If you know me well, you know, I like to make analogies of the things I see.
I stopped to take a break from travelling at one of my favourite spots by the river. I noticed that the barn swallows that nest under the bridge have returned, along with the chimney swifts—incredible little birds. I sat watching them come back and forth from their little mud nests high up on the underside of the bridge.
A great blue heron flew by a while later, and the giant bird made the swallows look like mosquitoes; such a big impressive bird can’t help but take our attention away from the little swallows, like eagles and sparrows.
Anyways, the heron had passed, and my attention was back on the swallows; I noticed how colourful, fast and agile they are in the air compared to the lumbering heron.
The heron is large, solid and impressive, but the swallows are colourful, speedy and agile. We all have our purpose, some better suited to one thing than others. The moral of the story is we’re all unique, and No one person is better than the next. Try not to focus on what others are better at than you are; jealousy serves none. Appreciate your worth because that person might be thinking the same about you.
Fish will always be seen as incapable when we compare them to a squirrel in a tree-climbing contest.
Three Mohawks and A Mohican walk into a royal court, and they were made KINGS. They showed up to make sure the Queen was doing right by the Onkwehonwe allies.
Having survived the six to eight-week crossing by ship, The four men would have appeared as beacons of health and strength, the likes that most had never seen. The ensuing fanfare was not enough to allow important matters to be forgotten.
Entertainment bills in their honour
The Queen Anne War was interfering with Onkwehonwe lands and the Kayanerekowa since her accession to the throne in 1702. It was among many in a series of “French and British” wars; in all reality, these wars had nothing to do with Onkwehonwe but were merely happening within our territories.
Queen Anne (L), Kwiter (R)
In 1710 the man who arranged the voyage was Kwiter (Peter) Shuyler, The first official mayor of Albany turned Governor of New York and brother to the official “Mohawk” Translator. He was also a military man, having led several earlier notable battles against the French and their Mohawks.
The Speech written by Mohawks?
To ensure that the spokesmen were equal parts, savage and savant, they were given clothing by a theatrical assistant and offered the finest materials. Royal treatment was bestowed to the guest to ensure success on the British side of the war.
The separation of the Kanienkahaka families as French Allie’s was devastating, and petitions to come home by the Kanyenkahaka families as British Allies caused a great deal of distress for the nation. These efforts further caused tremendous unrest for both warring countries’ statesmen and missionaries alike, who were only vying for territorial assets control.
With all the pomp, circumstance and grave misinterpretations of language, Onkwehonwe survival in peace has always balanced our exception to war.
In 1703, tensions grew from ratihnaraken encroachment on territory, and It just so happened to be where the Tuscarora lived and thrived for ages untold. According to David Cusick; The Tuscarora crossed a great vine that unfortunately separated them from their family once the crossing became too dangerous.
The boundaries for where the settlers were to remain had started to move, and they were given years of reminders, but it wasn’t until 1711, and the death of a trespasser named John Lawson brought these tensions boiling over.
The act of war had been deliberated by Clan Mothers, Chiefs and Warriors, and included their relations words. This deliberation went on for nearly a decade before any actions took place in 1711
Even then, it was to only lay waste to any villages of trespassers who had been given ample opportunity to remove themselves from the protected forests and clearings.
The British historians of the era had wildly exaggerated The loss of life, and the wordsmiths claimed that it was the Tuscarora who had killed many innocent people. In fact, it was the Tuscarora who had suffered greatly at the force of a combined North Carolinian and South Carolinian British militia.
Enslaved Tuscarora distribution (Left) Cost of Tuscarora slaves (right)
This war and the eventual rape, torture and enslavement of their people may have impacted the visiting Tuscarora’s decision in the 1780s in New York State during the American revolution when they returned home rather than coming to Canada to fight alongside the British.
In 1803 years after the Tuscarora had reunited with members of their nations who had remained in North Carolina, The Nation set about reminding the USA that despite the efforts to kill them all, They had only missed a few thousand of them. Thus the United States of America rekindled the war on Tuscarora territory.
