan has experienced the ceremony with community members and even his own family.“Every time we hear this bell ringing, it’s a bittersweet moment because we know that we’ve lost a speaker,” Duncan said. “But we also know that someone inside of (the Durbin Feeling Language Center) is going to replace that speaker as our total speaker population grows because of the investments we’re doing at the Cherokee Nation to save our language.”</div></body>

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TAHLEQUAH – Historically, rural Cherokee communities tolled church bells when an elder passed away, and today, an adjusted version of that tradition lives on at the Durbin Feeling Language Center in Tahlequah. When a first-language Cherokee speaker dies, a bell in front of the language center is tolled once...

Bell tolls for lost Cherokee speakers

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TAHLEQUAH – Historically, rural Cherokee communities tolled church bells when an elder passed away, and today, an adjusted version of that tradition lives 

Bell tolls for lost Cherokee speakers

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