About the cover illustration:
[Please see the web document, URL below, for this]
THE HAUDENOSAUNEE CREATION
Watercolour by Richard W. Hill, Sr.
Tuscarora, Six Nations
The Haudenosaunee Creation Story established the relationship of humans to the universe. We see the universe as a complex web of life, with each being connected in a spiritual way with each other being.
The Universe is like a giant sphere, with the top half called the Sky World. Above us is the sky dome, seen in the painting as a beaded curve. Up in that sky world is a great magical tree of life. That tree, seen as the double curve above the woman’s head, gives off bright light and has medicinal powers. The Sun, who we call our Elder Brother, and the Moon, who we call Our Grandmother, are connected to that Sky World light. The eagle connects us to that world above.
Once, a woman who lived in the sky world, heavy with child, fell from above and was saved by the water bird who put their wings together to break her fall. The birds placed her on the back of the turtle. She had small plants and seeds from the sky world that she planted in the mud that was placed on the back of the turtle. As she walked in an ever-increasing circle, she planted those seeds. New life was created on the Turtle Island.
We live on the back of that giant turtle. We call North America the Great Turtle Island. We call that turtle island, Etinohah – Our Mother, the earth. Below the Turtle Island is a deep ocean with dark and mysterious creatures.
She gave birth to a girl, who herself was impregnated by a Turtle Spirit Man. He placed two arrows over her bed. One had a flint arrow head. She was to have twins, but one seemed to cause her trouble even before he was born. She could feel the boys wrestling inside her. That twisted-minded boy decided to be born in an unusual way and in doing so killed his own mother. His brother, who was First Born, had a kinder personality and went about creating nice things on the Turtle Island.
When the body of the mother was buried, the four sacred plants grew from her body – corn, beans, squash and native tobacco.
Soon those boys held many contests to see who would have authority over the newly created earth. They wrestled with each other. They played lacrosse. They held many contests, but each to a draw. Finally, with help from the deer spirit, the Good-Minded Son defeated his brother and, in doing so, made the earth ready for humans. He took fresh mud from the Mother Earth and shaped two human figures from the clay – a man and a woman. He breathed into them and they came alive. They were the Original People and he taught them the Original Instructions about how to live in harmony with the earth, plants, animals and spirit forces.
The animals represent the family clans of the Haudenosaunee – hawk, heron, deer, bear, wolf, beaver, eel, snipe and turtle. We inherit the clan of our mother. Each clan is headed by the Clan Mother in honour of the Sky Woman and the Mother Earth.
The plants represent those that we celebrate and give thanks to through our ceremonies – tobacco, maple tree, corn, beans, squash and strawberries.
People are meant to live happy and healthy lives, but we must give thanks for all that the creation provides us and use it sensibly. It is a great gift of life.
<http://publications.gc.ca/collections/Collection/H46-2-99-235E-1.pdf>
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