{"id":4231,"date":"2020-11-06T13:52:35","date_gmt":"2020-11-06T19:52:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.indianz.com\/News\/?p=4231"},"modified":"2020-11-06T13:53:53","modified_gmt":"2020-11-06T19:53:53","slug":"doug-george-kanentiio-mohawk-numbers-and-creation-story","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/2020\/11\/06\/doug-george-kanentiio-mohawk-numbers-and-creation-story\/","title":{"rendered":"Doug George-Kanentiio: Mohawk numbers and creation story"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Provided to YouTube by A-Train EntertainmentSkywoman \u00b7 Joanne ShenandoahSkywoman – A Symphonic Odyssey Of Iroquois Legends\u2117 Silver Wave RecordsReleased on: 2…<\/p>\n\t\t<\/a>\n\t<\/div>\n\t

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Joanne Shenandoah: Skywoman<\/a>\r\n<\/figcaption>\r\n
Mohawk Numbers One to Ten and the Creation Story<\/div>\r\n
Friday, November 6, 2020<\/div>\r\n
By Doug George-Kanentiio<\/div>\r\n

<\/p>\r\nCreation stories are essential to understanding all human societies since these narratives define place, origin, spirituality, psychology, social-gender relations and in some instances politics. It summarizes what a people value and how they perceive the universe which in turn determines their fate and subsequent actions. Creation myths form the core of a national identity. \r\n

<\/p>\r\nAmong the Rotinosionni (Haudenosaunee) the Skywoman epic<\/a> is universal not only in terms of a story but has a pervasive influence in art, design, literature, music, dance and our social-political lives. Women dance as the Skywoman did, the women’s social songs are the same as when she came to this earth, the central role of women in Iroquois society is a direct consequence of her role as a prime creator. The plants she brought with her — strawberries, tobacco, corn — are vital elements in Iroquois life. Skywoman (Iotsitsisohn or Mature Flower) is the core of all things Iroquois. \r\n

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Skywoman: Legends of the Iroquois<\/a>. By Joanne Shenandoah and Doug George-Kanentiio.\r\n<\/figcaption>\r\n<\/div><\/div>\r\n

<\/p>\r\nAs important as a myth such as our creation story may be the actual physical components of this story is equally of significance. What the Skywoman epic tells us are events that happened in real time. She did come from another place in the Pleiades star cluster encased in a shield provided by the Fire Dragon. She approached the earth followed by a trail of fire, the earth was in a time of flooding, she found a mountain top to land, the water receded, a part of the hemisphere she danced upon took the shape of a great turtle (Anowara:kowa), the moon was taken from this earth as happened upon the death of her daughter, Tekawerahkwah (Gust of Wind), humans were made in her image, women are the lifegivers as set by natural law.\r\n

<\/p>\r\n The birth of her grandsons Tawiskeron (Ice Skin) and Okwiraseh (Sapling) set in place the intellectual and psychological duality of human beings. The physical evidence substantiating the truth of the story is evident and persuasive.\r\n

<\/p>\r\nWe recall Skywoman in our ceremonies when we put tobacco to fire, when we sing or dance. She is in our skydome beadwork, the direction in which we dance, the rituals we use at our birth and death particularly the three sacred breaths. When one of us dies they are, as the funeral speaker says, returned to the embrace of Iethinistenha Ohontsia-the Mother and her creation the Earth. \r\n

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