A Voice from the Eastern Door
A Voice from the Eastern Door
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Continued from last issue. The Haudenosaunee address to the Western World Geneva, Switzerland Autumn 1977 Introduction It was not long ago that the Haudenosaunee, or Six Nations, were a powerful people, occupying a vast territory stretching from Vermont to Ohio, and from present-day Quebec to Tennessee. At the period of first contact early during the 17th Century, the Haudenosaunee occupied hundreds of towns and villages throughout the country. “Haudenosaunee” is a word which means “people who build” and is the proper name of the people of the...
1. Teiohkwatasehákie ne ohóntsia The earth is going around the sun 2. Teiotohontsiatasè:ton ne kiohkiehnékha karáhkwa The earth goes around the sun 3. Ostón:ha wakarén:re ne ohón:tsia The earth is a little tipped 4. Onthwentsiakarén:rate The earth is tipping away from the sun 5. Kanenna'kè:ne equinox Autumnal Equinox 6. Equinox ne ne' ne tsi niwenhníseres tánon ne tsi niwahsón:tes sha'té:ions Equinox is when the length of the day and the length of the night are the same 7. Entákta, Sesk...
Continued from last issue We were in a tall, cavernous room at the United Nations, and this was the last day. Segwalise of the Haudenosaunee Delegation was about to speak. It had been a long week, a week of sleeping maybe three, maybe four hours a night, a week of transatlantic flights and hurried breakfasts and the ever-present need to say things right. A week of pressure and energy – constant energy. Because something had happened in this conference, something was helping. People were locking together and one after another they had t...
1. Kí:ken onkiahia'kserò:kten This past weekend 2. Entákta, Seskehkó:wa ià:ia'k iawén:re wahská:ra'ne Saturday, September 16 was the date 3. Ahkwesáhshne Rontatewennió:ke tsi Ionteweienstáhkhwa The Akwesasne Freedom School 4. Wahonterihwahténkia'te They had an event 5. Khia'teiohserá:ke ronterihwahtenkià:tha tenhontonhnhehtsheróhetste tehonré:rons Each year they put on a survival race 6. Entákta wa'thonré:ron On Saturday they had the race 7. Ia:ia'k nikanèn:rake wahonkià:taren n...
Continued from last week This was the message of this U.N. conference. And if it was a message that couldn’t be delivered in its totality, it was because it is not a message of words only. It is about a real world, and about a real people and – and in Geneva, after 500 years of contact, it was a message about how these people, by no means perfect, but with a sane, healthy vision of existence, guided by concepts of unity and reciprocity, the positive values of non-accumulation of wealth and, most fundamentally, an all-encompassing com...
1. Ionkwaten'nikonhró:ri We are having fun, celebrating 2. Khia'teiohserá:ke Every year 3. Tehatinonniáhkhwa They are dancers 4. Wahonterihwaténkia'te It took place 5. Kí:ken onkiahia'kseró:kten This past weekend 6. Entákta, Seskehkó:wa kióhton waská:ra'ne Saturday, September 9 was the date 7. Awentatokenhtì:ke, Seskehkó:wa oié:ri ská:rahkwe Sunday, September 10 8. A'nowara'kó:wa Tsi Teiontsihkwa'ekstáhkhwa A'nowara'kó:wa arena 9. Onkwe'tà:ke raotirihwá:ke The public 10. Ronakiohkowá:nen A...
Continued from last week. North and South – the American contingent. The affluence of the North: the poverty of the South. The “under-development” of the South; the “over-development” of the North. And what does it all represent to Indian people? Another Question: What does colonialism mean? Colonialism is the process by which we are systematically confused. Colonialism-from the word colony: to be controlled from afar. Confusion-an agent of control. The confusion takes many shapes and forms (gimmicks) that overlap creating layers, many, man...
Continued from last week. He explained the meaning of the Sacred Pipe. This was his mission – to open the ceremony and to carry and offer the Pipe. He was moved, he said, by all the words he had heard, by the strength that they represented together, how it all fit, and he knew that it was good. Then he spoke of the Pipe, of the origins of the Lakota, of the power the Pipe had and of the many manifestations he had witnessed of that power – how it had been used at Wounded Knee, and at the many trials, how he had seen, over and over, the min...
