IT is hardly possible to define the creed of the people comprising the
Iroquois, for it was so intermingled with curious superstitions of every
kind that it cannot be traced to a continuous doctrine like the religions
of other peoples. They had no special teachers of religion, and the
privilege of adding as many superstitions as the mind could conceive was
possessed by each individual member. Thus their religious belief was
encumbered with almost every superstition that could be created in the
minds of an ignorant and uncivilized people dwelling in wildernesses
filled with numerous wild beasts and given over to the undisputed sway of
solitude.
In a general way, however, according to the explanations made by
Cornplanter of the belief entertained by him, their religion saw God as
a great and loving spirit whose extended arms bore up and encircled the
universe. They believed this Great Spirit created all the objects, both
animate and inanimate, upon the earth; that he smiled upon his people
in sunshine and shower, and frowned upon them in fierce storms and
whirlwinds. He peopled the air with millions of embodied spirits, some of
which were evil, and unless propitiated caused pain, sickness, trouble
and death. Others were good spirits and aided the hunter in his chase,
the lover in his suit, and brought male offspring to the mother's arms.
Finally, he had prepared for them a "Happy Hunting-Ground," where every
one should go after death. There beautiful birds would make resonant
the hills and valleys with their enchanting song. The Great Spirit had
covered that vast and magnificent country with plains, and forests, and
limpid streams, in which and over which would sport the red deer, bears,
buffaloes, wild horses and all animals and fishes useful for clothing
and food. The good Indian could there reside forever with his wives and
papooses, climbing the rugged hills without weariness, sporting in the
rivers and lakes that never failed to supply an abundance of fish--always
returning from the chase laden with the trophies of his skill. But the
bad Indian would return from the chase empty-handed; he would lose his
way and wander in the labyrinth of beautiful paths that led him beside
fields of growing maize which disappeared when he attempted to pluck the
glistening ears. Then his more fortunate brothers would take pity upon
him and lead him to his home, and his punishment would be the chagrin he
would feel when of necessity he was compelled to partake of his brother's
bounty.
In the beginning, the red men dwelt with the Great Spirit in this
delightful country, but they were so boisterous and full of play that
the Great Spirit could get no rest on account of their noise. Besides
this, there were no evil spirits or dangers there, and they could not
learn to be brave and courageous unless they were situated where they
came in contact with opposition and trouble. So the Great Spirit made
a large basket in which he placed the red men, carefully covering them
so they could not see the trail by which he took them from his home. He
brought them to the earth and left them with the promise that when they
had acquired bravery and circumspection they should again be carried to
his home and there dwell for "so many moons that all the needles on the
greatest pine tree would not tell them all."
The Iroquois held sacred no day on which to perform particular religious
exercises, but they had several annual festivals which were observed
with regularity for ages, and which are, in a measure, celebrated by
the so-called pagans among the Senecas, Onondagas and Tuscaroras at the
present time. The first of these was the "Maple Dance," and exemplified
their way of thanking the Great Spirit for tempering the wind so that
the snows would disappear and the sweet waters would flow from the sides
of the maple trees that abounded in the wilderness about their homes.
Previous to holding this, and all other festivals, the inhabitants of
each village would meet at the council-place for what might be termed
to-day "a confession of sins"--for such it really was. When all had
assembled, one of the oldest sachems would stand before his brethren with
a string of white wampum in his hands and tell wherein he had sinned
according to Indian ethics. When he had concluded, the wampum would
be passed to another, and so on until all had unburdened themselves.
The open declaration of their misdeeds did not relieve them of the
consequences of the deeds themselves, but in a measure it tempered the
punishment. The moral code may be briefly summed up as follows:
It was a sin to neglect the old in any manner, or to refuse to share
with them the fruits of the chase or the products of the fields,
and it was especially sinful to neglect or disregard aged or infirm
parents.
To speak in derision or slightingly of anyone who might be lame,
blind, idiotic, insane--crippled in any manner or unfortunate in any
degree, or to refuse them aid or shelter.
To refuse to share food or shelter with anyone who might apply for
either, or to fail to care for the sick and for orphan children and
widows.
To break any treaty or agreement made at the council-fire when the
peace-pipe had been smoked, or after the parties making the treaty
had partaken of food together.
To violate the chastity of any woman.
To kill animals for any other purpose than for food and covering, and
for the protection of growing crops and human life.
To tell a falsehood, even though it might be of the most innocent
character.
To show cowardice in meeting any kind of danger or to shrink from
exposure, pain, suffering, sickness or death.
To take human life unless the person killed was a member of a tribe
with which the Iroquois was at war.
