The Seven Dancers
Iroquois/ Mohawk Story
There are several versions of this story, depending on what Nation’s Story Tellers it is told by. I know at least eight, of which five come from the Nations of the Iroquois Federation. I am positive that there are more versions around that I have not heard.
I picked this version as it contains more content than the others I know.
If you look up at the Northern Sky at night, you will see a group of Stars, called by us: the Seven Sisters, Seven Dancers or the Seven Guardians.
They shine brightly, flickering in the night sky. Some Story Tellers believe that that is where our people originated and come from. So here it is as it is told by the fires in the Longhouse, on the long, cold winter nights.
During the years when the first settlers arrived on Turtle Island (North America), between 1600 and 1700, the Nations of the Iroquois speaking people were feuding amongst each other, much blood spilled and many hard feelings were created between them.
The Seven Guardians, looking down on this were worried about the future of the Nations of the Iroquois people, and decided to send down an emissary to try to bring peace between the feuding Nations. At that time there were seven Iroquois speaking Nations, six of them close to each other, where New York City and Mohawk Valley are now and one, the Cherokees, were located far away South from there.
The Emissary’s name is not to be spoken in the language of the Iroquois, but allowed to be spoken in English. He was called Double Rows of Teeth and he arrived on Iroquois Territory in a stone boat.
The Emissary, also called the Prophet, approached a Warrior called Hiawatha to help him spread the word Peace amongst the Iroquoian Nations.
After a lot of meetings Five of the Nations decided to join the hands of Peace as the Iroquoian Federation. They decided to form it on the basis of the Iroquoian Long House.
The Mohawks as the keepers of the Eastern door, Next the Oneidas. Onondagas, the keepers of the fire, also the Wampum (history) keepers. Next the Cayuga. And last the Seneca, the keepers of the Western door. Later the Tuscarora joined the Federation.
The Iroquois called themselves the People of the Longhouse, or the People of the Five Fires. They later called the thirteen original colonies of the United States, (whose constitution was based on the Laws of the Iroquois Federation laws) The People of the Thirteen Fires.
The Prophet, realising that his job was done, called for a last meeting, reminding the people what the Federation stood for, said goodbye to them all and walked into the forest, never to be seen again.
He is up there, sitting amongst the Seven Dancers, keeping an Eye on us.
I work with Muskwa International Foundation Inc. which is an entity that was formed to assist the street children in the Philippines, mostly in Manila and Davao, the two largest cities in the Philippines. You can find out about their projects here Street Children and Natural Disasters.
The stories I tell here I learned from the Elders and Story tellers and I am passing them on with their blessings. These stories can be anything from 4,000 to 5,000 years old.
