Deganawidah

Deganawidah even English the Great Peacemaker , the Great Peacemaker ' called, was a legendary prophet of the Iroquois . He is considered the founder of the Confederation of Five Nations (Hau-Dé-No-Sau-Nee, English people of the long house , people of the long house ) and the national hero of the Iroquois.

Life

Legend has it that Deganawidah was born among the Hurons or Onondaga in a place called Ka-ka-nah-yenh. It also says that his mother was told in a dream through a heavenly messenger that she would give birth to a son who would plant the "tree of peace" in the Onondaga area. Since this epic is based on oral tradition, it is difficult to categorize it in time. The young woman named her son Deganawidah. As he grew into a man, he set out to fulfill the mission for which the “Great Spirit” had chosen him. This consisted of proclaiming the message of peace and power to the people, showing them how they could find peace and justice among one another. The tree of peace is said to have grown on a hill that is sacred to the Iroquois. The chiefs from the reservation of the (later) Six Nations, near Brantford , Ontario , visit this site once a year for a spiritual meeting. In part, his person is mixed with Hiawatha , who is also considered to be a co-founder of the alliance. It is not certain whether and if so, when exactly they lived. Some researchers suspect around 1148, others between 1450 and 1600. He is said to have paddled across Lake Ontario in a white stone canoe in order to establish the Great Peace among the warring tribes. His vision was that they should all live together in a world in accordance with the principles of the Great Spirit, free from war, cannibalism, black magic and the thought of vengeance. The legendary characters embody the individual aspects, so it is Hiawatha, a courageous Onondaga warrior who lost his wife and daughters through the blood feuds common among the tribes. Atotarho, the Onondaga war chief, is another person in this myth. He is said to have been a powerful medicine man with snakes in his hair who used dark magic against the other tribes. Nobody dared stand against him for fear of deadly retribution. Deganawidah, on the other hand, is the great peacemaker from the north who was sent out to unite the five nations. In some stories there is also a female figure Jigonsa [h] seh, a descendant of the Heavenly Mother, who symbolizes an advocate of the women's council as a messenger of peace, since the consent of a clan mother was essential for important political decisions.

The legend

In a story, his first encounter with one of the tribes ( English the Flint Nation , the flint nation ) is described as follows: He came by canoe across the lake and sat down under a tree by a waterfall and smoked a pipe when he entered Member of the tribe and asked about his origin and the reason for his coming.

'From whence came you?' 'I am from Ka-ka-na-yenh,' the stranger replied. 'I am of the Wyandots, whom you call the Crooked Tongues because our speech is slightly dififerent,' answered the stranger, 'My mother is a virgin woman.' 'Then,' said the speaker, 'By what name are you known?' 'I am Dekanawidah, so named because my virgin mother dreamed that it should be so and no one else shall ever be named by this name.' [...] 'The Great Creator from whom we are all descended sent me to establish the Great Peace among you. No longer shall you kill one another and nations shall cease warring upon each other. Such things are entirely evil and he, your Maker, forbids it. Peace and comfort are better than war and misery for a nation's welfare. '

“'Where did you come from?' 'I come from Ka-ka-na-yenh,' replied the stranger. 'I belong to the Wyandots, whom you call the crooked tongues, because our way of speaking is a little different,' replied the stranger. 'My mother is a virgin woman.' 'Then,' said the speaker, 'what name are you known by?' 'I am Deganawidah, so named because my virgin mother dreamed that it should be so and that no one else should ever be called by that name.' […] 'The Great Creator from whom we all descended sent me to establish the Great Peace among you. No longer should you kill one another, and the nations should stop warring one another. Such things are evil and he, your Creator, forbids them. Peace and comfort are better than war and misery for a nation's well-being. '"

These words sounded wise, but people wanted to check whether he was really a messenger of the Great Spirit. So he said to them that the Creator had given him the power to determine his own death; they should recognize this as a test by wanting to climb the tall tree next to the ravine and cut it down so that he would fall to his death must. They did. He fell into the deep gorge and actually appeared to have drowned in the river's waters. They were all the more astonished when they found him the next morning in a small cave in which he was preparing his morning meal alive and unscathed. They saw this as a sign that he really was the chosen one who could bring the Great Peace. He was also able to convince the other tribes and they settled their feuds and followed his advice.

The great peace

The main features of the idea indicated that all peoples should live in peace and friendship with one another. There were 3 important pillars for this. These were in turn divided into 2 branches each:

• Justice - Gdiwoh = justice between individual people and among the respective nations
• Health - Skenon = health of body and mind and at the same time peace (no injury from war)
• Power / power - Gashasdenshaa = recognition of law and custom as well as religion (living according to the guidelines of the Great Spirit)

To affirm the peace alliance, the peacemaker uprooted the tree of peace, a large white pine tree, and said:

"I Dekanawideh, and the confederate lords now uproot the tallest pine tree and into the cavity thereby made we cast all weapons of war. Into the depths of the earth, down into the deep underearth currents of water flowing into unknown regions, we cast all weapons of strife. We bury them from sight forever and plant again the tree. "

“I, Dekanawideh, and the allied chiefs are now uprooting the most powerful jaws and we will throw all weapons of war into the cavity that will be created. In the depths of the earth, in the deep underwater currents that flow into unknown regions, we all throw disputes. We'll bury them out of sight forever and plant the tree again. "

This great peace should not be limited to the five nations, but the peace law should spread in all directions from the tree of peace as "the Great White Roots of Peace". Anyone who was willing to live by this law should be accepted into the community and should find shelter under the tree of long leaves.

Affiliated tribes
In the "League of the Hau-Dé-No-Sau-Nee or Iroquois" five branches of the Iroquois were initially united.

