Cultural Corner

Continued from last week

Reprinted with permission from Polishing the Silver Covenant Chain

Opening

Since the arrival of the Europeans on North America, the Haudenosaunee have strived to have peaceful relations with peoples from other nations. The protocols and processes underlying these relations have been embodied in the traditional teachings of the Haudenosaunee. They have been embodied in instruments such as the Two Row Wampum, Silver Covenant Chain, and the Canandaigua Treaty of 1794.

Haudenosaunee Thanksgiving

Address

Whenever the Haudenosaunee gather, our meetings are started and ended with the Thanksgiving Address. We have presented an English summary of the Thanksgiving Address last week.

“The Words That Come Before All Else” is how we see and understand the world. It has a deliberate structure to it. It starts with the people and moves outward and upward from the earth to the waters to the plants and four legged creatures to the bird life to the sky world and concludes with the Creator who made all life with nothing lacking.

The Thanksgiving Address reminds each person present that human beings are a small part of a much larger natural world. Its structure is meant to address and return thanks to each part of the natural world separately. After each part, the speaker states that “we who are gathered here have put our minds together for this purpose,” and the assembled people indicate their agreement.

The Thanksgiving Address reminds those gathered that they have duties and responsibilities, not only to themselves, but also to the entire natural world and the rest of creation. The message is simple, that as each part of the natural world continues to fulfill its responsibilities, so we as humans have our own responsibilities to fulfill to maintain the world as it should be.