"THE MESSAGE OF KARIWIIO"

Reprinted with permission from Traditional Teachings by the Native North American Travelling College

…continued from last week

THE ARTICLES OF KARIWIIO

NOW WE WILL TELL OF ANOTHER TO TELL YOUR RELATIONS.

These three people (Kanontisistaks, Kanatisianisonte and Kawanakowa) said that they would not give Thanksgiving to Sonkwaiatison so the Chiefs, Clan Mothers, and other people approached them repeatedly asking them to give Thanksgiving and renewal. Then Kaienthokwen went to see them also, and he told them that they were not even worth burying because they would not give Thanksgiving to Sonkwaiatison. The Messengers told Skanientariio that the people are not to judge how another will be passed from this world on to the spirit world. It is Sonkwaiatison’s place to do this.

NOW WE WILL TELL OF ANOTHER TO TELL YOUR RELATIONS.

The Four Messengers told Skanientariio that he should not think of his last journey so much - Skanientariio always had this on his mind. They gathered three children to try and take his mind off his last journey. When the time came for the boys to talk to Skanientariio none of them could talk to him, and they all broke down. They cried for his sadness at remembering his last journey. Then they picked another boy and he tried to talk to Skanientariio. All this boy could say was to keep a strong mind and then he too, started to cry as the other children had.

NOW WE WILL TELL OF ANOTHER TO TELL YOUR RELATIONS.

The Messengers told Skanientariio to go into the Longhouse and ask his people who would do three things to follow the messages of Sonkwaiatison.

a. is there anyone here who wouldn’t mind me telling them to run about in the woods?

b. is there anyone who would like to go and visit?

c. is there anyone who would like to see one thing?

They quickly answered ‘yes’ to all. Now the Messengers asked, what has happened? So Skanientariio told them that the people all wished to follow the Message of Sonkwaiatison.

The Messengers said that the reason they asked these three questions were:

a. all the people who practice witchcraft are always in the woods.

b. if anyone in the Longhouse would like to visit, meaning to gossip, this will always be done; and

c. if anyone would like to see just one thing, this means to follow the way of the “Kariwiio” completely.

NOW WE WILL TELL YOU OF ANOTHER TO TELL YOUR RELATIONS.

The world is full of evil. We will always hear people say that I will not quit drinking because our white brothers will always be producing alcohol everyday. Some people will never touch it. So the Messengers split a group in half, to show the people that alcohol is no good. They gave one side nothing but food. Now you will see that the half that drank the alcohol were not in their right minds - they fought one another and some even died because of the influence of alcohol. The other half who had only food were just fine, everyone’s mind was at ease.

NOW WE WILL TELL YOU OF ANOTHER TO TELL YOUR RELATIONS.

This took place while Skanientariio was in Cold Springs.

The Messengers told Skanientariio that they would give him three songs and one day he would be singing these songs. When Skanientariio sings his third song he will be going towards the last journey of his life.

NOW WE WILL TELL OF ANOTHER TO TELL YOUR RELATIONS.

The Chiefs told Skanientariio that they had seen two women, a mother and her daughter, and they were running in the woods chasing after a man. The people couldn’t find this man, so they sent some warriors to go and look for him. Night came and they still couldn’t find him. The next morning they continued to look for him and found him deep in the woods and he was insane and shortly thereafter he died.

Now what these two women did was very bad. They had used a love charm medicine on this man. He couldn’t control his mind. So the Chiefs gathered and decided to punish them. They decided to whip the two women. They did not die from being whipped and the Messengers said that what the Chiefs did was wrong: it is not the duty of the people here to punish others for their wrongs or evil doings. The Messengers told Skanientariio that there will be a time of judgement for everyone who has done evil, and it is up to the Punisher to determine the punishment for these people.

NOW THE MESSENGERS AND SKANIENTARIIO WERE BACK TO THE “Y” IN THE ROAD, AND THEY TOLD HIM: NOW WE WILL BE GOING ON THE ROAD TO SONKWAIATISON.

NOW THE MESSENGERS SHOWED SKANIENTARIIO ANOTHER AND ASKED HIM TO TELL EXACTLY WHAT HE SAW.

He said he saw an object coming toward him. He saw that it was a white dog, and the dog seemed very happy to see him; “

Now the Messengers will explain why this is so: the dog was Skanientariio’s dog while he was alive and it was the dog that Skanientariio had sacrificed at one of the white dog ceremonies during the Midwinter.

Continued next week...