Black drink

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Black drink was the name given by colonists to a ritual beverage called Asi brewed by Native Americans in the Southeastern United States. It was prepared from the roasted leaves and stems of the Yaupon Holly Ilex vomitoria, native to the Atlantic and Gulf coasts. The active ingredient in the drink was caffeine. The beverage was often used as a substitute for coffee and tea by colonists under the name cassine or cassina.

Prior to the nineteenth century, this beverage was consumed during the daily deliberations of the village councils and at all other important council meetings. Creeks, Cherokees, Choctaws, and others believed it purified the drinker and purged him of anger and falsehoods. Black drink was prepared by special village officials and served in large communal cups, frequently made of conch shell. The men in council were served in order of precedence, starting with important visitors. They consumed large quantities at a sitting. Afterward, they purged themselves by vomiting.

Archaeologists have demonstrated the use of the Black Drink among Native American groups stretching back far into antiquity (Hudson 1979).

[edit] Black drink among the Cherokee

The Cherokee black drink was a ceremonial drink consumed during purification and renewal ceremonies under the ancient Ah-ni-ku-ta-ni moon ceremonies traditionally performed by the Cherokee or Ah-ni-yv-wi-ya people.

The Cherokee called the yaupon holly the Blue Holly Tree. The Black Drink reportedly induced vomiting during Cherokee purification ceremonies, but as explained above, this behavior is likely to have been deliberate or the result of the quantity imbibed, not due to the chemical properties of the drink itself.

One of the Seven Traditional Cherokee Clans, called today the Ah-ni-Sa-ho-ni ("Blue Clan") was originally referred to as the "Blue Holly" clan. The clan represented the fifth level of spiritual attainment which was purification of the mind, body, and spirit, and were called upon to prepare the black drink for ceremonial purposes before the period of Cherokee removal.

In the 1830s, the use of the black drink was forgotten and abandoned when the Cherokee removed to Oklahoma, where the Blue Holly Tree does not grow. Still, other ritual beverages (sometimes also referred to as "black drink" or "medicine") continue to be used in traditional rituals in Oklahoma.

The traditional beverage served to the Cherokee people following a Stomp Dance on the Ritual Stomp Dance grounds in Stokes, Oklahoma is made from seven secret roots gathered by each of the seven clans and given to the people after performing the Stomp Dance all night.

[edit] Cassina use by the Ais

In 1696 Jonathan Dickinson witnessed the use of a beverage brewed from the Yaupon Holly among the Ais of Florida. Dickinson later learned that the Spanish called the plant "casseena". The Ais parched the leaves in a pot, and then boiled them. The resulting liquid was then transferred to a large bowl using a gourd that had a long neck with a small hole at the top, and a two-inch wide hole in the side. The gourd was slowly dipped into the brewing pot, which caused a whistling sound as air was forced out through the small hole at the top. The gourd was used to froth the liquid (Dickinson does not specify how). The brewed liquid was a deep brown in color. On the occasion Dickinson witnessed, he estimated that there was nearly three gallons of the beverage in the bowl. After the liquid had cooled, the chief was presented with a conch-shell of the beverage. The chief threw part of it on the ground and drank the rest. The chief's associates were then served in turn. Lower status men, women and children were not allowed to touch or taste the beverage. The chief and his associates sat drinking this brew, smoking and talking for most of the day. In the evening the bowl that had held the beverage was covered with a skin to make a drum. The Ais, accompanied by the drum and some rattles, sang and danced until the middle of the night. Dickinson makes no mention of purging or vomiting by the Ais after drinking this beverage.

[edit] References

• Hudson, Charles M. 1979. Black Drink: A Native American Tea. University of Georgia Press. ISBN 0-8203-0462-X
• Hale, Edwin Moses. 1891. Ilex Cassine: The aboriginal North American tea : its history, distribution, and use among the native American Indians. Bulletin U.S. Dept. of Agriculture. Division of Botany.
• Andrews, Charles Mclean and Andrews, Evangeline Walker (1945). Jonathan Dickinson's Journal or, God's Protecting Providence. Being the Narrative of a Journey from Port Royal in Jamaica to Philadelphia between August 23, 1696 to April 1, 1697. Yale University Press. Reprinted (1981) Florida Classics Library.