Today I encountered "ritual walkers" shaking rattles and chanting, some hooded in full deerskins and bearskins. They call themselves the Council of Tsantawu, are affiliated with the Sacred Fire Community, and were nearing the end of walking around the 6.2-mile Cherokee Trail exactly seven times today. Tsantawu to them is another name for Stone Mountain, "a sacred weather mountain," and there's barely a breadcrumb trail to the group online. Since 2001, they have performed "an authentic weather ritual to bring benevolent weather to a large area in the Southeastern United States." They're camping in the park tonight and will hike to the top of the mountain in the morning and make an offering of corn, squash, and meat, likely venison, someone said. I sincerely hope no deer in the park will be harmed in the name of this ritual.
