Six Nations Tourism

The Six Nations of the Grand River A Brief Cultural and Historical Summary

The Six Nations is a confederacy, or league of nations, comprised of the Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga, Cayuga, Seneca and Tuscarora nations. Each nation speaks its own dialect of the same language group. This league of nations did not originally include the Tuscarora, and is said to have formed before European contact with the Americas, sometime around the year 1450. The traditional account of how the Iroquois Confederacy was formed involves a man known as “the Peacemaker” who brought teachings of good news, peace and power, which were accepted by the people and became known henceforward as “The Great Law of Peace.” Fifty chiefs, clanmothers and faithkeepers, each with respective jobs, were appointed to as caretakers of the law. Chiefs are to pass their name down to their successors, who are chosen by the clanmothers, as they are head women of each respective clan. It is in this way that the Great Law is perpetuated and remains intact and alive today.

Within these nations are subdivisions called clans, which include three each from the land, water and sky: the turtle, eel, beaver, heron hawk, snipe, bear, wolf and deer. People from these nations are often termed “Iroquois,” a term coined by the French upon contact. The name we call ourselves is Haudenosaunee, which means “People of the Longhouse.”

Haudenosaunee people are traditionally a matrilineal society, which means that clan and nation are passed down to a child from his or her mother, and not from the father. People from the same clan are not allowed to marry one another, as clan constitutes a familial relationship already.

Originally, the Haudenosaunee people occupied territory from Montreal south to the Finger Lakes region of New York State. After siding with the British during the American Revolution, King George III awarded to the Haudenosaunee land along the Grand River a tract of land which designated six miles on both sides of the Grand River from mouth to source upon which many Haudenosaunee would settle. In 1785, this tract known as the Haldimand Deed encompassed approximately 300, 000 square hectares. However, during the ensuing years, more than half of the land was settled by the Scottish, Pennsylvania Mennonite exiles and United Empire Loyalists. Today, only 18, 000 square hectares remain with the Six Nations.” Presently, the Haudenosaunee occupy land in New York State, Quebec, Ontario, Wisconsin, and Oklahoma.

Historically, the Iroquois did not live in teepees, but in longhouses made of wood. These houses were large enough to house several families of one clan. Today, longhouses are used not as places of dwelling but as a place of giving thanks and ceremony. The longhouse religion is the traditional religion of the Haudenosaunee people. There are also many churches situated on the Six Nations Reserve.

Longhouse ceremonies are largely based on thanking our Creator (God) for the products of the earth, the seasons and our livelihoods. There are regular ceremonies for thanksgiving. These include the Maple, to give thanks to the maple trees for yielding their sap; Planting to ask the Creator to bless the seeds of the new crops and promote fertility; Strawberry acknowledges and gives thanks to the first fruits of the earth; Green Corn celebrates and gives thanks for the ripening of the corn, beans and squashes, the three sisters; Harvest is a general thanksgiving to “Our Supporters” after the harvest has been gathered; and finally the Midwinter is a ceremony for the purpose of celebrating the renewal of life and giving thanks for it. These ceremonies are conducted on an annual basis to give thanks. The ancient and traditional calendar was measured using lunar cycles which may be counted using the plates on the back of a turtle’s shell. There are thirteen plates in the center of the carapace, and twenty-eight surrounding smaller ones. These can be used to count the thirteen full moons of the year, and also the twenty-eight days of each lunar cycle.

Historically, contracts, political alliances were solidified and special events were marked by the exchange or presentation of wampum beads, which were often woven into belts or onto a single string. Wampum is made of beads made from the shells of spiral fresh-water shells. The laws of the original confederacy are recorded on wampum belts which may be interpreted accordingly.

Wampum belts are made up of “Cylindrical beads (made principally of Quawg, Venus Mercenaria, shells) drilled through from opposite ends,” and strung in rows with sinew, vegetable fiber and or thread, forming a rectangular belt that is usually longer than wide. The beads are deep purple or white in color.

European Contact and Influence

The history of European contact with the Haudenosaunee goes back nearly five hundred years. Jacques Cartier made their contact with the Haudenosaunee in 1534-35, when he encountered a group of Haudenosaunee people living along the St. Lawrence River (at the place of Hochelaga.) In 1609-10, Samuel de Champlain made an alliance with the Hurons, and together they made war upon several groups of Iroquois at the Battle of Richelieu and the Battle of Lake Champlain. French-Iroquois relations remained tenuous for centuries afterward. However, the Iroquois established positive relations with other European groups who provided them in turn with trade goods and European supplies. In 1643, the Iroquois concluded an important treaty with the Dutch allowing for the two cultures to live parallel to one another, without interfering with the other. This contract is known as the Two-Row Wampum belt, which signifies two rivers running parallel but never intersecting. When the British later conquered the Dutch colony of New Netherland and renamed it New York, they inherited and continued the alliance with the Iroquois. The Haudenosaunee relations with the British were generally sort of alliance with trade relations as well.

