Haudenosaunee Tradition

The violent storm wind of Seneca tradition, which appears as a flying head with long streaming hair, set against the gentle wind Ga'ha'.

The great eagle of the upper air in Seneca tradition, who lives above the clouds, gathers dew in its feathers, and watches over the people, coming down when calamity threatens.

The Little People of Seneca tradition, who live in caves and gulches, generally do not harm people, and, in return for small gifts, warn them of danger or help them to good fortune.

The chief of the Sky World and husband of Sky Woman, who in many tellings uproots the great celestial tree, opening the hole through which she falls.

The hard-minded twin grandson of Sky Woman, born in a way that costs their mother's life, who in Haudenosaunee tradition shapes the earth's difficult features in contest with his brother Sapling.

The soft, kindly wind of Seneca tradition, who helps plants grow and fruits ripen; in the Seneca cosmology Parker summarises he is the husband of Sky Woman's daughter and father of the twins.

An Onondaga man who, grieving the loss of his daughters, strung the first shell strings of condolence and became the Peacemaker's partner and spokesman in founding the Great Law of Peace. Not the character of Longfellow's poem, which borrowed only his name.

The Thunderer of Seneca and wider Haudenosaunee tradition, maker of rains, who hunts the horned serpent and other malicious beings of the underworld with arrows of lightning.

The great horned serpent of the deep waters in Seneca tradition, able to take the form of a handsome man to lure people away, and the chief enemy of the Thunderer.

The woman who, in Haudenosaunee tradition, was the first to accept the Peacemaker's message; in recognition the Peacemaker gave the women of the nations the responsibility of choosing and removing chiefs, and she is remembered as the Mother of Nations.

The most feared of the magic beasts of Seneca tradition, a gigantic bear that challenges people to race for their lives and can be killed only by striking a hidden spot on the sole of its foot.

The messenger of the Great Law of Peace, who in Haudenosaunee tradition crossed the lake in a white stone canoe, joined with Hiawatha, and brought the five warring nations together under one law. Many Haudenosaunee people avoid speaking his personal name outside ceremony, so this site uses his title.

The good-minded twin grandson of Sky Woman, who in Haudenosaunee tradition shapes the world's fertile land, food plants, and easy rivers, opposite his hard-minded brother Flint.

The woman who falls from the Sky World through a hole torn open when a great tree is uprooted, and is caught and set on the back of the Great Turtle, whose back becomes Turtle Island.

The daughter born to Sky Woman on the new earth, mother of the twins Sapling and Flint, who dies giving birth to them; in many tellings the food plants grow from her grave.

Giants of Seneca and wider Haudenosaunee tradition, shaped like people but of enormous size and covered with coats of flint that turned aside the arrows of men.

The feared Onondaga leader, described with snakes in his hair and a twisted body, who resisted the Great Peace until the Peacemaker and Hiawatha straightened his mind; he became the Confederacy's Firekeeper, and his title is still held today.

The inseparable spirits of corn, beans, and squash, the crops Haudenosaunee farmers plant together, remembered as sisters and thanked as the sustainers of the people.

The turtle on whose back Sky Woman is set as she falls from the Sky World, and whose back, built up with earth by other animals, becomes Turtle Island, the Haudenosaunee name for the continent.