First Night Binghamton 2007
Around the World and Home Again
IROQUOIS (and other Native American):
Dance of The Seven Sisters
The original five tribes of the Iroquois Confederation were the Mohawk, Seneca, Oneida, Onondaga and Cayuga. They were later joined by the Tuscarora. As with Inuit mythology the exact names and roles of the major Iroquois deities varied a bit from tribe to tribe but there is an overall pantheon that is recognized as belonging. Ataensic In North American Indian mythology (Iroquois), sky woman, creator goddess, mother of twin brothers, Hah-gweh-di-yu (sapling) and Hah-gweh-da-et-gah (flint). Important Iroquois Mythological Figures There is no one consistent body of Iroquois mythology, for several reasons. First, the Iroquois were a far-ranging people, with communities established in such distant locations as Ohio, upstate New York, and North Carolina. The Iroquois creation story relates how a woman fell from the sky and was carried by birds to a giant turtle upon whose back the Earth was created, according to Iroquois Indian Museum. When she died, the woman became the moon while her daughter became Mother Earth. The Sky Woman's twin grandsons created the flowers, land and animals on the planet.
Iroquois God
For many Native American tribes, the constellation of the Pleiades, or the Seven Sisters, is an important marker for the passage of time. This is particularly true in the northeast, where the constellation appears in the spring and vanishes below the horizon with the onset of winter. For the tribes indigenous to the Broome County region, such as the Iroquois (Mohawk) and Algonquin, the cycle of the Pleiades was vitally important, as it delineated the frost-free season during which maize could be cultivated. There are many legends about the Seven Sisters. One Onandoga tale is set in the late autumn, during the trip to the tribe's hunting grounds. A group of seven children, left idle when their elders went off to hunt, occupy themselves each day with festive dancing. Ignoring a mysterious white-feathered figure who warns them such levity would come to no good, they continue their dances. Their revels leave them hungry, and they ask for food for their elders, who refuse them and admonish the childrens' frivolity. As the daily dancing continues, the children grow lighter and lighter, and eventually begin floating towards the heavens, where they remain to this day. In our interpretation of the Pleiades myth, we chose to avoid using overtly traditional imagery from Native American art, since such images play a specific and sacred role in a still-active ritual practice. Instead, we have personifies the the Seven sisters through seven illuminated star figures, trailed by diaphonous costumes that trace their path through the heavens. |
Iroquois Present Day
ADDITIONAL INFO AND RESOURCES:
Iroquoian Mythology Iroquois Names
'Watchers of the Pleiades: Ethnoastronomy among Native Cultivators in Northeastern North America' by Lynn Ceci. Ethnohistory, Vol. 25, No. 4 (Autumn, 1978), pp. 301-317.
'The Story-Telling Stone' by Susan Feldmann.http://www.angelfire.com/ca/Indian/Pleiades.html
Iroquoian Mythology Iroquois Artifacts
In the Iroquois creation myth, Sky Woman understood that she was pregnant with twins and was pushed by her husband into the Earth’s waters below the above world. Little Toad was able to bring up mud to spread on Big Turtle’s back, and it grew to become the size of North America where Sky Woman created the Iroquois world. Her children, Sapling and Flint, were important in creating the details of the land such as rivers, fish, plants, and even the seasons. The Sky People, Demi-gods of the Iroquois, were critical to the Iroquois people as it helped to define who they were and what they believed. The Iroquois people were happy and peaceful. There was little to no violence within their tribes just as in their myth of creation that tells of the Sky People living on an island floating above the “earth” where there was no sadness, violence, or negativity. This shows the ways the Iroquois applied their myth to their everyday lives and their religion. The myth also explains how the Sky Women’s evil son, Flint, was beaten by his good brother, Sapling, and was required to live on the Big Turtle’s back. North America was carried upon Big Turtle’s back and according to the the myth, bones in fish, thorns on bushes, and volcanos erupting symbolized Flint’s anger. The myth of Sky Woman and her sons is the explanation of how all nature came to be.
The Iroquois was a culture based on equality. The roles of men and women were different, but each gender shared an equal