Navajoland

Spider Goddess rock in Canyon de Chelly

The great river Rio Grande cuts through the plateau of New Mexico creating a gorge so deep that one can get dizzy standing on its verge. Farther west the Colorado river cuts through colourful rock creating a canyon that takes a breath of a viewer. It seldom rains on the plateau between these rivers. Only the Chuska Mountains in the middle of it get enough rain to support some trees. There are also mountain ranges around the plateau: Sangre the Christo to the east, San Matteo to the south, San Francisco to the west and San Juan to the north. They bear names of Catholic saints but it is the spirits of nature that live there, not the saints. Whoever understands those spirits and knows how to call them for help can be sure that the grass for sheep in Chuska Mountains will be green and plentiful, that maize planted in spring will grow despite infrequent rains and that peaches in orchards in Canyon de Chelly will bear fruit. The Navajos do know how to call the spirits. The country between the two great rivers is theirs.

How long have the Navajo been living there? They themselves say that they have always lived there. This is the country which the Creator gave to the Navajos and told them to plant peaches in Canyon de Chelly, to graze sheep in Chuska Mountains and to weave blankets from sheep's wool. In Canyon de Chelly there is a rock where the Spider Goddess taught Navajo women how to weave. Anybody can go there and see it.

As often is the case - white scholars don't believe the old myths and have their own theories, even if they have seen the Spider Goddess rock. The main theory is that the Navajos came to Arizona from north Canada because the Indians of that region - around Lake Athabasca - speak languages similar to the Navajo. The Navajos themselves confirm this, they say they understand the Canadian Indians speech. They also say that the language of Navajos and Apaches is basically the same, only pronunciation of some words is different. So the theory says that the Navajos and Apaches came to Arizona not very long ago, only a few hundred years, maybe at the same time as the Spaniards.

Arizona has been, nevertheless, inhabited for millennia by peoples cultivating maize and building fortified villages. In Canyon de Chelly one can see those villages built of stone high in the canyon walls, clearly for defence. Now they are deserted and have been so for centuries. The Navajos, who live there now, never lived in stone villages. In fact they don't live in any villages at all, their dwellings are dispersed around the mountains. Traditionally the Navajos lived in conical structures made of wood and called hogan. A hogan has to be on a round plan because ceremonies that are sometimes celebrated in it require a round floor. It is easy to build wherever trees grow. The Navajos build their hogans wherever they move, and they move constantly as they follow their sheep high up the mountains in summer and down to the plains in winter.

Ruins in Canyon de Chelly

The Navajos and Apaches treated the peoples who cultivated maize very much like the Spaniards did: they robbed them of maize and women and ran away to their mountains. Of course there was a difference: the Spaniards invaded once and built their city they called Holy Faith (Santa Fe) and told the settled Indians to bring their maize and women to that city if they don't want to be robbed. The settled Indians lived in villages, a village is called pueblo in Spanish, so they were called "Pueblo Indians". The Spaniards were also a settled people, they set up their haciendas and... were robbed by Navajos, who afterwards ran away and hid in the labyrinthine Canyon de Chelly. The Spaniards chased them there, killed a few Indians and returned, but those Navajos who weren't killed wanted revenge, so robbed some more haciendas and... so on.

The Pueblo Indians, who lived in villages, were easier to control but it they weren't necessarily more docile. In 1680 they made a big uprising and drove all Spaniards from New Mexico. The Spaniards returned ten years later and pacified the rebels. Some of the rebels didn't like the idea of being pacified, escaped towards Chuska Mountains and nobody knows what happened to them. We do know, however, that the Navajo learned things that the Pueblo Indians practised earlier. They learned to cultivate maize, to make decorative pottery, to weave pretty blankets and to breed sheep to get wool for the blankets. They also learned how to breed horses. Using horses they could travel far into Mexico to rob haciendas. After those raids the Spaniards would send a punitive expedition... and so on.

