THE NATCHEZ

1 The Natchez had much in common with the Choctaw and the Chickasaw. However, the way they set up their community was different. The Natchez Grand Village was built on high land overlooking the Mississippi River, where the city of Natchez stands today. Here the Natchez used the rich farmland of the river valley but escaped the many floods.

People of the Great Sun

2 The Natchez divided the people in their community into four classes, or groups. The sun class was the most important class. Below the sun class were the nobles, then the honored people. In the lowest class were the commoners.

3 Natchez law required members of the higher classes to marry someone from another class. Commoners were the only ones who could marry someone from their own class.

4 The Natchez ruler was called the Great Sun. The Great Sun was treated much like a king. He made all of the important decisions for the village.

5 Commoners carried the Great Sun on a platform so his feet would not touch the ground. He wore a headband of white feathers tipped with red fur.

6 The Grand Village of the Natchez was organized around an open area with two eight feet high, flat-topped mounds at either end. On one mound was the home of the Great Sun, and on the other mound was the Sun Temple, containing a fire that was kept burning at all times and a platform with the bones of the previous Great Sun. The fire represented the sun, the center of the Natchez’s religion. The structures had no windows and only one door which faced east in the direction of the rising sun. Other houses in the Natchez village were built in a similar fashion, but were not constructed on the top of mounds.

7 The Natchez often gathered together for festivals. Look at the Natchez calendar. As one visitor reported, “At every new moon they celebrate a feast, which takes its name from the main fruits gathered during the last moon, or from the animals that are usually hunted then."