Kanienkehaka: Story of Creation

In the beginning, Onkweshona, or man-like beings lived in the regions above. They knew not what it was to weep or to cry. Sorrow and death were thus unknown to them. The lodges of the man beings were long, each one belonging to a large family of one clan. In one of these lodges there was a woman who had been born with strong powers. People such as this were called down-fended, because they slept on beds of soft down. These people were always kept separate from the others in the lodge, and were cared for in their childhood by an older aunt or uncle.

One day, when the people were away from the lodge, a young man entered and went up to the down-fended woman. She reached out and touched the man, and he died. The woman later became pregnant and gave birth to a daughter called Iahkotsitsonte meaning Fertile Earth. Iahkotsitsonte was a beautiful girl who grew up in the lodge of her mother and became a healthy young woman. One day however, she became ill, and since sickness was not known to the man beings, and they didn't know what to do.

Iahkotsitsonte went out one night to seek the spirit of her father who told her to do the following: "You must travel my daughter; to the village of Taronhiawakon, or, ("He Who Holds Up The Sky"). In his village that is lit by the Tree of the Standing Light, and become his bride. On your way to the village of the Tree of the Standing Light, you must be careful not to touch any man or animal that comes along. When you reach the stream between our village and that of Tharonhiawakon, you will find a maple log. Cross the stream on this log, and accept help from no-one."

Iahkotsitsonte left the village of her people and traveled to the east. When she arrived at the stream she found the log, but before she could push the log out into the water, Kahahserine appeared (Kahahserine is the White Dragon of the Fire Body who sometimes appears in the sky as a failing star or meteor.) Kahahserine asked her if she needed help. Iahkotsitsonte became frightened and quickly ran back to her village. However, just as she left the stream, Kahahserine reached out and barely touched her on the shoulder. When Iahkotsitsonte arrived back in her village she once again sought the spirit of her father who asked if Kahahserine had touched her She replied "no". He then advised his daughter to return to the stream and make her way to the village of the "Tree of the Standing Light." Iahkotsitsonte arrived at the stream's shoreline again finding the maple log where she had left it and crossed over to the other side.

When Iahkotsitsonte arrived at the village of the Tree of StandIng Light, she sought out Tharonhia wakon, the chief of the up world and said, "I have come to be your bride." His response was, "Good, make me some supper." When night time came, Iahkotsitsonte slept on one side of the lodge and her new husband slept on the other. They did not really know each other and didn't think it was such a good idea to start having children right away. Even so, Iahkotsitsonte became pregnant.

This disturbed the mind of Tharonhiawakon which caused him to have a dream. He then brought the people of his village together to try to guess the meaning of this dream, but no-one could correctly guess what the dream of the Sky Holder meant.

Finally, the White Dragon of the Fire Body stepped forward and said, "Tharonhiawakon, surely your dream means that your new wife is pregnant and you're upset. Therefore, you will take the Tree of the Standing Light by the trunk. You will uproot this tree and place your wife by the abyss. Once done, you will push her through the hole, and cause her to leave the upper world forever."

When Kahahserine had finished speaking, the chief of the upper world said, "Yes, what you have said is true, and by correctly guessing the meaning of my dream, it's as though you have made it come true."

Tharonhiawakon then uprooted the Tree of the Standing Light, placed his pregnant wife at the edge of the hole and pushed her through into the space below.

Iahkotsitsonte fell, and below her all of the universe was water. The animals of the water saw her falling but because the sky and the water were both blue, they didn't know if she was falling from the sky, or coming up from the bottom of the lake. The water animals argued about this. The otter said that she was coming up from the bottom of the lake. The beaver and the muskrat agreed. The geese and the ducks, however, said that she was falling from the sky. They flew up, and breaking the fall of Iahkotsitsonte, let her rest upon their backs, and brought her gently down to the surface of the water.

Meanwhile, a great turtle came up from beneath the water and volunteered to be a resting place for Iahkotsitsonte, or Fertile Earth. The beaver, otter and muskrat each dove to the bottom of the lake and tried to bring up a mouthful of earth to place on the back of the turtle. The beaver failed and died as did the otter. But the muskrat was successful. He placed the mud on the back of the turtle and Iahkotsitsonte was laid down to rest.

