The Mississippi Choctaw Band of Indians reinaugurated their fifth democratically elected Tribal Chief, Cyrus Ben, at the Silver Star Convention Center.
Stickball is a Native American sport where two teams of 20 to 30 players use sticks, named “kabocca,” to throw a small, orange ball at a pole that stands about 12 feet high. Each team defends a pole while simultaneously trying to hit the other team’s pole one hundred yards away with the game ball.
Our fair, in Neshoba County, means different things to each of us, but collectively, it is a time to get together as a tribe and showcase our rich culture and openly invite the public to visit us and learn about us in our homeland that my ancestors refused to leave during the removal period of the 1820s and 1830s.
Today’s Choctaw Indian Fair looks much different than its very simple, humble beginnings. Tribal members exhibited their garden produce at the time, just as our ancestors did during harvest season when the gathering in the old days was known as the New Corn Ceremony or the Green Corn Festival. A princess pageant wasn’t part of the Fair until 1955, and country-music concerts added a decade later.
Mississippi Journalism and Education Group is a a 501(c)(3) nonprofit media organization (EIN 85-1403937) for the state, devoted to going beyond partisanship and publishing solutions journalism for the Magnolia State and all of its people.
125 S. Congress Street #1324
Jackson, MS 39201
[email protected]
[email protected]
601-362-6121
The Mississippi Free Press is a project of the Mississippi Journalism and Education Group, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit journalism organization (EIN 85-1403937).