Seminole Medicine Chants and Songs
Scope and Content
The original six grooved discs have been digitized and are available in mp3 files in the University of Florida’s Digital Collections.
Seminole 1: Grooved Disc 7.1 a 00:05:28, Unidentified Seminole chant, Matteson on the historical and project background and Seminole clans; 7.1 b 00:05:38, Seminole chant and Matteson narrative on Seminole clans.
Seminole 2: Grooved Disc 7.2 a 00:05:41, Medicine chants for deer sickness and Matteson on Seminole healers; 7.2 b 00:05:41, Fire Song and Matteson on Seminole healers and the supernatural.
Seminole 3: Grooved Disc 7.3 a 00:05:33, Medicine chant for the giant sickness and Matteson on Seminole healers and the Seminole cosmology; 7.3 b 00:06:30, Water People and Water Animal chants and Matteson on Seminole belief in the transmigration of souls.
Seminole 4: Grooved Disc 7.4 a 00:05:43, Buzzard, Sun, Moon, Morning Star, Red Star, Three Stars, Two Stars, and Seven Stars chants and Matteson on Seminole medicines; 7.4 b 00:05:46, Parts of the Body Dance (from the Green Corn Dance) and Matteson on the importance of tobacco in Seminole healing rituals.
Seminole 5: Grooved Disc 7.5 a 00:05:26, Rattlesnake Song and Horned Owl Song from the Hunting Dance and Matteson on various Seminole medicinal rites; 7.5 b 00:05:45, Unidentified chant and Matteson on Seminole widows and the Green Corn Dance.
Seminole 6: Grooved Disc 7.6 a 00:03:26, Feather Dance chant and Matteson on the importance of documenting Seminole folkways before the elders die off; 7.6 b 00:03:22, Seminole war songs.
Dates
- Creation: circa 1940s
Creator
- Matteson, J. Harold (Person)
Language of Materials
Includes materials in English and Creek (Seminole).
Access
The recordings are available for research; however, for preservation of the original discs, researchers should use the digitized versions of the recordings.
Biographical/Historical Note
In the 1940s, Naturalist J. Harold Matteson of Miami made phonograph recordings of Seminole healers who performed traditional Seminole medicinal chants and songs. Matteson refers to the Seminoles he recorded as part of the "Big Cyprus People"; however, it is unclear if he made the recordings at the Big Cyprus Seminole Reservation. Although other researchers had previously recorded Seminole songs and dances, the recordings Matteson made have remained unpublished until the University of Florida's Special and Area Studies Collections had them digitized and uploaded to the University of Florida’s Digital Collections in 2020.
Extent
6 Items (Six double-sided, 78 rpm grooved discs with a total duration of 01:04:00)
Abstract
Recordings of Seminole medicine chants and songs. Naturalist J. Harold Matteson recorded the chants and songs and includes a historical narrative.
Location
University of Florida Smathers Library Building
Acquisition Information
There is no donor information available for this collection.
Alternative Format Available
Digital reproductions of selected items in the Seminole Medicine Chants and Songs are available online via the University of Florida Digital Collections (UFDC). Please read the Permissions for Use statement for information on copyright fair use, and use of UFDC digital objects.
- Title
- A Guide to the Seminole Medicine Chants and Songs
- Status
- Completed
- Author
- Finding aid created by R. Boyd Murphree
- Date
- September 2020
- Description rules
- Finding Aid Prepared Using Dacs
- Language of description
- English
- Script of description
- Latin
- Language of description note
- Description is written in English.
Repository Details
Part of the Special and Area Studies Collections, George A. Smathers Libraries, University of Florida Repository
George A. Smathers Libraries
PO Box 117005
Gainesville Florida 32611-7005 United States of America
352-273-2755
special@uflib.ufl.edu