A Voice from the Eastern Door
A Voice from the Eastern Door
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Continued from last week A report of the Lords of Trade was read in Council at the Court of St. James, November 23, 1761. It states: That it is as unnecessary as it would be tedious to enter into a detail of all the Causes of Complaint which, our Indian Allies had against us at the commencement of the trouble in America, and which not only induced them tho’ reluctantly to take up the Hatchet against us and decimate the settlement on the frontiers but encouraged our enemies to pursue those measures which have involved us in a dangerous and c...
Once upon a time very long ago, there were three sisters who lived together in a field. These sisters were quite different from one another in their size and also in their way of dressing. One of the three was a little sister, so young that she could only crawl at first and she was dressed in green. The second of the three wore a frock of bright yellow and she had a way of running off by herself when the sun shone and the soft wind blew in her face. The third was the eldest sister, standing always very straight and tall above the other sisters...
Continued from last week… The 1701 Treaty Conference Lieutenant Governor John Nanfan had succeeded the Earl of Bellomont as the Governor of New York. In early July 1701, “all the Sachims of the Five Nations” arrived at Albany and met with Nanfan “and told him that they were heartily glad to see him in station”. Nanfan replied to their hope that he would continue “the love and affection that former Governors sent by the King of England have had to us the Five Nations”: …You may be assured not only of the favor and protection of the great King...
Continued from last week 4 Strings Wampum (Simcoe Papers II, 131) By the 1840’s, other indigenous nations were also using the Dish With One Spoon as a means of resolving their land issues. In November 1886, the Chippewa of the Thames and the Munceys of the Thames were involved in a dispute over lands the Munceys had occupied in Southwestern Ontario. Chief William Waddilove of the Muncey Delaware’s described how his people had come into the country in the late 1700’s, and said: Our forefathers ever since they came to this country had alway...
Continued from last week (William Johnson Papers, II,705) After the defeat of the French in 1760,the British soon found themselves looked upon as possible arbitrators in hunting territory disputes between the nations who had been allies of France. The Algonquins and Nipissings complained that the Mohawks were trespassing on their Ottawa Valley hunting grounds, which they (the Algonquins and Nipissings) had been harvesting in a gradual and deliberate manner. The British Indian Department officials at first replied that the Royal Proclomation of...
The Dish with One Spoon wampum belt, with the round purple area in the center symbolizing the dish. It was kept at the Six Nations Grand River Territory by Skanawati (John Buck) until his death. In 1927, Evelyn H.C. Johnson delivered it to the Royal Ontario Museum, though she claimed no ownership in it. Photograph Courtesy of Dept. of Ethnology, Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto. In the Great Law of Peace it is stated: It will turn out well for us to do this: we will say, “We promise to have only one dish among us; in it will be beaver tail and n...
Grand Council Meetings of the Iroquois Confederacy are held for serious matters, which affect all of the member nations: Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga, Cayuga, Seneca, and Tuscarora. Before an issue can be presented to the Grand Council, it must first be heard by the Onondagas who decide whether the issue requires a Grand Council meeting. Sometimes, the issue is sent back to the individual nation to be solved at home. Each nation has its own Council of Chiefs and deals with its own problems. These...
This article was provided using the knowledge of Chief John Arthur Gibson in Concerning the League: The Iroquois League Tradition as dictated in Onondaga. Interpreted by the Mohawk Nation Council in collaboration with the Circle of Knowledge and Traditional Iroquois Orator’s Society. The origin of the Kahniakehaka (Mohawk) Nation Council begins in an area known today as Cohoes Falls. New York. It was the birthplace of the first original Rottioneshon title names and seat of government. It also marks the end of an era of war chief leadership p...
By Tehanetorens Continued from last week Record of Chiefs of Mohawk Nation Mohawk Clan Chieftainship wampum Strings are a record of the leaders of the Mohawk Nation. The Keeper of this record was of the Wolf Clan, whose title is Sarenhowane. There should be similar records of the other nations of the original Iroquois states. The Mohawk Nation has nine chiefs, thus the nine strings in this record. The small string of wampum uniting them symbolizes that the chiefs shall all be of one mind. The...
The Wampum Belt information comes from Tehanetorens (Ray Fadden) who has left us many cultural and historical documents. Notes: While reading a wampum belt, special care was made to hold the belts correctly. Usually when the message or speech was half finished, the speaker would turn the belt over. A clan, one of whose members had been killed, could hand a wampum belt to a noted warrior. If the belt was accepted by the warrior, it meant that he would take over the responsibility of getting revenge for the clan and thus uphold their honor, the...
Continued from last week The Five Nations became as brothers again. They worked together as one people. If anyone of these nations were attacked, the injury was felt by all of the Five Nations. The Rotiianeson, or Nice People, whom some today call “chiefs”, contributed white wampum toward a Great White Circle of Wampum. This wampum circle is the symbolic fire of the Great Council, which burns at Onondaga. It certifies the pledge words of the Rotiianeson that they will keep the unity of the Confederacy that they are united, and form one bod...
Continued from last week As wampum became more plentiful it was used more and more until it came to be regarded as something sacred. Wampum strings served a credentials or as a certificate of authority. No Hotinonhshon:ni official put through information and/or pay attention to a report until he received official information through a runner who carried the proper wampum string or belt. Wampum guaranteed a message or a promise. Treaties meant nothing unless they were accompanied by wampum. Belts were given and received at treaties as seals of...