There were no punishments prescribed for breaking any of these or
other recognized laws, but the person offending by the commission of
the greater sins was, by common consent and custom, shunned, scorned,
shamed, neglected, pointed at and ostracised from all connection whatever
with his tribe and relatives. This generally resulted in the culprit's
suicide, which was looked upon as a very brave act, and was full
reparation for the wrongs committed.
Soon after the "Maple Dance" had been held came the "Planting Festival,"
which was conducted as a thank offering to the Great Spirit for unfolding
the buds upon the trees, decking the woods and fields with flowers and
warming the earth so that it could receive and nourish the seed.
When the seed had been planted, and upon the appearance of the first
shoots of corn, the "Hope Festival" was held. At this time, as the red
men circled around the glowing fires, they called upon the Great Spirit
to protect the seeds that he had given life and asked him to bring them
to maturity. They sprinkled leaves of tobacco upon the fires and repeated
slow, monotonous chants or prayers that had been used by them for unknown
generations. They asked the Great Spirit to give attention to their words
arising to him in the smoke and not to let his ears become closed that he
might not hear. They said:
Thy children thank thee for the life thou hast given the dead seeds.
Give us a good season that our crops may be plentiful. Continue to
listen for the smoke still rises. Preserve our old men among us and
protect the young. Help us to celebrate this festival as did our
fathers.
The "Green Corn Festival" was held when the season had so far advanced
that the corn was ready to be used as roasting ears. The old women
decided when this time had come, and none might partake of the corn
until the festival had proceeded to the proper stage. This was a time
of returning to the Great Spirit their thanks for his goodness, and the
festivities lasted several days. They were wild and uncouth, of course,
but the participants had faith that these ceremonies were pleasing to
the Great Spirit. The revelry was conducted in a prescribed form that
probably did not change for centuries. In the midst of one of the dances
peculiar to the "Green Corn Festival" the oldest sachem of the tribe
gave utterance to a prayer of thanksgiving, which has been translated as
follows:
Great Spirit in the Happy Hunting-Grounds, listen to our words. We
have assembled to perform a sacred duty as thou hast commanded and
which has been performed by our fathers since thou taught them to
observe this festival. We salute thee with our thanks that thou hast
caused our supporters to yield abundant harvest.
Great Spirit, our words continue to flow towards thee. Preserve
us from all danger. Preserve our aged men. Preserve our mothers.
Preserve our warriors. Preserve our children. Preserve our old men
that they may remember all that thou hast told them. Preserve our
young men and give them strength to celebrate with pleasure thy
sacred festival.
Great Spirit, the council of thy people here assembled, the men and
women with many winters on their heads, the strong warriors, the
women and children, unite their voices in thanksgiving to thee.
The "Harvest Festival" was held a few weeks afterwards and was similar in
character, though not considered of so much importance as the "Green Corn
Festival."
Some time during the winter was held the "White Dog Dance." This,
however, was not of so ancient an origin as the other festivals and was
probably a superstition promulgated by some of the great "medicine men"
within the last two hundred and fifty years. Evil spirits that might have
been driven into the houses of the Indians by the cold, were induced by
various ceremonies to enter the body of a white dog or gray fox that was
led from house to house for that purpose. Then, with due ceremony, the
animal was killed and the bad spirits cremated with the body--the jaws
having been tied together so that the spirits could not escape through
its mouth, into which they had entered.
The Indians had numerous other ceremonial dances and any number of social
dances--more than any other race of people, for they had few other
amusements--but those enumerated above were the only strictly religious
festivals. These were in every sense reverential, devotional and inspired
by faith. The red men believed that if they observed them according to
ancient customs and usages it would please the Great Spirit and that he
would eventually take them all to the Happy Hunting-Grounds. While they
clearly believed in an immortal life and in the resurrection of the body,
they had no belief whatever in the infliction of future punishment, other
than that experienced by the hunter whose arrows could not procure the
game he coveted and trailed in the land where game abounded forever.
Had these people, possessing (as they most certainly did) a religion
combining so many of the elements of the Christian religion, been
discovered by any one of the enlightened nations of the present day
instead of by the intolerant and greedy bigots of four hundred years ago,
their history would not have been written with so many sad scenes for
illustrations.
About the year 1800 a new religion was revealed to the members of the
Iroquois then residing in New York State, and as it is what is now known
as the Pagan belief, it may be well to describe it briefly. At that time
there was living on Cornplanter Island, in the State of Pennsylvania, a
half-brother of Cornplanter and Blacksnake by a common father--Abeel,
the white trader. His name was Handsome Lake (Ga-ne-o-di-yo), and he
was born near the site of the village of Avon, N. Y., in 1735, and
died in 1815 at Onondaga when on a pastoral visit to that nation. His
life had been spent mainly in dissipation, and in his old age he fell
ill and was not expected to live from day to day. One night he sent
his daughter to summon his renowned brothers to his bedside, as he was
convinced that his end was drawing near. His brothers reached the house
shortly after daylight and found Handsome Lake at some distance from
the hut, apparently dead. They carried him in and had commenced to make
preparations for the funeral, when suddenly he revived, sat upright and
commenced to talk very strangely. He recovered rapidly and at his urgent
request a council of his people was summoned to meet at Cornplanter, and
to this assembly he revealed all that had befallen him.