In the meantime in a far away country events took place that did not appear to have anything to do with what happened in Arizona. In 1776 several thousands miles from Canyon de Chelly, on the eastern coast of the continent, a new independent country was created. Would anybody expect then that barely 70 years later Canyon de Chelly would be within the borders of this country? This is exactly what happened: in 1848 a peace treaty ending a war between Mexico and the United States was signed and as a result Arizona became a U.S. territory. Of course nobody asked the Navajo if they wanted their country to be within anybody's borders. One can guess that if anybody did ask them they would be rather surprised as that never gave their country to anybody. The Spaniards claimed that the country was theirs because once a discoverer furled out a flag and took possession of it in the name of the Spanish king. They never managed to persuade the Navajos to accept this fact. The Americans took possession of the land because somewhere in a distant city somebody signed a piece of paper. Unlike the Spaniards, the Americans were determined to make the Navajos accept this fact.

Hogan new style

The Americans wouldn't mind mind the Navajos grazing their sheep in their remote country, if they could do this in peace. However, the Navajos had a tradition of raids to steal horses or sheep from Mexicans. They did not understand why the Americans should have a problem with that, after all they themselves fought the Mexicans only recently. A peace treaty was not a concept the Navajos could easily understand. Even less comprehensible was an idea that some Mexicans, those who lived in the city of Holy Faith, were now American citizens and the U.S. Army was supposed to protect them. Anyway the Navajos didn't have any central government that could sign anything like a peace treaty. Great chiefs had respect but no more than this, they couldn't impose their will on anybody. If a group of youngsters wanted to steal some horses nobody could stop them, they didn't ask anybody's permission anyway. In this situation the Americans decided to force the Navajos to move to a reservation in a distant country, where they wouldn't feel at home. Maybe then they would understand that it is better to give up raiding.

The commander of the U.S. troops in Santa Fe at the time was gen. Carleton. He decided to settle the Apaches and Navajos on a reservation called Bosque Redondo on the shores of Rio Pecos. The first to be settled there were the Mescalero Apaches, Navajos were to be next. In the summer of 1863 col. Kit Carson led a detachment of volunteers, as the regular army was busy fighting the civil war in the east. Kit Carson grew up in Missouri and knew Indians well, he certainly knew how to talk to them. He declared that by June 1863 all Navajos are to surrender and move to the reservation. He promised that at first the government would feed the Indians but later they would have to rely on their own harvests.

The Navajos didn't want to move anywhere. They had enough food in their own country. They ignored the call to surrender. Carson then entered their country with the volunteers, who were much better armed than the Navajos. The Indians realised this so they fled whenever his detachment approached. Carson did not chase the Indians, he just killed their sheep which were left behind, burned corn, cut down orchards. In the autumn the Indians suddenly realised that they don't have enough food for winter after all. They started surrendering, first in small groups, but when the word leaked out that the Americans don't torture prisoners but feed them - more people gave themselves up. In the end most of the Navajos decided that the American rations are better than starvation and agreed to move to the reservation. In April 1864 they started the long march to Rio Pecos.

Window Rock 

The Navajos remember their exile in Bosque Redondo as the Jews remember Babylon. Even today one can hear stories how old people couldn't walk fast enough and stayed behind, how the rapid current of Rio Grande (which had to be crossed) carried away babies, how there was not enough wood for heating in Bosque Redondo, how the harvest were poor because the soil was not good. Most important the medicine men couldn't celebrate ceremonies because the ones that the Navajo knew had their power between the sacred mountain ranges that surrounded their country. The white people not only didn't understand ceremonies, they didn't even know they existed and it was difficult to explain to them that ceremonies may influence the harvests.

It was a difficult time for the Navajos but also the time of big changes. Until then they never had any central authority. In Bosque Redondo the American officers were the superior authority but they let the traditional chiefs run internal affairs. Today one can hear stories how chiefs Manuelito and Barboncito negotiated a possibility of returning to their old country. With each passing year the Americans were more likely to consider this. At Bosque Redondo the Navajos were fed by the goverment whereas the Navajos claimed they knew how to breed sheep in Chuska Mountains and how to grow maize in Canyon de Chelly. In the end in 1968 the Americans agreed on the condition that the raids stop definitely.