To most people a wampum belt means a beaded belt made by Aboriginals. White traders introduced glass beads and with these the Aboriginal people did beautiful embroidery work. Before the introduction of glass beads, embroidery work was made with porcupine quills. The long hair from the bell or the chin whiskers of the moose was also used. With the introduction of the crude glass beads the far more artistic porcupine quill and moose hair embroidery became a lost skill. The true wampum bead was not made of glass. Along the Atlantic coastal waters...
Continued from last week Maintenance In 1870, the Parliament of Canada had passed its first major Indian legislation, and the chiefs of the Ojibway and Haudenosaunee communities of southern Ontario and Quebec met at the Grand River Territory to consider the provisions of the law. The Six Nations opened the meeting with a short condolence, and proceeded to a reading of the Wampum Belts of the Confederacy. The Covenant Chain and the Two Row Wampum are recorded as entwined: The wampum having two men standing one at each end represents the first me...
Continued from last week Maintenance: The Kayanerekowa provides that the people must meet at regular intervals to reaffirm their commitment to the law and to the peace that it seeks to establish. The same principle holds true for international relations. A chain that is held loosely in the hand or allowed to slip binds no one. A chain that is allowed to rust or become tarnished may break. To the Iroquois, alliances were dynamic, ongoing relationships, and if they were not kept alive—were not continually improved—friends might turn to enemies ov...
Continued from last week GAVE A BELT (National Archives of Canada, RG 10, Vol. 1820, p. 276-290) In this speech are elements of several streams: the relationship of “Brethren” between the British in North America and the Haudenosaunee; the distinction between “the Kings subjects” and the Haudenosaunee; the duality or two-sidedness of the council (“on our parts…”); the paternal benevolence of the King: the hoped-for eternal nature of the Chain. Each of these streams is to be found in almost all other councils between the Crown and the Haudenosa...
Continued from last week This last exchange illustrates another aspect of “council language”: to respond to an issue that might have been confrontational by putting it in positive language. The tone is consistently “We agree, and furthermore”, rather than a refutation or rejection of what had been said – even when the “furthermore” is inconsistent with the original proposition. It is a way of speaking that requires skill and mental agility – but its purpose is the avoidance of direct affronts. From 1664 to 1755, the responsibility...
Continued from last week… It was not only with the British that the Haudenosaunee had planted trees of peace. When Otrewati of the Onondagas spoke to governor de la Barre (Onontio or “Yonondio”) of Quebec in 1684, he used the image of the tree for a place of peace and trade: Hear, Yonondio, what I have to say is the Voice of all the Five Nations, hear what they answer, open your ears to what they speak. The Senecas and Mohawks say that when they buried the hatchet at Cadarackui, in the middle of the Fort, they planted the Tree of Peace, in th...
Continued from last week… The Silver Covenant Chain, the emblem of the relationship between the Haudenosaunee and the Crown, contains many of the elements of the Kayanerekowa. Even in its beginnings, it was linked to peace: at a conference between New York, Maryland, Virginia and representatives of four of the five nations of the Confederacy in 1677, Garakondie stated on behalf of the Haudenosaunee (after acknowledging “that we have killed of ye Christians & Indians formerly”, that we… so thank the gentlemen there that they do exhort us to p...
On behalf of the British Crown, Sir William Johnson described and renewed the Covenant Chain in council with the Haudenosaunee on several separate occasions. On April 25, 1748, he spoke to the Confederacy at Onondaga: Brethren of the Five Nations, I will begin upon a thing of long standing, our first Brother ship. My reason for it is, I think there are several among you who seem to forget it; It may seem strange to you how I a Foreigner should know this. But I tell you I found some of the writings of our Forefathers which was thought to have...
The sailing ship that was the symbol of the British in the Two Row Wampum is also an essential element of the Silver Covenant Chain. It is that ship which was being tied to the Confederacy, first by a rope held in people’s hands, then to a tree, then to a rock and finally by a chain linked to the heartland of the Confederacy at Onondaga. It is sometimes said that the three rows of Wampum which separate the sailing ships and the canoe on the Two Row Wampum are the three links of the Covenant Chain: Peace, Respect and Trust. These three keep t...
Continued from last week. Some very early documents indicate that the visitors would come along the path, singing their songs of peace, and carrying their pipe with them. Later councils, too, could begin with the arrival of the guests, singing songs of peace and condolence. This makes sense. You would want to warn people that you were coming, and a song is a powerful way to do so. It broadcasts your peaceful intentions (because stealing silently up to the village could easily be misinterpreted). Where the messengers are single runners, they wou...
Continued from last week. The individual councils, which have been described as treaties had well-defined processes. They can be described and documented, as can the fact that the British understood, accepted and used those processes. These councils, though, were not isolated incidents, but part of a dynamic stream, a continuing and increasingly well-defined relationship. Beyond that relationship, the impact that each side had on the world of the other is equally important. The spirit of the Kayanerekowa-seeking peace and power through the...
Continued from last week. As an example of a European leader unfamiliar with Haudenosaunee practices, there is the confrontation between Lieutenant Governor Simcoe and Thayendenegea (Joseph Brant) at the Grand River Territory in late 1792. Simcoe had recently arrived from Britain. One of his first tasks was to take jurisdiction over a case involving the death of one Mohawk at the hands of another. He wrote: Captain Brant made a long speech, and delivered a Belt, which upon being interpreted to me by Colonel Butler, to my great surprise, I...
Continued from last week Just as the councils and procedures of the Confederacy adapted and raised clan and village ways to the level of dealings between the nations of the Haudenaunee, those same practices and procedures dominated the way the Haudenosaunee dealt with other nations. The Peacemaker had stated that the Great White Roots of the Tree of Peace should spread to the four directions, bringing the message of peace to the nations of the world. When the Haudenosaunee met other nations, their councils reflected the internal councils of the...