The few warriors who stayed back with their Seneca cousins in New York would again take up arms, but this time for the United States of America. They would commit a grave act with their services to the United States; The few Tuscarora who remained took up arms against their elder brother nation during the war of 1812.
Tuscarora Reserve in NY state
The 1812 war itself was not in favour or against the Onkwehonwe, and the Oneida bid to remain neutral was observed by the entire confederacy until such time that our peace was broken. While we were never meant to take up arms against each other, The war of 1812 served as a valuable reminder as to why we are not to fight wars for other nations.
Courtesy of T. Locklear Bear Clan, Tuscarora from Drowning Creek, NC
On the other hand, the 1711 North Carolina Tuscarora war has never had peace declared, leaving one to boldly state that they remain the Bad### cousin who survived every attempt to eradicate them and are STILL warriors
My name is Shel (Michele) of the Tuscarora Nation. I live in Six Nations, Ontario. I wanted to let you know I’ve joined the David Suzuki Foundation’s Butterflyway Project as a volunteer Butterfly Ranger.
The project is a resident-led movement that is creating habitat for local bees and butterflies in communities throughout Canada.
In my role as a Butterflyway Ranger, I am looking for friends and neighbours from Six Nations of the Grand that can help fill our yards with native wildflowers that support pollinating insects.
My hope is that together we can start small – adding native plants to our gardens and yards this spring – but dream big, with hopes of creating a network of pollinator patches in yards, parks and schools throughout our community.
Four goals to help pollinators on Six Nations are:
Naturalize yards
Create dedicated native plant gardens
Create 100 new milkweed patches to help Monarch butterflies
Create an online one-stop-shop of information about how to help our native pollinators.
I am currently training to expand my knowledge about native plant gardens & care and their pollinators. I would be happy to provide more information and guidance.
Will you join me in creating a Butterflyway on Six Nations?
Michelle General, Butterfly ranger
I look forward to hearing back from you! If you have any questions or comments, drop them in the comments below and I will get back to you soon. Nya:weh (thank you) for your time.
The Canadian Government-appointed Councils became fashionable in 1876 under the reign of Alexander Mackenzie’s Prime Ministership. Only nine years after Canada itself was born, according to their legends, The young Dominion of the Commonwealth of Britain made the daring move to usurp control over Onkwehonwe in the Sewatokwat’shera’t.
The 100,000-year-old ways belonging to the Onkwehonwe civilizations were outdated and were very difficult for the new country to adapt to. They presented significant hurdles according to the colonization schedule; the new Canadian state needed a new and shiny tool that would keep the savages separated from their federal system but would stroke the egos of Onkwehonwe.
Target: Women
Onkwehonwe women are the life-givers keepers of the Nations’ land while men protect it and the women as they live their roles. Men are not superior or inferior, for that matter. It’s about balancing respectfully within the world that gave Onkwehonwe Women the power of absolute freedom, first documented by Jesuits in the 1600s despite these types of balancing displays having existed for thousands of years.
The Canadian strategy targeted this balance by removing women’s voices from political matters for over 116 years. This strategy effectively removed the unbroken matrilineal bloodlines for millions of women and even forced them out of their community by having male members siding with the young nation.
Despite being a common practice amongst some onkwehonwe nations, women took men from other nations as partners for as long as we have been here. It was a means to redistribute the gene pool and avoid inbreeding into oblivion properly.
Onkwehonwe women did not get the right to vote equally until 1985, unlike their non-native counterparts, having earned their right in 1916. Still, many Onkwehonwe do not vote in any federally recognized elections to this day.
The VOTE out of the canoe
Excerpt of Letter signed Nov 2nd, 1896, by Governor-General John Campbell Hamilton Gordon Signed with a simple “X” by three Indian Warriors and two Chiefs of the Iroquois Confederacy, witnessed by Seth Newhouse.