1. Óh nahsewákiere kí:ken onkiahia'kserò:kten? What did you all do this past weekend? 2. Ionkwaten'niota'nónhne We went to a wedding 3. Ónhka wa'akóniake? Who got married? 4. Riienhwatèn:'a My nephew 5. Ónhka wahotíniake? Who did he marry? 6. Iakonkwe'tí:io Wilkwenkoong nikiakawé:non A beautiful girl from Wiikwemkoong 7. Ka'nón:we iahotíniake? Where was the wedding? 8. Ionkwehnhónsa tsi kiakonónhsote At my mother-in-law's house 9. Óhnà:ken aten'én:rakon In the backyard 10. Iokennorón:ne ne E...
Continued from last week. Phillip Deer sat in a straight-backed chair, with a red blanket folded on his lap. Now it was late at night, and we were in the basement of a building in Geneva and before him, sitting in a circle, were the group of six men who had been selected by all the delegates to be the principal speakers, to make the initial unifying presentation, on that first day of the conference. There were, Oren Lyons, from the Iroquois Confederacy; Juan Condori, Aymara from Bolivia; Jose Mendoza, Guaimi from Panama; Russell Means, Lakota...
1. Kenienahní:nons I am buying fuel or oil 2. Kenienáta'as I am putting fuel or oil in it 3. Kenienáhrhos I am rubbing oil on it 4. Wakateienáten I have fuel 5. Kateienahní:nons I sell fuel/oil 6. Tekatenienareniá:tha I deliver fuel 7. Tewakenienatonhontsió:ni I need fuel 8. Wakatenienoktà:'on I have run out of fuel 9. Tekenienawén:rie I am mixing in oil 10. W a'kenienakóhe I am going to get oil 11. W a'katenienò:kten I ran out of fuel 12. T akwenienáta'as! Put oil in my car! 13. W enienákera'as...
Continued from last week. Juan Condori, Aymara from Bolivia, stood up. He too was adamant. “We have heard their speeches,” he said. “All their polite words, all their empty words. No. I am here for my people. I am here to speak out, to tell what we are enduring. I don’t have time to give.” A couple of people who had been working with the NGO committee then tried to explain the situation. It was customary, they said that the hosts and the other observer groups represented would give welcoming addresses. There were about four such groups. T...
1. Iekiéhstha ne kawistóhtha aohné:ka I am adding coolant (antifreeze) 2. Katkèn:se ne okahkwèn:ta tó: ní:kon káwera I am checking the tire air pressure 3. Skeweráta'as ne akkahkwèn:ta I am adding air to my tires 4. Katkèn:se tó: ní:kon wenié:nare I am checking the oil level 5. Tehskeienaténies I am changing the oil 6. Tehshekhahseraténies ne ohèn:ton aoháhsera I am changing the headlight 7. Tehsekhahseraté:nies ne oh nà:ken aoháhsera I am changing the taillight 8. Tehsekkahkwen'taté:n...
Continued from last week. Geneva, 1977: A report on the Hemispheric Movement of Indigenous Peoples The Immigration guards and officials at the Geneva airport were perplexed. The twenty-two delegates from the Six Nations (Iroquois) Confederacy, the Haudenosaunee, were lined up, passports in hand, a little tired after a nine-hour overnight flight but now looking serious and alert as one of their passports had been handed across the glass barrier and the blonde guards with caps on were turning it over in their hands. It was a small, brown book,...
1. Wa'ke'serehtaiénhne tenthatikwatá:ko I am taking my car in to get repaired 2. Tsi thati'serehtahserón:ni A car repair shop 3. Ra'serehtahserón:nis He is a mechanic 4. Tewakatonhontsió:ni asé'stsi aonsakaronwaratárion aonsakaianí:io'ne ne akè:sere I need new shocks 5. Iorakaré:ni tsi iorá:kahre ne akè:sere My car is making loud noises 6. Tekatáhstha ne kà:sere ioriánie My brakes are squealing 7. Tenhshaté:ni ne tekatáhstha ieken'seráhkhwa He will replace the brake pads 8. Tenhsaienaté:ni H...
Continued from last week. One word more so that you will be sure to remember our people. If it had not been for them, you would not be here. If one hundred and sixty winters ago, our warriors had not helped the British at Quebec, Quebec would have fallen to the British. The French would then have driven your English-speaking forefathers out of his land, bag and baggage. Then it would have been a French speaking people here today, not you. That part of your history cannot be blotted out by the stealing of our wampum belts in which that is...
1. Kwáh tsi takarahkwíneken'ne kí: ratiksa'okón:'a ohrhon'kéhstsi akwé:kon wahontkétsko When the sun came up, early in the morning, all the children got up 2. Ase'ken ón:wa wenhniserá:te wahonhiákhe skanekwen'tará:non. Because today they are going to pick raspberries 3. Kwahson:téke ne sakoti'nisténha akwé:kon iakokwatákwen raonatennà:tshera. The previous night, their mother fixed all of their lunches 4. Kháre' ó:nen átste tahate'seréhtaien ne ronwa'níha Their father parked outside 5. Ó:nen ki'...
