Indianz.Com > News > Doug George-Kanentiio: The origins of the Iroquois people
Artwork by Dawn Dark Mountain (Oneida Nation)
Iroquois as Star People
Monday, January 11, 2021
By Doug George-Kanentiio

The Rotinosionni-Haudenosaunee (Six Nations Iroquois) are often asked the question as to origins.

Where did you come from? Are you descendants of those people who came from Africa? Are you Asians? Did you come across the Bering Strait?

In response, the ancestors of the Iroquois are star people whose homo sapien characteristics were from those travelers who molded their DNA into a humanoid form molded from the earth to fit perfectly into the ecological requirements of this planet. There were other humanoids but the children of the stars were different and have no biological connection with Neanderthals or primates. These people lived on an island now submerged beneath the Pacific Ocean and when that land was submerged in a great flood the refugees went in the different directions with some arriving in what is now Central America.

This explains the strong DNA association with the Pacific Islanders and the indigenous people of the Western Hemisphere and affirms the ancient stories as to a world saturated by water.

The Pleiades, known as the “Seven Dancers” in Iroquois culture. Photo: NASA, ESA, AURA/Caltech, Palomar Observatory

We are not Asians but some of the people from the island did go west and northwest which explains the presence of our DNA there. This migration took place long before the Ice Age and that very stupid, nonsensical Bering Strait “theory.”

Why cannot the Euro-American scientists accept a western migration? Because it explodes their entire civilization. Now what of the stars? Our Iroquois people, like the Pacific Island people, had an intimate knowledge as to stars which influenced our travels, our lives, our planting and our ceremonies. We lived and died in accordance with the stars.

Our major communal ritual — the Midwinter — is determined by the stars and when our physical bodies are returned to the embrace of Mother Earth (Ohronte-death) our spirits follow the stars.

We knew that the universe consisted of a infinite number of stars and our spirits would come to understand more of the nature of the “heavens” once released from this reality. As astronomers point out-our brains cannot grasp the vast eternity of space but our spirits will gradually come to know from whence we came and to understand time, place and life itself.

Here are some stars as spoken in Mohawk: Otsi-erotha: the Crab; Ohkwari:kowa; the Big Bear; Rato:rats: the Hunter; Tehnikhen: The Twins (Gemini); Iehnekaha: Water Carrier (Aquarius); Ken’nihra’a Ohkwari: Little Bear; Ratinekwa:tara: Seven Dancers (Pleaides); Tekatsisto’kwen’ne: Falling Stars; Teiohaho’kon: Forked Path (Milky Way).

It must be emphasized there is no hell-eternal damnation in Mohawk cosmology nor is there a “heaven” where one “rests in peace”. Why rest when there is a universe to explore?

Our instructions as given by the star people is to live and not become extinct. Ask anyone who has “crossed over” and returned. They affirm our teachings.

So watch the stars and your direction home will be revealed.

Doug George-Kanentiio, Akwesasne Mohawk, is the vice-president of the Hiawatha Institute for Indigenous Knowledge. He has served as a Trustee for the National Museum of the American Indian, is a former land claims negotiator for the Mohawk Nation and is the author of numerous books and articles about the Mohawk people. He may be reached via e-mail at: Kanentiio@aol.com or by calling 315-415-7288.

Note: Content copyright © Doug George-Kanentiio
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