Feast of the Flowering Moon in Chillicothe, Ohio, Memorial Day Weekend

Do you have any plans for Memorial Day Weekend? Will you be in southern Ohio? If you are, you should stop by Chillicothe, Ohio and check out the annual Feast of the Flowering Moon.

For those of you who do not know, Chillicothe was the first capital of Ohio. It is also rich in history. Chillicothe used to be inhabited by the historic Shawnee Indians. They were the ones who named the now modernized city. The term Chillicothe is derived from the ancient Shawnee phrase meaning "Principal place". It was the name of one of their clans. The main chief of the Shawnee could only come from the Chillicothe clan. When a village was called Chillicothe, it meant that it was home to the principal chief.

This annual three day event started in 1984. The festival is held in the locally famous Yoctangee Park and the historic downtown Chillicothe.

The highlight of this event is the Native Americans who participates. They bring to Chillicothe, Gathering of the Nations. Through this wonderful program they demonstrate and teach us origins of songs and dance of American Indians, traditional storytelling, traditional flute music, as well as social dances. One year, during a really dry spell, they even performed a ritual rain dance. It was a sight to see. Yes, it did rain.

The park also returns to the past as mountain-men encampment sets up for the entire weekend. Men, women and children shows us how our ancestors lived in the 1800's. They dress in the clothes of the time period and set up tents, which they sleep in during the weekend. Outside, they prepare their food on an open fire. Many working craftsmen also demonstrates how blacksmiths and broom-makers and the like, used to go about their work. Musicians also set up in this area, showing us how music used to sound.