As European contact continues, missionaries from various countries and sects of Christianity were sent to convert the local Haudenosaunee population. Several Jesuit priests are often cited to illustrate this. In 1649, the Jesuit preists Jean de Brebeuf and Gabriel Lalemant were martyred in Brantford… Information gathered by the Jesuits is documented in their journals. These firsthand accounts may be read in Jesuit Relations and des peres Jesuites.

The new European population settling in the Americas brought new diseases to which the Haudenosaunee and all indigenous populations had no resistance. Aboriginal people suffered from epidemic diseases they knew no cures for, such as smallpox, the common cold, measles, influenza, tuberculosis and cholera. With severely decimated population, the Haudenosaunee people were easier to annex from the new European settler population. The seventeenth century was one of plagues and decimation for the Haudenosaunee.

Although the British and Iroquois had been allies in the American Revolution, the British had signed the Treaty of Paris in 1783, which ended the war with the United States. Many of the Haudenosaunee regarded their ally’s signing of this treaty with their enemy as a betrayal of their alliance. Thus, the British General Frederick Haldimand responded to this by persuading his British government to give a tract of land six miles deep on both sides of the Grand River from mouth to source (approximately 300 kilometers long) to the Iroquois loyal to the crown-“His majesty’s Faithful Allies.” This awarded on October 25, 1784. This is how many Haudenosaunee people came to live along the Grand River, and partly how the Six Nations Reservation came to be.

Many traditional structures were threatened among people of the Six Nations with the allotment of reservation lands in 1840s. From 1869 onward, Canadian law required a mandate of paternal descent. In 1924, the rule of the traditional confederacy chiefs was terminated/forcibly removed in favor of an elected municipal government on the reserve. This is currently the only governing body on the reserve recognized by the Canadian government. In 1959, and again in 1970, the confederacy chiefs and their followers attempted to seize control of the Six Nations government, but failed. On the whole, the abolition of the matrilineal decent system of the Iroquois has caused much confusion among the Six Nations, throwing nation and clan membership into doubt for many people unable to trace their family history back.

Another threat to Six Nations culture was that of residential schools- governmentally instituted boarding schools to which children (often) were forcibly removed from their family home were sent. Often religious in nature, these schools were places of assimilation of aboriginal children, demonstrating the government’s policy of eradicating indigenous culture. Survivors of these schools report having been beaten for speaking their native languages, practicing Haudenosaunee ceremonies, etc. the last residential school in Canada was closed in 1969. The Mohawk Institute Residential School in Brantford- also known as “the Mush Hole”- to which the children of the Six Nation reserve were sent, closed-in. This is the current site of the Woodland Cultural Center. This Residential school was open 1828-1969, approximately 1, 400 native children attended throughout this time. Legal proceedings are currently in action to compensate victims of residential school mistreatment.

Despite the recent social and governmental problems the Six Nations Reservation has had, there are many new remedial steps being taken everyday. Programs are now in place to save the Haudenosaunee languages, some of which are in danger of becoming extinct. On the Six Nations Reserve, several schools such as Kawenniio Gaweniyo Private Elementary and High Schools, and I. L. Thomas Odadrihonyanihta Elementary offer Haudenosaunee language immersion programs.

Grand River Territory

The Grand River is approximately 300 kilometers long from mouth to source. Around the Six Nations territory, the river has a clay bottom, and may appear muddy and polluted. However, the Grand River is one of the cleanest in Ontario, and has been designated a Canadian Heritage River. There are twelve Grand River Conservation Authority Parks along the river. Canoeing, kayaking, fishing, dinner cruises, and watching the wide variety of wildlife can be enjoyed on the Grand River.

There are many types of fish in the river, including smallmouth bass, walleye, pike, rainbow trout and catfish. However, many introduced species, such as carp, are threatening the indigenous river ecosystem.

The Grand River is naturally an area of Carolinian Forest, which includes fewer conifers, more deciduous and a lot of hardwoods, such as red and white oak, ash, elm, chestnut, butternut, hickory, black walnut, maple, white pine, some birch, poplar, and willow. Introduced species of plants are traditionally a farming people. “The Three Sisters” or “Our Supporters” consist of corn, beans, and squash, three traditional staple crops. Traditionally, many of the local plants may be used medicinally as well.

