Nourish the Word

I’ve noticed a common theme in the traditions I’ve been studying. Many explain how the different First Nations people were created on this land with the help of some greater being, or led here, again by some wise or supernatural being. I think the message is clear, these people are here because God put them here. In other words God gave this land to them. The Covenant of Christ agrees with this, “...no one will come to this land unless they’re brought by the Lord’s power. So this land is consecrated to those He’ll bring here.” ( 2 Nephi 1, paragraph1 ) But if I look more closely at these traditions, I see another pattern that brings light to this continent’s current state. Prior to this people being given this land, there is also the tradition of previous peoples who, in the words of a few native authors’: “…did not continue to give each other the respect needed to keep the Sacred Hoop of marriage strong. Families began quarreling with each other. Finally villages began arguing...

This post should be read in conjunction with The Great Peacemaker  post. I believe they go hand in hand. There are two Tuscarora sources published 55 years apart from each other in the 1800s, that have been on my mind lately. The first reason is because they describe an earlier people who destroy themselves on this land. (I apologize in advance for not providing all the page numbers. This is because I only have Kindle versions of these books.) “A blazing star fell into a fort situated on the St. Lawrence and destroyed the people; this event was considered as a warning of their destruction. After a time a war broke out among the northern nations which continued until they had utterly destroyed each other, the island again become in possession of fierce animals. ” David Cusick’s Sketches of Ancient History of the Six Nations , 1826 “A blazing star fell into their fort, situated on the banks of the St. Lawrence, and destroyed the people. Such a phenomen...

One of the culture heroes that has stood out the most to me is the Great Peacemaker of the Haudensosaunee (or Six Nations). I’ve read through quite a few versions of this story (and there are a lot!). So far, I’ve found the two depicted in The Constitution of the Five Nations , (one committed to writing by Seth Newhouse and the other prepared and agreed upon by a committee of Haudenosaunee chiefs) to be the most similar to the Prince of Peace, Jesus the Christ. These two individuals are born of a virgin mother, are raised from the dead, were healers, and instruct their people in the way and law of peace. In some versions of this story the Peacemaker is identified as Dekanawida, like the ones in this post. In other versions he is identified as Hiawatha (a variation of spellings are used for both). Often, they are described as working together to bring about the confederacy of the Haudenosaunee. An online scan of the book can be read at   this link . Here are some sho...