User:Sharp-shinned.hawk/sandbox/iroquois

Spiritual Beliefs
Like many cultures, the Iroquois' spiritual beliefs changed over time and varied across tribes. Generally, the Iroquois believed in numerous deities, including the Great Spirit, the Thundererer, and the Three Sisters (the spirits of Beans, Maize, and Squash). The Great Spirit was thought to have created plants, animals, and humans to control "the forces of good in nature", and to guide ordinary people. Sources provide different stories about Iroquois creation beliefs. Brascoupé and Etmanskie focus on the first person to walk the earth, called the Skywoman or Aientsik. Aientsik's daughter Tekawerahkwa gave birth to twins, Tawiskaron, who created vicious animals and river rapids, while Okwiraseh created "all that is pure and beautiful". After a battle where Okwiraseh defeated Tawiskaron, Tawiskaron was confined to "the dark areas of the world", where he governed the night and destructive creatures. Other scholars present the "twins" as the Creator and his brother, Flint. The Creator was responsible for game animals, while Flint created predators and disease. Saraydar (1990) suggests the Iroquois did not see the twins as polar opposites but understood their relationship to be more complex, noting "Perfection is not to be found in gods or humans or the worlds they inhabit."

Descriptions of Iroquois spiritual history consistently refer to dark times of terror and misery prior to the Iroquois Confederacy, ended by the arrival of the Great Peacemaker. Tradition asserts that the Peacemaker demonstrated his authority as the Creator's messenger by climbing a tall tree above a waterfall, having the people cut down the tree, and reappearing the next morning unharmed. The Peacemaker restored mental health to a few of the most "violent and dangerous men," Ayonhwatha and Thadodaho, who then helped him bear the message of peace to others.

After the arrival of the Europeans, some Iroquois became Christians, among them Kateri Tekakwitha, a young woman of Mohawk-Algonquin parents. The Seneca sachem Handsome Lake, also known as Ganeodiyo, introduced a new religious system to the Iroquois in the late 18th century, which incorporated Quaker beliefs along with traditional Iroquoisan culture. Handsome Lake's teachings included a focus on parenting, appreciation of life, and peace. A key aspect of Handsome Lake's teachings was the principle of equilibrium, wherein each person's talents combined into a functional community. By the 1960s, at least 50% of Iroquois followed this religion. Dreams played a significant role in Iroquois spirituality, providing information about a person's desires and prompting individuals to fulfill dreams. To communicate upward, humans could send prayers to spirits by burning tobacco.

Iroquois ceremonies were primarily concerned with farming, healing, and thanksgiving. Key festivals corresponded to the agricultural calendar, and included Maple, Planting, Strawberry, Green Maize, Harvest, and Mid-Winter (or New Year's), which was held in early February. The ceremonies were given by the Creator to the Iroquois to balance good with evil.

During healing ceremonies, an art form called the "False Face Mask" was used to represent spirits in a tobacco-burning and prayer ritual. False Face Masks were carved in living trees, then cut free to be painted and decorated. Reid, 1996, p. 167 False Faces represented grandfathers of the Iroquois, and were thought to reconnect humans and nature and to frighten illness-causing spirits. The False Face Society continues today among modern Iroquois.

Condolence ceremonies were conducted by the Iroquois for both ordinary and important people, but most notably when sachems died. Such ceremonies were still held on Iroquois reservations as late as the 1970s. After death, the soul was thought to embark on a journey, undergo a series of ordeals, and arrive in the sky world. This journey was thought to take one year, during which the Iroquois mourned for the dead. After the mourning period, a feat was held to celebrate the soul's arrival in the skyworld.

"Keepers of the faith" were part-time specialists who conducted religious ceremonies. Both men and women could be appointed as keepers of the faith by tribe elders.

Cannibalism
Although the Iroquois are sometimes mentioned as examples of groups who practiced cannibalism, the evidence is mixed as to whether such a practice could be said to be widespread among the Six Nations, and to whether it was a notable cultural feature. Some anthropologists have found evidence of ritual torture and cannibalism at Iroquois sites, for example, among the Onondaga in the sixteenth century. However other scholars, most notably anthropologist William Arens in his controversial book, The Man-Eating Myth, have challenged the evidence, suggesting the human bones found at sites point to funerary practices, asserting that if cannibalism was practiced among the Iroquois, it was not widespread. Modern anthropologists seem to accept the probability that cannibalism did exist among the Iroquois, but urge scholars to remember the context for a practice that now shocks the modern man. Sanday reminds us that the ferocity of the Iroquois' rituals "cannot be separated from the severity of conditions ... where death from hunger, disease, and warfare became a way of life".