When she woke, there was a fire next to her and a pot of corn soup. The back of the turtle had grown in size and it was visibly continuing to grow with every passing minute. Iahkotsitsonte stood up on the earth, and walked about it, helping in the process of its creation. Each day she returned to her resting place to find a fire and a supply of corn, beans or squash for her to eat. Corn, beans and squash have been known ever since as the three sister-providers of the Mohawk people.

Iahkotsitsonte became pregnant and soon gave birth to a daughter named Tekawerahkhwa, or Gusts of Wind. As she grew to maturity she became a beautiful young woman. One day when Tekawerahkhwa was sleeping in the forest, a man being came up to her and passed two arrows over her stomach. One arrow was tipped with flint, the other was a maple shaft and Tekawerahkhwa became pregnant with twins.

In about nine months time the twins inside the womb of Tekawerahkhwa had an argument. One of the twins, named Sahwiskera, or Flint, said that the best way to leave their mother was by way of the armpit. The other twin, named Okwiraseh, or Young Tree, said that the best way to leave was by between the legs. Before the argument was over, Sahwiskera pierced through his mother's armpit and killed her. Okwiraseh only followed, but was blamed for killing his mother by Sahwiskera.

Iahkotsisonte asked, "Which one of you killed my daughter?"

Sahwiskera replied, "It was Okwiraseh, my brother."

Okwiraseh was then thrown into the forest and left to die by his grandmother. However, this was not to be his fate. Taronhiawakon came down from the upper world and taught his grandson how to live in the forest. He taught him how to hunt and to make foods from the things that grew upon the earth. He also taught him to make the lodges of the Onkweshona and the method of preparing the bark.

Finally, Taronhiawakon told Okwiraseh to prepare the earth for the coming of man. He told him to make the earth beautiful and to provide growing space for the three sister-providers; corn, beans and squash. Okwiraseh made the corn to grow tall and strong. But his brother Sahwiskera took the corn and threw it into the fire, burning the ends, ruining that part of the ear. Okwiraseh rushed to take the corn out from the fire and saved the rest of the ear. Notice today how the end of the corn cob cannot be eaten. Okwiraseh made all of the rivers to run in two directions. This way, men would be able to travel in any direction without having to paddle against the current. Sahwiskera changed the course of the rivers and made them all flow just one way. He then threw large boulders in the water to hinder river travel. Fortunately, Okwiraseh caught Sahwiskera in time and stopped him, but still many rivers were already made difficult to travel on.

Okwiraseh asked the various animals how they would avoid man in the hunt. When the animals responded, Okwiraseh changed that part of the animal that would have a special advantage over man. One day, as Okwiraseh was going about the earth, he noticed that there were no animals to be seen. They had all been captured by Sahwiskera and locked inside a cave. The season began to grow cold and there was no game to hunt. Okwiraseh located the cave where the animals had been confined and moved the rock holding them in and freed them.

After this last confrontation with his brother, Okwiraseh decided to challenge his brother to one last contest of strength. He asked his brother to meet him on top of a mountain deep within the Adirondacks to play a game of dice. The winner was to rule the day, the loser the night.

When Sahwiskera showed up for this contest he brought his own dice. Okwiraseh agreed to use the bowl of Sahwiskera, but not his dice. He called to the sparrows and asked them to give their small heads for dice. The sparrows agreed. Okwiraseh then called out to all of creation and said, "To all things that are alive, send me your power now so that I may be victorious, and that all of you may live!"

The animals and the plants, the very earth itself sent power to Okwiraseh and he proved victorious over his brother.

Sahwiskera was banished to the world below the turtle and the earth, only to come out at night when it is dark and cold. Okwiraseh assumed preeminence on the earth during the day, and continued to carry out his grandfather's command to continue the work of making the earth a better place for the coming of man.

One day traveling about the earth reviewing all of his work, Okwiraseh came across a man being, Hatowi, blocking the path through the forest.

Hatowi said, "What are you doing here, walking about my creation, as if you had made it?"

