Hiawatha

Hiawatha Organic Indian Mask

Hand Crafted from Bone, Southern Illinois Arrowhead, Amber, Jasper, Glass, Agate, Hematite, Quartz, Black Onyx, Tiger-Eye, Azurite/Malachite and Fossil

Long before, in a dark time of troubles, the Iroquois had fought among themselves in a destructive cycle of killing and retribution. At the dawn of time, the Master of Life had commanded all people to live in love and harmony. Clearly the message had been forgotten. So the Master decided to repeat it.
According to most versions of the story, [the Master of Life’s] spokesman was a Heron holy man named Deganawidah—the Peacemaker—who set out across Lake Ontario in a stone canoe landing on the southern shore. The Peacemaker came across another shaman named Hiawatha, a clan leader of Mohawk descent, who lost all his daughters in tribal feuding. Deganawidah offered words of condolence that lifted Hiawatha’s grief and dried his tears; the same consoling words would be repeated at the Iroquois council meetings to promote good feelings and open minds. Then the prophet Hiawatha described a great Tree of Peace under whose branches the tribes would meet to resolve differences. He enunciated principles of Justice and Equality; bloodshed would yield to a new sense of brotherhood of people.
So Deganawidah, being a man of powerful vision, and Hiawatha being gifted with speech and persuasion, both traveled the Iroquois territory, forging alliances and teaching the Great Law of Justice and spreading the gospel of the Tree of Peace.
Thus the Five Nations (Mohawk, Seneca, Onondaga, Oneida and Cayuga) became known as the Iroquois League. Deganawidah’s great vision and Hiawatha’s persuasive voice put an end to the fratricidal feuding and combined the strength and political sophistication of the League gave the Iroquois a dominance that would continue to shape future events.