The Mohawk had nine representatives in the confederacy, three each from their Turtle, Wolf, and Bear clans. When we say “three” in Mohawk, it refers to when they put the Sky-Woman in the middle of that Great Turtle’s back. Much of the mythology of the Iroquois (a confederacy of originally Five, later Six Nations of Native Americans) has been preserved, including creation stories and some folktales.Recorded in wampum as recitations, written down later, the spellings of names differed as transliteration varies and spellings even in European languages were not entirely regularized. We are a matrilineal people, so our clan comes from our mother. In Haudenosaunee cultures, you are born into a clan; you cannot buy into it or dream about it. So whatever your mother is, that’s what you are. And traditionally, when a man marries a woman, he has to move to her village, and everything has to go to the woman, including all the children. And you have to marry into another clan. So Wolf Clan cannot marry another wolf, or turtle marry another turtle, because they’re considered brother and sister. “We are proud to have this representation of Indigenous knowledge and heritage on campus where it will be used for teaching outdoor classes, facilitating workshops, and holding traditional ceremonies.”. In recognition of National Orange Shirt Day, honouring and respecting the Indigenous people who attended Residential Schools in Canada, Loyalist College acknowledged the completed construction of the A’nó:wara Learning Circle,  an outdoor space on campus dedicated to the promotion of Indigenous culture, tradition, and ceremony on Wednesday. What we’re trying to do here is to set the foundation for a spiritual mindset. If you’re going to talk about a traditional way of understanding, then you can’t view it the way a European views it; you can’t hear it the way a European hears it. You have to have a mind that has been trained how to interpret the life forces in the world that we live in, in a way that is very different from the European way. The second reason we came back is to revitalize our traditions. We don’t say that name, because there’s a prophecy: when you hear people say that name, we are coming toward the end of the civilization of the world, where the world will something like almost end, and another one will start in a different way – a purification. The prophecy says that there will come a time when there will be discord amongst the leaders, and the people, and things will get really bad, like we’ve never seen before, in terms of disunity - great disrespect going on between humans. And that time is when there will be three left that still believe in what the Creator gave us. Nobody understands what it means when they say three left - if it’s three nations, or three clans or three people. But whatever it means, three will be left. And they will go into the virgin forest, when they find it, if you can find it, where the big trees are - a real forest. And they will build a sacred fire there. And at that time they will cry the Peacemaker’s name three times. And then the Peacemaker will come back to lead us from all this turmoil, again. And so that’s why we’re not allowed to say that name just anytime. Only when we’re truly desperate will we cry it in that ceremony, and then he will come back. But if you say it every day, when you really need Him, He thinks you’re just talking about his name – he’s not going to come back. Please write word or phrase you want to check in the text box on the left. Within the circle is a stone turtle design: the outer ring of the turtle shell is made up of 28 stones, representing the 28 days of the lunar month, while the 12 larger stones in the interior of the turtle’s shell, plus the central firepit feature, represent the 13 Grandmother Moons. MOHAWK (HAUDENOSAUNEE) TEACHING A while ago some of us moved back down to the heart of the original Mohawk country - our ancient living grounds in the Mohawk Valley, not too far from Albany, New York. © 2020 Belleville Intelligencer. So the Sky-Woman’s daughter is our Mother Earth. And that daughter died giving birth to twin brothers. And when that Sky Woman’s daughter died, she lay on the ground and they covered her with a mound of dirt. See, they used to mound the dead; they didn’t dig down and bury them deep in a grave. All through the Midwestern States, you see mounds that are a quarter mile high, and sometimes miles long. That’s from a long time ago. It’s all tied to those stories. The circular layout was chosen in accordance with the role of the circle as the foundation of all Indigenous ceremonies. And then the third part, that’s the material soul. That’s the one that’s from the dirt, the body of our Mother Earth. So it goes back there.