A. Iroquois Culture
1. Aataentic (Sky Woman)--Lived above the earth until one day she fell (or was pushed by her husband) through a hole in the sky. She clawed at the sky's earth, but that just left her with handfuls of grasses and seeds as she fell.
2. Aquatic Animals of the Earth--Aataentsic's fall did not go unnoticed; the aquatic animals saw her, and quickly called a conference. The decided that turtle would let her live on his back. Aataentsic prevailed on the other aquatic animals to provide her with soil to plant seeds; for this they had to dive deep underwater, and only the muskrat was successful.
3. Birth of Aataentsic's Daughter--After accomplishing this, Aataentsic gave birth to a daughter. When the daughter matured, she became pregnant under mysterious circumstances (impregnated by the turtle), and eventually gave birth to twin boys. The good twin (Tharonhiawagon, Upholder of the Heavens, Sky Grasper) was born the conventional route, while the evil twin (Tawiskanon) was born through his mother's side, thus killing her. When Aataentsic asked the twins who was responsible for their mother's death, each twin blamed the other; the evil twin was more persuasive, however, and he became his grandmother's favorite. The Good Twin she threw out of her house, assuming he would die. Instead, the Good Twin, with the assistance of the turtle, his father, created man, and also many things that greatly assisted man. This made Aataentsic and the Evil Twin angry, and they went about undoing everything the Good Twin did to help man; the two were not powerful enough, however, to completely undo all of the Good Twin's work.
4. The Battle Between Good and Evil--finally, the two brothers fought, and the Good Twin prevailed. He could not re-do everything that his brother and grandmother undid, however. He was able to teach man to plant corn to support themselves, and to keep harm at bay through the use of a variety of rituals. To keep the ceremonies, the Good Twin assigned roles to each of the 5 clans that he named after various animals: the Wolf, the Bear, the Turtle, etc. These clans correspond to the Five Nations that made up the Iroquois Confederacy: Mohawks, Oneidas, Onondaga, Cayuga, and Seneca (from east to west).
B. Hurons--shared some common mythologies and cultural practices (which suggests a closer connection to the Iroquois).
1. Aataentsic--the Hurons also claimed descent from Aataentsic. Huron mythology diverged from the Five Nations, however, in claiming that Aataentsic's daughter died while giving birth to a single son, who they called Yoscaha, who filled the same role as the Good Twin did for the Five Nations. Aataentsic, perhaps driven mad buy her grief over her daughter's death, although this isn't clear in the myth, attempts to undo all of Yoscaha's good work for human kind.
2. The Five Nations of Huronia--the Hurons are divided into five nations, as well:
a. Arendaronnon (Rock) tribe lived at the northwest tip of Lake Simcoe
b. Attingneenongnahac (Barking Dog) tribe lived west of the Arendaronnons
c. Ataronchronnon (Tribe Beyond the Great Silted Lake) lived along the southern most portion of the Georgian Bay.
d. Tahontaenrat (Deer) Tribe lived south of the Ataronchronnon
e. Attignaoutan (Bear) Tribe, the largest of the tribes of Huronia, lived in the westernmost and northernmost vicinities.
C. Regulating Iroquois Conflict--Iroquois oral tradition claims that before the Confederacy was formed (about the year 1400, many scholars believe), the Iroquois fought almost constantly among themselves--driven in part by the tradition of replacing clan and family members with outsider adoptees.
1. Hiawatha--a member of the Onondaga tribe, Hiawatha is credited with developing the idea of the Iroquois Confederacy. He sought to bring like-minded tribal leaders to find was that the Iroquois could leave peacefully with one another. He was opposed by a member of his tribe called Atotarho, who used magic and poison to kill each of Hiawathas's daughter. Driven mad with grief, Hiawatha became a recluse, and only ventured out to hunt humans to cook and eat.
2. Deganawidah--a member of the Hurons. About the same time Hiawatha was going mad, Deganawidah emerged also seeking peace among the various Iroquois people. According to Huron beliefs, Deganawidah sprang from the union of a young virgin and a supernatural being. Before his birth, his grandmother dreamed that he would set in motion a chain of events that would lead to the destruction of the Huron people--so his grandmother and mother tried to kill him. After each attempt, however, they found him sleeping in their lodge, unharmed, so the two women decided that the fate of the Huron could not be avoided.
a. The First Condolence Ceremony--after hearing that Hiawatha had been driven mad by is grief, Deganawidah decided perform a condolence ceremony for Hiawatha, to bring him back to his "right" mind. These kinds of ceremonies became very important in Iroquois life, particularly since the proper functioning of their society was largely dependent upon moral suasion.
b. Ononharoia and the Festival of Fools--Father Brebeuf describes the practice of the Ononharoia as something completely foreign to him, but the French has long practiced something similar in their own culture--the Festival of Fools, when the rich and mighty could openly be made fun of. This was also the case at Christmas; people went "a wassailing" to drink the expansive wine of the lord of the manor. Fr. Brebeuf also failed to notice the similarity between the story of Deganawidah and Jesus Christ.
c. Tree of the Great Peace--according to Deganawidah, he had a vision of a great tree, with white roots extending in all directions. He interpreted this dream to mean that all Iroquois speakers should be brought into share in this great peace. This led to Five Nations into conflict with other Iroquois peoples, who wished to avoid allying with the Five Nations. The Great Peace ended conflict within the confederacy, but not for those who refused to join.
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