Continued from last week. You Mothers, I hear you have a great deal to say about your government. Our Mothers have always had a hand in ours. Maybe you can do something to help us now. If you white mothers are hard-hearted and will not, perhaps you boys and girls who are listening and who have loved to read stories about our people – the true ones I mean – will help us when you grow up if there are any of us left to be helped. If you are bound to treat us as though we were citizens under your government, then those of your people who are land-h...
1. Tsi niionhiákwas ó:nen onhiá:ri Berry season 2. Skanekwen'tará:non Raspberries 3. Kahrhata'kéha Blueberries 4. Kontatewenní:io kahrhata'kéha Wild blueberries 5. Wa'kahiákhe I am going to pick fruit/berries 6. Kahíhsaks I am looking for fruit/berries 7. Kahiákwas I am picking fruit/berries 8. Athé:rakon kéta'as I am putting it in the basket 9. Kahiahní:nons I am buying fruit 10. Wakahiakhónhne I went to pick berries and came back 11. Wakà:iaien I have fruit 12. Wakahiaká:te I have a lot of f...
Continued from last week. About three winters ago, the Canadian Government set out to take mortgages on farms of our returned soldiers to secure loans made to them intending to use Canadian courts to enforce these mortgages in name of Canadian authority within our country. When Ottawa tried that, our people resented it. We knew that would mean the end of our government. Because we did so, the Canadian Government began to enforce all sorts of Dominion and Provincial laws over us and quartered armed men among us to enforce Canadian laws and...
1. Taio'nahkwáweron tsi na'okén:nore It was very rainy 2. Sótsi iohshnó:re It was too fast 3. Kahonwa'takè:ron There are scattered puddles 4. Kahné:ko There is a lot of water 5. Iohnekónnion There is a lot of water 6. Io'nhétska ne kahentà:ke The ground is soft 7. Onawa'tstà:ke ne átste akwaten'èn:rakon There is mud outside in my yard 8. Onawa'tstà:ke ne kahehtà:ke There is mud in my garden 9. Onawa'tstà:ke ne akwathentà:ke There is mud on my lawn 10. Onawa'tstà:ke ne kahentà:ke There...
The Last Speech of Deskaheh (on the evening of March, 10, 1925, suffering from a serious attack of pleurisy and pneumonia, he made his last speech. It was before a radio microphone in Rochester. Once more, and more forcefully than ever, he hurled defiance at big nations who disregard the claims of smaller peoples.) Nearly everyone who is listening to me is a pale face, I suppose I am not. My skin is not red but that is what my people are called by others. My skin is brown, light brown, but our cheeks have a little flush and that is why we are...
Time wore on and though a few Englishmen and Canadians spoke up for the Six Nations Indians, though the representatives of the Netherlands and Albania listened sympathetically and spoke of supporting his petition, Deskaheh began to suspect that his cause was lost. News from the homeland was bad. The Canadian Government had announced a “free election,” which would in effect determine whether or not the Six Nations Government of Grand River Land should be dissolved. For this vote, the Canadian Government agent had taken possession of the Six Nat...
1. Oh ní:ioht tsi enkherihónnien ne entkarahkwíneken'ne tenkatenonhwará:ton How I will teach Sunrise Salutation 2. Shonkwahtsì:'a Kiohkehnékha Karáhkwa tentshitewanonhwará:ton enthokè:tohte Sunrise salutation 3. Akwé:kon sewattakwaríhsi tesewá:ta'n! You all stand up straight! 4. Akwé:kon sewentskwe'nà:ke ia'sewaié:na (seweriahsà:ke ákta) You all bring your hands to your chest! (toward your heart) 5. Akwé:kon sewahthnia'só:ten! You all lift your head up! 6. Akwé:kon sewanentshakará:tat...
The raiders arrested and jailed a number of Iroquois, and though Deskaheh was known to abstain from alcoholic liquors, they searched his house on the pretext of looking for illegal beverages. The Canadian Government then ordered barracks built for the housing of their police and Grand River was suddenly an occupied nation. Deskaheh now began to fight back desperately. With the Six Nations Counsel, George P. Decker (a white Rochester lawyer), as his companion, he again used his passport, this time to travel to Geneva to bring his people’s c...