Buildings and Sites

Chiefswood National Historic Site
Chiefswood National Historic Site of the mansion known as Chiefswood, childhood home of the poet E. Pauline Johnson built in 1839 by her father Mohawk chief George H. M. Johnson to accommodate the tastes of his English bride, Emily Howells. A popular anecdote about the house refers to its matching front and back doors, one facing the road for the European visitors coming from the road by carriage, and one facing the river for the aboriginal people coming via canoe. After the death of Eva Johnson, the estate was given to the Six Nations Reserve and eventually restored into an historical site.

Veteran’s Park
Veteran’s Park was developed for the veterans of past wars. In the park is the last of the six canons that were captured by Joseph Brant and his soldiers in the war of 1812. It is the only one left standing in its original form, as the other five were melted down and reformed into a monument of Joseph Brant which stands in Victoria Park in Brantford.

The Old Council House
The Old Council House was the home of the Six Nations’ first elected council, which was installed in 1924. It is also the site of several attempts at ousting the new government in favor of the traditional confederacy government. In 1924, the local Indian Agent and the federal government imposed the elected council on the people of Six Nations, and the confederacy chiefs were excluded from the council house. In 1951 and 1971 the people took over the council house, but were beaten out by the RCMP. In 1973, another attempt at taking the council house was undertaken by some Six Nations supporters of the traditional confederacy government. They padlocked the council house, saying if they could not use it, nobody could. The elected band council got an injunction against them that was upheld by the Supreme Court of Canada in 1976. Today the council house is not in use, however, it may still contain many original Victorian artifacts, and possibly the battle flags of different clans. It is mainly used as a storage facility for the elected band council. On January 1, 2007 It was given back to the Traditional Confederacy Council.

Lacrosse Arenas
Lacrosse is one of the national sports of Canada. The game is hundreds of years old and originated in North America… it’s name literally translates as “little brother of war,” as it was almost a practice of various fighting styles and moves. The lacrosse stick holding a ball is weighted the same as an Iroquois war club. Lacrosse is still avidly played today at Six Nations, and has recently become a professionalized sport in its own right. There are two lacrosse arenas on Six Nations: the Gaylord Powless Arena, and the Iroquois Lacrosse Arena which is the newer of the two sports arenas on Six Nations.

Population

Six Nations has the largest population of any indigenous community in Canada, with a resident band population of 10, 488 and a total band population of 20, 435 overall.

Famous People

There are many famous people who come from Six Nations whom you may have heard of. Some of these include Jay Silverheels, Graham Green, Gary Farmer, Sadie Buck, Santee Smith, Joseph Brant, Robbie Robertson, Stan Jonathan, Gaylord Powless, Tom Longboat, and Emily Pauline Johnson. Short biographies of the latter two figures are included as follows.

Thomas Charles Longboat was born on July 4, 1886, Six Nations Reserve. Early in his life, it became clear that Longboat that has ability to become a great runner. Longboat’s first important race took place in 1906 when he won the “Around the Bay Race,” an annual Marathon in Hamilton, Ontario. After taking his victory, it is said that Tom ran home after the race. When he won the 1907 Boston Marathon with a record time of two hours, twenty-five minute and four second, Tom Longboat became the world’s premiere marathon runner. By 1910 he was widely recognized as one of Canada’s leading athletes. In 1912, after turning professional, he set the record of one hour, eighteen minutes and ten seconds for fifteen miles-seven minutes faster than his old amateur record. During World War I, Longboat served as a dispatch runner in France and raced professionally as often as possible. After the war, Longboat returned to Canada and settled in Toronto. He retired to the Six Nations reserve and died of pneumonia on January 9, 1949. Tom had become a legend in his own lifetime and so he shall remain. One of the many tributes to him is the “Tom Longboat Trophy” awarded annually to the outstanding native athlete across Canada. In 1955, six years after his death, Tom Longboat was installed into the Canadian Sports Hall of Fame.

Tekahionwake or E. Pauline Johnson was the daughter of a Mohawk Chief, George Johnson, and his wife Emily S. Howells, and Englishwoman. Pauline was born on March 10, 1861 on Six Nations. Although Pauline received little formal education, she seemed to have a natural aptitude for literature and began to write poetry at an early age.

At the turn of the century, Pauline Johnson was one of Canada’s most popular and successful entertainers. At the age of 31 when society expected her to marry and begin a family, she began to tour the country instead. She gave popular recitals of her poetry, comedy routines, and plays from Halifax to Vancouver. She was also one of the few female writers at the time that could make an independent living from what she wrote and performed. Pauline Johnson was proud of her native heritage and wrote: “My aim, my joy, my pride is to sing the glories of my people.” Pauline Johnson died in Vancouver on March 7, 1913 in Vancouver, British Columbia. Her childhood home has become the Chiefswood National Historic Site.

Happening on Six Nations:

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