For the Navajos this was not the end but the beginning. They were given a reservation that contained the Chuska Mountains and Canyon de Chelly. The Reservation Council was established under the leadership of chiefs Manuelito and Barboncito. The Navajos returned from their exile with only the remnants of their old flocks but they didn't loose the knowledge how to breed them. Most of all the ceremonies could be conducted in a proper way.

The Navajos also learned a few things from their white oppressors. They for example learned how to build log houses. They didn't build them on a plan of a rectangle because ceremonies could not be conducted in a rectangular house. They built their new houses on an octagonal plan and called them hogan, as always. The iron stove was in the middle, where the fireplace used to be. The iron stoves were bought from money raised from raising sheep. The first years after their return to the old country were difficult but soon the flocks multiplied and there was surplus that could be sold. American traders that specialised in Indian trade set up trading posts on the reservation. They bought colourful rugs for which the Navajos became famous. The flocks grew, there was not enough pastures in Chuska Mountains but the chiefs managed to negotiate expansion of the reservation. Little buy little bits were added until the Navajoland became the biggest Indian reservation in the U.S. All this was happening when Geronimo became famous for evading the U.S. Army. Geronimo was on the front pages of newspapers. Manuelito was not, but the Navajo Reservation is still the biggest in the U.S.

The Navajo Reservation borders with the Grand Canyon National Park and some of the tourists cross the Navajoland to get there. They sometimes stop at Indian stands that sell arts and crafts. The tourists usually don't realise that they could also visit Window Rock, the capital of Navajoland. They could enter the Navajo Parliament and listen what they talk about. 

Jerry Manuelito

Window Rock is not a tourist attraction but it has some charm. It is placed on the southern slopes of Chuska Mountains among fantastically shaped rocks. One of the rocks has a huge round hole right through the middle, hence the name.

One could actually wonder why the capital of the reservation is so far from Canyon de Chelly, which is considered the heartland of Navajoland. However, I am writing these words with a pen with words "Navajo Technical University" written on it. It is a school which has a campus in Chinle, right at the mouth of the Canyon. I received this pen from a lecturer of this school. He also gave me his business card. I saw the name: Jerry Manuelito. I asked if he was a descendant of the great chief.

"Yes," he said. "The great chief always stressed the importance of education. He said that this is the way for the nation to be reborn, not running with a gun around the mountains."

Indeed, one who runs with a gun in the mountains evading cavalry can get to the headlines of newspapers printed somewhere far, at the other side of the continent. One can get to the headlines without knowing that these newspapers exist and without even knowing what a newspaper actually is. However, if one understands what is written in those newspapers, even not knowing that those papers exist, one can rebuild a country between four mountain ranges.

* * *

Window Rock is a capital, but not a city or even a village. There is a parliament there, the laws of the reservation are discussed in it. There is the office of the chief, ministries, a library, a supermarket and a MacDonald, but there are no houses. Nobody lives there. Navajos in general don't live in cities, they are scattered around the reservation, most of them only come to Window Rock for a yearly fair.

We were in Navajoland at the time of the fair and wanted to see it. The fair was planned to last a week, but do we need to be there for the whole of it? A week before the fair, while on the Hopi reservation, I saw the weekly paper "Navajo Times" and checked the program. In the beginning of the week there were to be elections of Miss Navajo and gardening competitions (who will grow the biggest pumpkin and the like), at the end of the week there was to be more exciting stuff, like a powwow and a rodeo. We decided that we didn't come to an Indian Reservation to watch a boob competition so we decided to come to the fair later.

