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From the PBS
Documentary: 'Warrior
in Two Worlds'
The Haudenosaunee
have a strong oral tradition. Important cultural concepts, events and
agreements in Six Nations history are not recorded in written form,
but are passed down from generation to generation in absolute detail
by elders, Faithkeepers and Clan Mothers. Wampum belts are also part
of this cultural documentation,
and the Two Row Wampum belt remains one of the most important to the Haudenosaunee.
The Two Row is a
visual record of the very first treaty the Six Nations made with
17thCentury Dutch traders. The Wampum Belt memorializes that early
agreement, that the Haudenosaunee would retain complete economic,
political and cultural independence, or sovereignty in its dealings
with the other nation. Since then, the Two Row has remained an
important element of Six Nations treaties. Each nation desiring to
make a pact with the Haudenosaunee is first read the Gustwenta which
is a description of the concepts behind the symbols on the Two Row
Wampum Belt.
It is two rows of
purple wampum, this wampum being quahog (clam) shell – this is
the purple part of the shell. This is on a field of white. The purple
lines represent the Haudenosaunee travelling in their canoe. Parallel
to them, but not touching, is the path of the boat of the Europeans
that came here.
In our canoe is
our way of life, our language, our law and our customs and
traditions. And in the boat, likewise are the European language,
customs, traditions and law. We have said, please don’t get out
of your boat and try to steer our canoe. And we won’t get out of
our canoe and try to steer your boat. We’re going to accept each
other as sovereign – we’re going to travel down this road
of life together side by side.
G. Peter Jemison
Faithkeeper
Cattaraugus Reservation
Seneca Nation
The Hiawatha
Wampum Belt is another important record of Haudenosaunee history. It
memorializes the creation of the League of the Six Nations of the
Iroquois. The Haudenosaunee symbol, the “Great White Pine”
is the central figure on the belt – it also represents the
Onondaga Nation where the Confederacy’s central council fires
reside. All issues involving the entire Confederacy are debated and
decided there. The other Haudenosaunee nations are visualized as
squares: on one outer edge are the Mohawks, guardians of the Eastern
Door, and the Seneca, Keepers of the Western Door. Oneida and Cayuga
are shown in the two inner squares; the Tuscarora, the sixth nation
in the Confederacy, joined after this Wampum was created.
But the Hiawatha
Belt is more than an emblem, its interpretation reveals the
underlying principles of the Six Nations Confederacy. Those
principles are still handed down today through oral tradition. It
begins with the arrival of the Peacemaker, a man who came to the Six
Nations centuries ago during a time of great internal warfare. He
delivered his message to a gathering of Haudenosaunee at Onondaga
Lake, which is near modern-day Syracuse, New York. Details of his
mission and message are given by Peter Jemison, the Faithkeeper for
the Cattaraugus Reservation of the Seneca Nation, and Oren Lyons,
Faithkeeper for the Onondaga Nation.”
And he said, now I
am going to instruct you on the process of how you will run your
nations. How you will raise your chiefs. How you will raise your Clan
Mothers. How you raise the Faithkeepers, and what are the duties and
responsibilities of those people&ldots;.and what are the principles
of your government. And the first principle was peace, the second was
equity and justice and the third one was the power of the good minds.
And that’s great power, but it’s a collective power. It
doesn’t work unless it’s together. Each nation maintained
its own leadership, but they all agreed that common causes would be
decided in the Grand Council of Chiefs. The concept was based on
peace and consensus rather than fighting.
Oren Lyons
"One good
mind" to make decisions, that’s the way we proceed. When
the Confederacy was born, each nation agreed to act as a part of a
league. There is autonomy for each nation, each nation has its own
fire. Each nation has its own chiefs, its own Clan Mothers, but when
it comes to matters that impact the entire Confederacy, then we act
as one.
The Peacemaker
used as a symbol of our Confederacy, not a flag, but a tree, the
great white pine. The Tree of Peace. And at the base of that tree
grow four white roots in the four cardinal directions of the earth;
north, south, east and west. And any nation that can embrace the
concepts of peace, power and righteousness, can follow back one of
those roots to the tree of Peace and join there with us.
G. Peter Jemison
Source: Excerpt
from teaching module, the
PBS documentary
'Warrior in Two Worlds' |