His revelations soon became the religion of the Iroquois and may be
considered their creed at the present time. Handsome Lake journeyed from
tribe to tribe and taught the new faith till his death, fifteen years
after. He was regarded as a second Hiawatha and had wonderful influence.
After his death other teachers took his place and continued to expound
the new faith as nearly as possible in the exact words of him to whom
it was believed to have been first revealed. Unlike modern theologians,
they made no attempt to put their views and ideas ahead of the original
revelation, for they commenced each new section of the long and tedious
recital with the words, "Thus said Handsome Lake," and they followed him
as closely as possible, both in words and gestures. They did not add to
or take away--they simply repeated. The last great follower of Handsome
Lake was his grandson (Sase-ha-wa), known to the whites as Jimmy Johnson,
who died about 1830. About the middle of August, 1894, a grand council of
the chiefs was held at Onondaga, and on that occasion these traditions
were revived, several days being spent in the work.
Stripped of long explanations as to how the message was told and the
details of the various provisions and requirements, the creed of Handsome
Lake was as follows:
As he lay in his cabin looking out of the window at the stars,
momentarily expecting death, three beautiful men came to his couch and
gave him some berries to eat, which threw him into a deep sleep. When
he awoke he was told by one of the men that he might live if he would
throughout the remainder of his life be a teacher of his people and speak
to them the words that the Great Spirit put into his mouth. He promised
to do this and immediately became strong. Then the men conducted him to
the outer air, where he was found by his brothers, and, after showing
him many wonderful things concerning the Happy Hunting-Grounds, again
threw him into a sleep and disappeared. When he taught he closed his
eyes and spoke only the words put into his mouth by the Great Spirit;
therefore, whatever he told them was inspired. The doctrines expounded
by him did not displace any of the old ceremonies so dear to the heart
of the Iroquois. In fact, he urged the observance of all the religious
dances, saying they were pleasing to the Creator. His first efforts
were directed toward the eradication of intemperance, and here entered
the first threat of future punishment in the creed of the Iroquois. A
drunkard was promised boiling hot liquor, which he must drink in great
quantities. When he had drunk until he could hold no more, streams of
fire would issue from his mouth and he would be commanded to sing as
he had done on earth after drinking the fire-water. Husbands and wives
who had been quarrelsome on earth were to be compelled to rage at each
other till their eyes and tongues ran out so far they could neither see
nor speak. A wife-beater would be repeatedly led before a red-hot statue
which he would be told to strike as he struck his wife upon earth, and
when the blow fell, molten sparks would fly from the image and burn
his arm to the bone. Lazy people were compelled to till cornfields in
a burning sun, and as fast as the weeds were struck down they would
again spring up with renewed luxuriance. Those who sold the lands of
their people to the whites were assigned to the task of removing a
never-diminishing pile of sand, one grain at a time, over a vast distance.
These are but samples of the terrible punishments to be dealt out to
evil-doers of all kinds.
At the same time he taught that rewards would be freely bestowed to
those who kept the laws laid down by the Great Spirit, and into these
laws as revealed by Handsome Lake, with many fanciful and poetical
imaginings that pleased the simple people to whom he taught, he wove the
Ten Commandments. He taught morality, temperance, patience, forbearance,
charity, forgiveness, and all the cardinal virtues.
Handsome Lake implicitly believed that the vision he described was a
direct visitation from the Creator, and he also believed that in his
teachings he was simply giving voice to the wishes of that Creator.
There is little doubt that he exerted a decided influence for good, as
did also his followers for many years after his death; but when sects
and denominations commenced to tumble over each other in their zeal to
"Christianize the Iroquois," and hair-splitting questions of theology
were put forward to confuse and confound the teachings of the prophet of
their own blood, the Indians began to doubt all that had been told them
in the past and their ears were stopped to all that might be preached to
them in the future. It may be truthfully stated that few Indians have at
present any well-grounded religious belief, yet if they were not fearful
that it would cause them to be subjected to further legal restrictions
they would be well pleased to return once more to the free enjoyment of
the teachings of Handsome Lake, their greatest prophet.
_Sacred Stone of the Oneidas_
_The Sacred Stone of the Oneida Indians_
[Illustration]