The lodge door is open; inside, you can see the People sitting around a blazing fire. All who enter can feel the anticipation of what is to come.
The bright eyes of the children and the quiet chatter between friends as they greet each other add to the eagerness for what the evening holds.
Winter is the time for rest and stories. As the earth lies under her soft blanket of snow, so do the People. They take that time to rejuvenate their souls, minds, and bodies, a teaching learned from our mother, the earth.
Warmed by the fire and covered with cozy blankets, old and young alike prepare for a long winter’s evening listening to the elders and the storytellers as they share the teachings of the People.
A hush falls over the lodge as the door closes and the storyteller begins.
This is a story told by the Onkwehón:we and it tells how the Great Law and the Great Tree of Peace came to be.
A long time ago, on the shores of Onondaga Lake, the Great Peacemaker (whose name is only spoken in ceremony) brought the leaders from the Five Nations of the Iroquois together during a time of great darkness and violence in the land.
It is said that the People had forgotten to be thankful and strayed from the Creator. As a result, discontentment and bloody wars raged in every village, with jealousy and revenge more important than peace.
Creator sent a messenger of peace to restore love, peace, and harmony to the people.
The Peacemaker is said to have been born to a virgin mother who had not yet gone through her puberty rites. Her mother feared for her and what people would say, so she hid the girl until it was time to give birth.
After convincing her daughter that they must get rid of the child, the grandmother tried three times to kill him, but each time she failed.
Realizing that the child must be unique, with special powers, the grandmother knew they must raise him carefully.
The People saw as he got older that the Peacemaker had great powers of persuasion and a good mind. When he reached manhood, it was time for him to leave on his mission to restore peace and unity to the villages in the east.
It is said that the Peacemaker made a canoe of white stone on the northern shores of what is now called Lake Ontario. The People marvelled at the wonder of that, how the heavy canoe didn’t sink as they watched the Peacemaker swiftly disappear into the distance.
The first person to embrace the Great Law of Peace was a woman named Jikonsahseh, who lived in a place known to be a neutral zone where anybody, including warriors, were welcome to come into her home. Jikonsahseh would feed them and provide a place to rest, and warriors would lay down their weapons of war outside her door.
The Peacemaker proposed laws that would let the people live in peace and unity, a system of self-rule guided by moral principles.
When Jikonsahseh heard those words, she wept because she had never heard anything so beautiful. Then, she pledged to the Peacemaker that she would follow the Great Law of Peace for the rest of her days.
Because of this, the Peacemaker told her that at the successful formation of the Great Law, she would become the symbol of the leadership of women, the first Clan Mother. In this way, she would never be forgotten.
It took a long time for the Peacemaker to convince the leaders to come together. He first visited the Mohawks (Kanienkehaka), confronting the evilest of them, trying hard to change their minds and behaviour to accept the Great Law of Peace.
The Kanienkehaka were a fierce and warring people. Convincing them took a long time, but eventually, he won them over with his remarkable powers of persuasion, and they embraced the Great Law.
He then left to visit the other nations of the Iroquois; the Senecas, Oneidas, Cayuga, and Onondaga.
During his travels, he met two special people who were instrumental in establishing the Great Peace. One man was Ayonwatha, whose family had been killed by the other, an evil and powerful sorcerer named Tadodarho.
The Peacemaker performed the first Condolence Ceremony using wampum shells to remove Ayonwathas’ grief. This event was also the first time wampum shells were used.
Wampum is not money. It is used to remember words, ceremonies, and agreements. However, it was also used as an exchange tool.
Ayonwatha became the Peacemaker’s spokesperson, and together they travelled to spread the message of peace.
When they arrived at the Onondaga Nation, they met great resistance from Tadodarho. Tadodarho is described as having snakes in his head and a crooked body, symbolizing his evil deeds. Tadodarho did not want anything to do with the Great Law.
The Peacemaker and Ayonwatha left that place, moving on to the other nations, successfully convincing them to accept the peace.
Together the Peacemaker, Ayonwatha, and 49 men from the four nations gathered and began to work together on the evil mind of Tadodarho of the Onondaga Nation.
They tried many times to convince Tadodarho to embrace the peace, to no avail. The 49 men raised their voices in song in one more attempt to win Tadodarho over. Singing the Great Song of Peace, the Hai, Hai, putting their minds together with that one purpose, they managed to pacify Tadodarho. His body straightened in doing so, and the snakes were combed from his hair.
Tadodarho was offered a special position in the Confederacy by the Peacemaker to watch over the fire on behalf of the Five Nations. This appealed to him very much, and he agreed to live in peace and tend the fire to ensure it burned forever.
Once the Peacemaker had achieved this great deed, bringing the Five Nations together, he saw that the people still had their weapons of war with them.
After realizing they needed a symbol representing their promise of peace, he spotted a tall tree. He marvelled at its height and knew that because it was so tall, it could be seen from distant places, and because its top pierced the sky, attention would be drawn to it.
The branches on this tree had needles in clusters of five. The Peacemaker used this to symbolize the Five Nations bound together as one. He took some needles off the tree and told the people that even with the changes of the season, the tree always stays green. So too shall the Great Peace stay among the Five Nations. For all time.
The Peacemaker uprooted the tree, creating a cavity in which he then instructed the men to cast down their weapons of war to bury their greed, hatred, and jealousy.
“Into the depths of the earth, down into the deep under earth currents of water flowing into unknown regions, we cast all weapons of strife,” the Peacemaker said. “We bury them from sight forever and plant again the tree. Thus, shall the Great Peace be established and hostilities shall no longer be known between the Five Nations but only peace to a united people.”
The Great Tree of Peace, also known as the White Pine, is sacred to the People. Its roots, known as the Great White Roots of Peace, spread in all four directions. One to the east, one to the west, one to the north, and one to the south. If any other nation ever wished to join the League, it would have to follow the White Roots of Peace to the source and take shelter beneath the tree.
On top of the tree was placed an Eagle.
The meaning of planting the tree is to symbolize the Kaienerakowa, Great Peace and Strength. The eagle symbolizes keeping a watchful eye on the roots. If evil approaches, he will scream loudly, sounding the alarm and summoning the Five Nations of the Confederacy to come at once to protect and defend the peace.
This symbolizes that we all have the responsibility to protect the peace.
The Peacemaker then took one arrow from each of the Five Nations and bound them together, symbolizing combining individual powers and creating one great power.
It has been said that the Peacemaker demonstrated this by taking one arrow and breaking it in half. He then held all five arrows together and could not break them.
“We have now completed our power so that we the Five Nations Confederacy shall have in the future one mind, one body and one heart,” the Peacemaker said. “If any evil should befall us in the future, we shall stand or fall united as one man.”
The Iroquois (Haudenosaunee) Confederacy was originally five independent nation-states bound by a central constitution and a common set of laws. The five original nations unified under the Great Tree of Peace and became the Iroquois Confederacy long before the arrival of Europeans. In 1722, the Tuscarora joined the Confederacy to form the Six Nations.
The Haudenosaunee Confederacy was the governing body of the Six Nations up until 1925, when a forced federal election replaced the Confederacy with the Six Nations Elected Council. Both the Haudenosaunee Confederacy and the Six Nations Elected Council are operational, which creates a unique political environment on Six Nations.
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Cory Bilyea is an Indigenous journalist currently working for Midwestern Newspapers. She is a member of the Six Nations of the Grand River, better known as Onkwehonwe, the original people. Cory is a survivor of intergenerational trauma caused by residential schools. She can be reached at cbilyea@midwesternnewspapers.com.
