Tag: Culture

Folklore, Music

The Frog Eats the Sun

Written by Olivia Smith

Joey Pierce, David A Dot, Bryan Barnes, and Daie Woodruff stand in line waiting to be judged in a dance competition at the Yellowhorse Native American Pow Wow. Saturday April 6, 2024 (Photo by Alex Newton)

As the moon covers the sun and the world goes dark and quiet for a few minutes, most people stand in awe. Silence overwhelmed the world as a partial solar eclipse on April, 8th 2024 lasted two hours in Chattanooga, TN.

All around the world cultures tell folklore stories from the beginning of times, before written words surround everyday life, storytellers were the way of knowing history. 

“Nvdo walosi ugi” which translates to “the frog eats the sun” is a folk tale told throughout the Cherokee Nation. The Cherokee people can be heard pounding drums, yelling, and even shooting guns into the sky to scare the mythical gigantic frog from eating the sun during the eclipse.  

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art, Chattanooga, community, Daily Life, Dance, History

Movements Of The Mill

By Jules Jackson

Video By Jules Jackson. Cover Photo By Alexis McMurtry.

The skeletal remains of the Standard-Coosa-Thatcher mill complex glow as if they were on fire. Inside, the Pop-up Project is going through the final rehearsal for If These Walls Could Talk, an immersive dance performance that seeks to tell the history of the mill before it is lost to the collective memory of Chattanooga.

“It’s just such a beautiful space,” says Jules Downum, director and co-founder of the Pop-up Project. “It didn’t take a lot of work on our part to make the space impactful. And the stories were already here.”

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