Rattle returned to Mohawk boy months after being seized at U.S. - Mexican border

As the Haudenosaunee people continue to stand their ground at the Canadian Border crossing young Kanewakeron Gray has just won his battle with US Customs at the Mexican border.  

The Gray Family traveled to Mexico last November to participate in a corn ceremony in the ancient village of Bacabureachi.  The Feria del Maiz is an annual ceremony of the Tarahumara indians of the Sierras of Northern Mexico. The Feria del Maiz is a ceremony honoring the blue and white corn used daily by the Tarahumara people.  The family was honored to be a part of this important festival, and was asked to sing traditional Haudenosaunee social songs in the evening.  Everyone enjoyed the songs they sang, which included Woman’s Dance, Old Moccasin Dance, and Alligator Dance.

“This was a very important life lesson to my children” said their mother, Lorraine Gray.  “They got to see how people still live in their traditional ways, and depend daily on the food that mother earth provides for them.”  People in this remote village live in adobe homes, with wood ovens for cooking and warming their homes.  Their main diet is corn and beans, with an occasional serving of meat from the cows and pigs that they raise in this mountain community.  They were honored to be a part of this ceremony.

The family’s joy was short lived, however, when they attempted to return home from the festival.  When passing through U.S. Customs at Santa Teresa, New Mexico, their RV underwent an intensive search.  In the search Kanewakeron’s snapping turtle rattle was seized.  After much protest resulting in the confiscation of the rattle, the family returned to Akwesasne, determined to exercise their rights as indigenous people, and bring the rattle home to Kanewakeron.

After almost 7 months of gathering support, and providing information on the significance of the rattle to Kanewakeron as a Haudenosaunee person, the rattle was finally returned to him by mail.  This sacred relic had been passed from the U.S. Customs Office, to the Department of Fish and Wildlife, and examined by a U.S. Attorney before being returned to its proper place.  The rattle was sent in a box by itself, with no letter of explanation, and no apology offered.

The Gray Family would like to thank all of the people who were instrumental in returning the rattle home.  If you are interested in participating in next year’s Feria del Maiz, in Bacabureachi, Mexico, please contact the Gray Family at 518-332-3156, or email [email protected].