Inside the Navajo Parliament

When we arrived there, the things were still being organised. For example an art exhibition. There was a special pavilion for artists to show their work. There certainly is no shortage of artists among the Navajo. There were some modern "artists" showing some strange objects which did not attract my attention, but the traditional arts certainly did. For example pottery. One can say that Indian pottery of New Mexico and Arizona is a separate genre of art. Each pueblo has its own style and Navajo pottery presents itself very well in this company. It is true that today it is mostly produced for tourist market but this fact does not diminish its quality. Once the pots were used to carry water but today they are like canvass for a masterpiece. Among the Navajo it is mostly women who are potters. The weavers are also usually women even though among the Pueblo Indians it is usually a male occupation. There were also some sand paintings on the exhibition. Sand painting is probably a Navajo speciality, I have never heard of anyone else doing this. Admittedly I had never heard of the Navajo sand painting before I came to Navajoland, but I did read a bit about it since then.

I can hear a question of my readers: what is sand painting? It sounds like something that would be blown away rather easily.

Of course it would be blown away. Normally sand paintings are created on a floor of a hogan for a ceremony and are not very durable. They are made in the morning and swept in the evening. These are medicine ceremonies, they are supposed to heal illnesses physical or psychical, like hate, envy, anger, fear. Or they are supposed to bring blessings for the task at hand, like a war or exams. A ceremony is conducted by a hataali, a priest (this word is sometimes translated as "shaman", which is misleading, as a hataali is supposed to know how to conduct a ceremony correctly, how to create the sand painting and how to sing the songs; he is not supposed to get into trance, like Siberian shamans). In the Navajo language the sand painting is called ikaah, which can be translated as 'calling gods". The image is created so the gods come and are present during the ceremony. A sand painting made correctly is a bit like the correct words spoken by a Catholic priest over unleavened bread. Of course a sand painting is just as sacred as the unleavened bread after the consecration.

Sandpainding designs on Navajo pots

However, it turned out that tourists would like to buy sand paintings just as they buy pots and rugs. Somebody has found a way to make a sand painting on a board covered with glue. Nowadays sand paintings are a trade item, just like pots and rugs. Moreover, sand painting designs are nowadays woven into elaborate rugs, which of course are more expensive because such a design is far more difficult to weave than a geometric pattern. I have seen sand painting designs on pots, too. If there is demand, there will be supply as well. Something that used to be holy because it caused divine presence to come - became a souvenir to hang in a living room. Perhaps this is the spirit of the age.

The spirit of the age is also present in the pavilion where various institutions try to recruit candidates. For example the Indian police that serves on the reservation, National Park Service (Monument Valley is actually on the reservation whereas the Grand Canyon is just outside), or schools, like the Navajo Technical University. There I meet Jerry Manuelito, a lecturer. He says it is a great school that also takes students from overseas. We chat for a while and I ask him about many things, like the sand paintings. He says there was a big controversy about it. Some people say that these images are sacred and should never be even created outside the ceremony, let alone sold as souvenirs. Others say that if there are potential buyers then why not earn a few bucks? In the end it was agreed that the sand paintings for sale will always be made so that something is not quite right, so it is not the actual mythical scene. The sand paintings used for ceremony have to be swept in the evening and the sand taken to a maize field. Why maize? Because it is a sacred plant. There are many different ceremonies. Like blackening, when the patient to be cured is painted completely black. Sometimes the patient has to lie down on the sand painting. I ask whether these ceremonies have any connection with peyote cult but my interlocutor says no, there is no connection. Sand paintings are a part of the traditional Navajo religion whereas peyote is propagated by the American Indian Church, really a new religion. The peyote priests are called roadmen, they don't know how to make correct sand paintings. Peyote ceremonies are prayers that last all night. They should be held in a tipi but sometimes they are in a hogan. It is better in a hogan because one can sit by a wall and lean on it, in a tipi there is nowhere to lean and one has to sit cross legged all night.