• "Ga-ne-a-ga-o-no" flint nation ( Mohawk )
• "O-nun-da-ga-o-no" people on the hills nation (Onondaga)
• "Nun-da-wa-o-no" people of the Great Hill Nation ( Seneca )
• "O-na-yote-ka-o-no" granite nation, people of the standing stone ( Oneida )
• "Gwe-u-gweh-o-no" people from the marshland nation ( Cayuga )

Finally came the

• "Dus-ga-o-weh-o-no" clothing nation ( Tuscarora )

The following words are said to come from him, which he addressed to the chiefs:

“Think not forever of yourselves, O Chiefs, nor of your own generation. Think of continuing generations of our families, think of our grandchildren and of those yet unborn, whose faces are coming from beneath the ground. "

“Do not think of yourself forever, O Chiefs, nor of your own generation. Think of the following generations of your families, think of your grandchildren and those who are still unborn, whose faces will come from the bosom of the earth. "

- Deganawidah : The Great Peacemaker, founder of the Iroquois Confederacy

reception

• The novel Turtle island - A Dream of Peace by Jack Ramey tells the story of Dekanawidah and Hiawatha, who wants to avenge the death of his four daughters, how they meet, heal the wounds of the Five Nations of the Iroquois together and make peace between them.
• The 2009 film Kissed by Lightning tells of Mavis Dogblood, a Mohawk painter, whose husband "Jesse Lightning" was killed by lightning in a thunderstorm. Thereupon, in her grief, she closes herself off in the memories of the time before. In order to face reality, she begins to paint the stories that her husband Jessie told her earlier from the history of the Iroquois. The film features a modern retelling of the 14th century legend of the Great Peacemaker and Hiawatha.

literature

• John Napoleon Brinton Hewitt, Seth Newhouse: Biographical notes on Deganawida and Hiawatha. 1898, National Anthropological Archives, Smithsonian Institution (Manuscript No. MS 3524: sova.si.edu English)
• Arthur Caswell Parker, Seth Newhouse: The Dekanawidha Legend . In: The constitution of the five nations . The University of the State of New York, Albany 1916, p. 14–60 (English, Textarchiv - Internet Archive ).
• Herbert Marshall Lloyd: League of the Ho-dé-no-sau-nee or Iroquois . Ed .: Lewis Henry Morgan. Dodd, Mead, New York 1922 (English, archive.org ).
• Anthony FC Wallace: The Dekanawideh Myth Analyzed as the Record of a Revitalization Movement . In: Ethnohistory . tape 5 , no. 2 , 1958, ISSN  0014-1801 , p. 118-130 , doi : 10.2307 / 480572 , JSTOR : 480572 (English).
• Christopher Vecsey: The Story and Structure of the Iroquois Confederacy . In: Journal of the American Academy of Religion . tape 54 , no. 1 , 1986, ISSN  0002-7189 , pp. 79-106 , JSTOR : 1464101 (English).
• Cornelius J. Jaenen: Deganawidah . In: American national biography . tape 6 . Oxford University Press, Oxford 1999, OCLC 52590176 , p. 343-344 , doi : 10.1093 / anb / 9780198606697.article.2001695 (English, restricted access).
• Robert Hieronimus: The League of the Iroquois and the Great Law of Peace . In: Founding Fathers, Secret Societies: Freemasons, Illuminati, Rosicrucians, and the Decoding of the Great Seal . Simon and Schuster, Rochester, Vt. 2005, ISBN 1-59477-865-5 (English, books.google.de ).
• Bruce E. Johansen, Barry M. Pritzker: Deganawidah . In: Encyclopedia of American Indian History . tape 3 : People and groups in American Indian history. Primary source documents . ABC-CLIO, Santa Barbara 2008, ISBN 978-1-85109-818-7 , pp. 708–709 (English, books.google.de - reading sample).
• Margaret Conrad, Alvin Finkel, Cornelius J. Jaenen: Biography: Dekanawidah and Hiawatha . In: History of the Canadian peoples . 6th edition. tape 1 : Beginnings to 1867 . Copp Clark Pitman, Toronto 2011, ISBN 978-0-7730-5530-8 , pp. 28 (English).

Web links

• Iroquois Great Law of Peace thegreatpeacemakers.com
• Hiawatha ( English, French ) In: The Canadian Encyclopedia . Retrieved July 28, 2019.
• The Great Law of Peace - Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) Constitution democraciaparticipativa.net

Individual evidence

1. ^ Paul AW Wallace: Biography - Dekanahwideh (Deganawidah, Dekanahouideh, the Heavenly Messenger) . In: Dictionary of Canadian Biography . Volume I 1000-1700 . University of Toronto / Université Laval, 1966 ( biographi.ca ).
2. ↑ Robert Constas: Legend of the Great Peace of the Iroquois Confederation. TSG Foundation, accessed April 18, 2019 . 
3. ^ Arthur Caswell Parker, Seth Newhouse: The Dekanawidha Legend . In: The constitution of the five nations . The University of the State of New York, Albany 1916, p. 14–16 (English, Textarchiv - Internet Archive ).
4. ^ ^{A b} Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples - Final Report . tape 1 : Looking forward looking back . Indian and Northern Affairs Canada (INAC), Library and Archives Canada, 1996, p. 57 (English, Textarchiv - Internet Archive ).
5. ^ Anthony Wallace: Death and Rebirth of Seneca . Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group, 2010, ISBN 978-0-307-76056-2 , p. 42 (English, books.google.de ).
6. ^ Ramey, Jack: Turtle island: a dream of peace . Firstition edition. Springwood Press, Madison, IN 2015, ISBN 978-1-943112-20-3 .
7. ↑ Kissed by Lightning OCLC 701734740 .