Iroquois

The Origins, Gods, and Ancestors of the Iroquois The origins of humanity from the Iroquois are a pregnant woman fell from the sky and was saved by some animals. The animals then placed the woman on the Great Turtle’s back. The Great Turtle after that ordered all the animals to retrieve earth from under the ocean and to place it on his back, so the woman could live somewhere. The Iroquois believe that there is a Great Spirit who created everything. Also the Native American group believes that the Good Spirit created all good things, while the Evil spirit, created all things poisonous. After a person dies the Iroquois believe that their spirits journey to the place where the good spirit lives. However the evil spirits try to stop them from reaching the place in the netherworld.

=Oral Stories and Artistic Expression=

The Iroquois uses art to scare away the evil spirits. In order to scare the spirits, the Iroquois carve a face onto a living tree. Then they cut out the mask from the tree. After the mask is complete, the use rattles and dances in hoping to frighten the evil spirits.

=Human Relationship with the Natural World= __The Three Sisters__ Corn, beans and squash are known as the three sisters, the physical and spiritual sustainers of life. These three vegetables compose the main food supply of the Iroquois. These plants were thought to be given to the people when they sprouted from the Sky woman’s daughter, which granted the Iroquois the gift of agriculture.



__**Sacred times and practices**__

__**Medicine**__  medicine men would use herbs and ointment to treat fevers, coughs and snake bites while also cleaning wounds, setting bones and giving emetics if something poisonous was eaten. In addition to the medicine men, conjurors would attempt to dispel illness caused by witchcraft. They would usually try to remove an illness by singing or sucking/blowing the illness away. In the realm of preventative medicine the false face society would come to villages twice a year waving pine branches in homes to dispel illness. The last of the conjurors, shamans would have the power to treat illnesses caused by evil spirits. Finally in the area of mental health the Iroquois community would be obligated to solve conflict by guessing what each other’s dreams meant.  __**Death and burial**__ Upon death the deceased will be placed on scaffolding for a few days while orators from the village would talk about the life of the deceased and the nature of life in general. When it was determined they were dead others with a name similar to the deceased would give it up in mourning for some time. After being prepared for burial they would either burry them or leave their striped bones in their lodge and release a bird to symbolize the deceased moving on. Mourning would last a year the time they believed it took to get to the land of the dead. After this new tribe members would be allowed to take the name of the deceased often being expected to replace them.

__**Iroquois sacred days**__

__**Festivals**__

__**Midwinter festival**__
 * This was their New Year festival. It lasted 5 days and began sometime in January or February. The celebrations include thanksgiving for the food, confessions and dice games that symbolized a struggle between good and evil

__**Maple festival**__
 * this festival gave thanks for the first harvest of sap from trees some time in February to January and lasted for one day. The Iroquois would celebrate by giving thanks and burning tobacco at the base of a tree.

__**Corn ceremon**__ **__y __**
 * corn seeds saved from the last year are blessed and the gods are asked for enough rain and sun for the corn. This ceremony takes about a half day

__**Strawberry Festival**__
 * when strawberries began to ripen the Iroquois gave thanks and dancers mimicked berry pickers

__**Green Corn Festival**__
 * to celebrate the corn harvest the festival would last four consecutive days. The first day would include general thanks giving, a feather dance for people who worked on the festival and the naming of children. On the second day young adults and adoptees were named. The third day was dedicated to personal commitment and sacrifice with a communal burning of tobacco. Followed by speeches and a feast. On the fourth day they would play a dice game similar to the midwinter festival, and finally the women who had worked the fields would sing thanksgiving for the crops.

__**Harvest Festival**__
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">After the food was stored away and before the men left to hunt they would hold a one-day festival to celebrate.

=Bibliography=

Molloy, Michael Vincent. “An Iroquois Story of Origins.” //Experiencing the World’s Religions//. 2nd ed. Toronto: Mayfield Publishing, 2002. 37. Print.

“Northeast Iroquois Nation Religion, the Great Spirit, and the False Face Society- Native Americans in Olden Times for Kids.” //mrdonn.org//. N.p., n.d. Web. 4 Feb. 2011. <http://nativeamericans.mrdonn.org/‌northeast/‌iroquois/‌religion.html>.