Traditional Navajo costume

The art exhibition is really a minor thing, far more important are exhibitions of cattle and especially sheep, always a pride of the Navajos. There are also musical events, like a powwow. Dancers dressed in outfits full of feathers and jingles, musicians singing in high falsettos to the rhythm of drums - exactly as we imagine the Sioux. In fact a powwow is a colourful event derived in a big part from traditions of the Sioux. In recent years it became kind of pan-Indian, but for the Navajos it is quite new. The traditional Navajo music and dance can also be seen at the fair but at a different corner of the grounds. Having seen a powwow a few times I go to see the Navajo traditional dance. Dancers are dressed in a traditional way, but a traditional Navajo dress has nothing to do with what we imagine as an Indian dress. Long skirts made of fabric, velvet shirts, cowboy hats and boots, turquoise and silver jewellery, bracelets, earrings, necklaces, all worn by both men and women. Fethers are nowhere to be seen. The music is sung, a few voices accompanied only by a little drum. The melodic line is (to my European ear) not that different from the powwow chant but here it is sung with a normal voice, not falsetto. Everything is much less showy, less exotic, but does it matter? This is not for tourists. Here the Navajos dance and play for themselves.

Of course there is also a rodeo, a national sport in Navajoland. There are a few disciplines during a rodeo, like lassoing a calf or catching a calf by the horns from the saddle. I could guess these are normal work for cowboys (by the way all cowboys here are Indians), but there are also absurd disciplines, like bull riding. The point is to get on a bull's back and stay there for more than eight seconds. I guess in Europe this discipline would not be legal because of health and safety regulations. The cowboy of course always falls of the bull and to make sure the bull is no more interested in him - there are other guys in the ring shaking rags at the bull. The bull starts chasing them and the cowboy can pick himself up and walk away. When the bull feels nobody on his back, he calms down and is driven from the ring.

Everybody comes with tents to the fair because there otherwise there is nowhere to stay in Window Rock. Thank God there is a supermarket where one can find food and the latest issue of Navajo Times. I have bought it and I saw pictures from... you won't believe it - Miss Navajo competition. Do you think I learned whether Navajo girls have big or small boobs? Not at all! This is not the point of this competition. The ladies come to the competition fully dressed in a Navajo traditional costume (which itself is a surprise, as I explained above). Miss Navajo had to prove that she can do well what Navajo women are supposed to do. Of course she has to be a fluent Navajo speaker, without it she cannot even enter. She has to prove that she can bake bread on a camp fire. She has to prove also that she can change a sheep into mutton. She has to cut its throat, skin it and roast it. There were some pictures from it in the paper.

Well, it looks like I missed a good photo opportunity.

* * * 

Falling off a bull

Our neighbours in the camp site are bullfighters employed at the rodeo. These are the guys who run around the ring trying to attract attention of the bull after the rider has been thrown off his back. They are a friendly bunch, come for a cup of coffee and a chat every morning and every evening. Hearing my questions about the life on the rez one of them, named Theron, says:

"You should stay on the reservation for some time. I can show you around. Then you could see more about real life of the Indians."

After the fair we drive to his place, following his car. We drive along the road that runs parallel to the Chuska Mountains, directly to the north. The Chuska Mountains cut through Navajoland from north to south like the spine. On both sides of it there is a plain on which here and there stand fantastically shaped rocks like huge animals petrified by some magic spell. The Navajos say they they are indeed animals that were turned into rock long ago so people could be safe. For example a rock that raises nearly five hundred metres above the plain, called Shiprock by the whites, is really a huge bird better to be kept at a distance. Even roads are built far around it. Even the road that runs right through the reservation from north to south, parallel to the mountains, most of the time straight like an arrow, bending only when there is a magic rock animal to keep at a safe distance. Some bends have names on a map as if it was a village or something, but there is no village to be seen there, just a bend of the road. Buffalo Springs, where Theron lives, is such a named bend of the road. Theron lives in a caravan in the yard of a western-style house, where his father lives with his young wife. There are not many western-style houses on the reservation, most Navajos still live in hogans. This may be because traditionally after a person's death everything he or she owned is burned, house included. Perhaps it is easier to burn a hogan than a two-storey house with several bedrooms.