Okwiraseh responded that it was indeed he who had done all of this work of creation, and the two agreed to a contest of strength. Whoever could make the mountains move would be the agreed upon maker of the earth, and the loser was to serve the winner for the rest of time. Hatowi went first. He commanded the mountain to move, but of course it stayed in place.

Then Okwiraseh said, "See, you are not the maker of the earth and all that it contains."

Hatowi said, "But you too must try to make the mountain to move."

Okwiraseh replied, "Yes, but first you must turn around and close your eyes."

Then Okwiraseh ordered the mountain to move right up behind Hatowi. When Hatowi turned around, his face slammed into the side of the mountain. This twisted his face and bent his nose out of shape. Hatowi was so surprised that he asked Okwiraseh not to hurt him and promised to help mankind for all time. Hatowi said that if men would address him as Grandfather, burn tobacco to him and carve his image in the trunk of a living tree, he would cure men of their sicknesses. Okwiraseh agreed to this and the great curing ceremony of the False Face was born, dedicated to Hatowi, the Great Twisted Face.

Now the earth was ready for the habitation of man. Okwiraseh went to the shore of a great lake and he scooped up a handful of deep red earth.

He said, "Now I make what shall be called Onkwehonwe, or human beings. They will dwell here on this floating island."

As soon as he had stopped talking he began to make the body of human being. He took up the earth and he said, " This earth that I take up is alive. So too, the body of the human being that I make shall also be alive." and he made the flesh of the human being.

When Okwiraseh was completed, he thought for awhile and said, "This will result in a good thing, and these human beings will continue to have life, just as I myself am alive."

He took a portion of his own life and he gave it to the human being; He took a portion of his own mind and enclosed it in the head of the human being; He then took a portion of his own blood and enclosed it in his flesh; so also did he take a portion of his power to see and enclosed it in the eyes of the human being. Finally he placed his breath in the body of the human being and man rose and stood on the earth.

Then Okwiraseh said, "I have made your body and you may now walk on the earth and see what the it contains."

At this time, as if by magic, Okwiraseh showed all of the earth to man. He showed him the valleys nestled in between tall gracious mountains. He showed man the clear waters of Iroquoia and the waterways of all the various territories. Okwiraseh showed man the beauty and wealth of the forest, the numerous medicines and foods. Fields of the three sisters growing to maturity were pointed out to man. Large trees bearing nuts and fruits, bushes of berries and the large bounty of game were shown to man. Likewise, the spots where flint could be found, Calimite for making pipes and bowls, deposits of clay and sand for pottery, and smooth pebbles for beadwork. All of these things were shown to the first man and he was very glad.

Okwiraseh then said, "I have given you all that the earth contains. It will continue to give comfort to your mind. I have planted human beings on the earth for the purpose that they shall continue my work of creation by beautifying the earth, cultivating it and making it more pleasing for the habitation of man."

Following this, man saw his elder brother the Sun come up and cause the daylight on the earth to be warm. And man saw that the earth was beautiful and that the sky was beautiful and he was glad.

Okwiraseh said that all of this was for man, and all that man had to do was to feel good and to be thankful for all of the gifts of creation. Man must never take these good things of the earth for granted or they would be taken away. Man must always be thankful.

But men forgot these words of the Creator, and they lost respect for the earth and for each other. Because of this the Creator returned to earth, and instituted the four ceremonies of thanksgiving. These four thanksgiving ceremonies would bring the people together at harvests, mid-winter, when the maple runs from the trees, and at the time of green corn. Human beings were told that they had forgotten to be thankful, and so, they were ruining the earth. These four ceremonies helped them to remember.

Even with the four ceremonies, however, there was fighting amongst the people. And so the Creator returned to earth once again, this time to inspire the formation of the Great Law of Peace and the founding of the Five Nations Confederacy. It is a hard thing to tell where the creation story of the Kanienkehaka ends because it does not really end in any one place, but continues on, even to this day.

Credits
The Creation Story was read by Gene Tehotsennonh'nehatie Diabo. Audio Production provided by Chuck Kennikesto:era'a Barnett, Precision Audio Lab.