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The Great Peacemaker, sometimes referred to as Deganawida or "Dekanawida" (although as a mark of respect some Iroquois avoid referring to him by this name except in special circumstances) was, along with Hiawatha, the traditional founder of the Haudenosaunee (commonly called the Iroquois) Confederacy, a political and cultural union of several Native American tribes residing in the present day state of New York. The effects of the union were far-reaching and included related Iroquoian peoples in Ontario, Quebec, Pennsylvania, Ohio and other places.
The Haudenosaunee name for The Great Peacemaker (Mohawk, Skennenrahawi) means “Two River Currents Flowing Together.”
The legends about The Great Peacemaker are conflicting. It is reported that he was born a Huron and by some accounts it was a virgin birth. Others say he was born an Onondaga and later adopted by the Mohawks. By all accounts he was a prophet who counseled peace among the warring tribes, and he also called for an end to cannibalism. His follower Hiawatha, a Mohawk renowned for his oratory, helped him achieve his vision.
According to archaeologist and Professor Dean R. Snow, The Great Peacemaker first converted Hiawatha in the territory of the Onondagas, then he made a solo journey to visit the Mohawk tribe who lived in the region near what is now Cohoes, New York. Initially, the Mohawks rejected The Great Peacemaker's message, so he decided to perform a feat that would demonstrate his purity and strength. After climbing into a tree high above the Ga-ha-oose, the cataract that is now known as the Cohoes Falls, The Great Peacemaker told the Mohawk braves to chop the tree down. Many onlookers watched as The Great Peacemaker disappeared into the swirling rapids of the Mohawk river. It was assumed that The Great Peacemaker had perished until he was found sitting near a campfire the next morning. The Mohawks were greatly impressed by his miraculous survival and immediately became the founding tribe in the Iroquois Confederacy, circa 1450.citation needed
The vision from the Great Makercitation needed that peace would come to all nations led him to spend his life working to bring this to fruition. In his prophecy, he referred to a white serpent who would come to their lands and make friends with his people, only to later deceive them. According to the prophecy,citation needed at the end times, a red serpent would make war on the white one and after a season, a black serpent would come and defeat them both. He said that his nation would accept those of other origins into their safekeeping. Because of their worship of and obedience to the Great Maker, the Iroquois would be protected from the disasters to come.
The Great Peacemaker established a council of clan and village chiefs to govern the confederacy. Each of the tribes had a balance of power between the sexes and most decisions were made by consensus to which each representative had an equal voice. Led by The Great Peacemaker and Hiawatha,citation needed the Iroquois became the dominant Native American group in the northeast woodlands. The oral laws and customs of the Great Law of Peace eventually became the constitution of the Iroquois Confederacy.
External links
- Biography at the Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online
- "Deganawidah" Infoplease, University of Liverpool
- "Great Law of Peace" Sixnations.org
- View Historica’s Heritage Minute "Peacemaker", a mini-docudrama about the legendary founder of the Iroquois Confederacy.
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