I ask Theron's father, who after all lives in a big house, whether the custom of burning the house is still practised. He says yes, but only if that person dies at home. If he or she dies in a hospital, then there is no need to burn the house. The house where he lives with his present wife used to belong to her grandmother, but she died in a hospital in Gallup and the granddaughter inherited it. Her parents live in a hogan nearby. There are also hogans where nobody lives, they are used for ceremonies only. 

Navajo weaver

The Navajos have their share of problems that plague our modern society. Theron lives in a caravan because his wife chucked him out and he cannot see his daughter. His father also split up with Theron's mum after many years of marriage and found another wife, half his age. Theron lives with his father but he takes us to see his mum as well. She is a traditional Navajo weaver. She does not live in a hogan but in a little housing estate where a few modern houses have been built close to each other. They have been funded by the Reservation Council. Theron's mum says that it is strange to live so close to other people. When she was little her family didn't live in one place but moved with the seasons. They had one hogan down on the plains, one up on high alps and one in between. When she was very little they had to carry beds from place to place but later the beds stayed and they only moved mattresses. A hogan would have just one space indoors but her present home has several rooms.

In her bedroom she has a loom set up. It is an Indian upright loom so it doesn't take much space. Indian weaving is not a simple thing. It has many secrets that have to be learned over many years. When the weaver is ready then there is an initiation ceremony. She herself was taught and initiated by her grandfather. Recently the Todlaena Trading Post published a book about some weavers who had never been initiated. They were probably more accessible to talk to because the real weavers don't want to reveal their secrets. Now that the book is published the tourists will but it and will think that those ladies are the elite of Navajo weavers, but they are not.

I am also shown things that Theron's mum made recently. For example a birthing belt. In the old days the Navajo women would give birth kneeling, holding a belt that was tied high above her, for example to a tree branch. Afterwards the belt would be tightly tied around her waist so the good figure would be preserved.

Theron's mum started her flow of words as soon as she heard that I am interested in Navajo culture. I like interviews like this, when I don't have to ask anything and my interlocutor tells me what is important to him or her.

She tells me about traditional herbal medicine. There are plenty of secrets there, too. Not only the knowledge of the plants is needed, also what to say to the plants while gathering them. When gathering herbs one has to talk about the patient, otherwise the plants don't even know whom they are supposed to heal. The herbs that one can buy at the market in little packets are useless because when they were gathered they didn't hear whom they were supposed to heal. Theron's mum is herself a herbalist but her mum knows much more and if I am interested in it I could go to see her. She is still alive but doesn't feel well and is now in a care home. Ever since her husband died she lost her will to live.

Theron says that he has huge respect for his grandmother and will gladly take us to see her. He says that it was the grandmother who was his guide in life. He could always trust her advice. We go to see her the next day in Farmington, a town just outside the rez. It is actually a hospital, the nurses are Navajo girls who speak the language. This is important as some patients don't know English. We go to the room where the grandmother was. There are also other ladies in that room. One of them doesn't speak English, which was immaterial because she is completely deaf. Justyna tries to communicate with her somehow and every so often both of them burst laughing.

"This is an old cowgirl, she used to be a rodeo champion", says Theron.

He himself talks long to his grandmother. I can't take part in the conversation because it is all conducted in Navajo. He later explains to her why we came but she is not in a good shape and there is no point asking her about herbs. As we drive back he tells us what he talked about with the granny: he asked her whether it was a right time to date another woman.

Old cowgirl

There is one more person to ask about the dating issue, Theron's uncle who is a roadman of the American Indian Church. American Indian Church is a new religion that has nothing to do with healing ceremonies celebrated on sand paintings. Ordinary Indians nevertheless consider roadmen to be somehow connected to the supernatural world and go to them if they have problems in life. Theron wants to show us the life of the rez, but why not ask some personal question as well? There must be some evil forces involved if his wife left him, he can't see the children and doesn't have anybody, doesn't even have a place to live. He doesn't have anybody and is not sure whether to look for somebody else as it may complicate matters even more.

The uncle lives in a normal house but just next door there is a cleanly kept hogan, probably for ceremonies. We are received not in the hogan but in a kitchen of the house. A kitchen apparently can be used for ceremonies, too. The uncle has a toolbox in which one would expect to see a set of wrenches and files, but he keeps other things in it. There is an eagle feather, a red stone pipe, a crystal, a little cactus and a few other objects. I have seen collections like this among the Ojibways in Canada, although they kept them in their sacred bundles. These sacred bundles nowadays look like expensive wallets. Apparently in Arizona a toolbox can be used for the same purpose.

The ceremony itself is short. On a small rug (Navajo style, of course) a few objects are arranged: a little flute, a little crystal, a cactus. The uncle says something in Navajo, plays the flute for a minute, stares into the crystal. I don't even notice when the ceremony is over because both it and the conversation between Theron and the uncle are in Navajo. At one point the uncle asks if I have any questions. I am not prepared for an interview but I do ask about the little cactus. It is peyote, it doesn't grow in Arizona. It has to be brought from Texas and it costs a lot of money. I m given the little cactus to hold for a moment.

"I inherited this one from my father and he inherited it from his" says the uncle.

On our way back Theron says he couldn't believe I was given the little cactus to hold.

"It is considered so holy that during ceremonies it is at the top of the altar and can only be seen from afar".

Theron is fantastic, he does whatever he can to show us his country - Navajoland - and indeed we can see much more than an overage tourist would, but we probably will never be able to see it the way he sees it. Some evil forces are afoot, therefore he lives in a trailer. The uncle can see something about these forces staring in his crystal. And how about the huge animals turned into stone? All over Navajoland there are these rocks that look like huge animals and for the Navajos this exactly what they are. They have been turned into stone but better to keep away from them. Even roads are built around them with an wide arch.

Shiprock is a good example. It may look like a ship to the white people but the Navajos know: it is a huge bird, better to be seen from afar. Thank God the road goes around it by a wide margin.

Shiprock

You will find this text, 
and many more on the subject, 
in my book "DO THEY STILL LIVE IN WIGWAMS?":

Kannata

Kannata village reconstruction in 2012

"When you see Arnie again ask him why the Confederacy does nothing about this land."

The chance that I see Arnie any time soon is very slim. I saw him yesterday, However, tomorrow I have a flight back to England I have no idea when I will visit Canada again. What's more, Arnie is 80 years old and not in a very good health.

I am in a place called Kannata in a building occupied by Mohawk Warriors. Right now it is being occupied by two people, one Mohawk and one white supporter. I am trying to find out what this protest is about but even after a longish conversation it is not clear to me. I am told that Brantford town council decided to make it a place for drug addicts so they can change their needles here anonymously but the Mohawks didn't want that and seized the building. The Mohawks say that this land belongs to Indians and the town council has no right to decide about it.

I have been in the very same spot 13 years ago, in 1999. Then chief Arnie General brought me here to show me a reconstruction of an ancient Iroquois longhouse. At the time it seemed to be a part of the Museum of Woodland Cultures, which itself was run by the Iroquois. Being in Brantford again I wanted to see the old places and went to this museum but was told that the reconstructed Mohawk village is now occupied by rebel Mohawks and the museum has nothing to do with it. It is only a few hundred metres away so I walked there and saw that the reconstructed village is still standing, but only just. It seems to be in a rather sorry state, certainly not a tourist attraction. A neighbouring building is occupied by two guys who represent the rebel Mohawks. I ask what the rebellion is about but they don't seem to be very clear in their answers. From the conversation I gather that they rebel against:

Yowne

a. The Council of the city of Brantford

b. The Council of the Six Nations Reserve which officially is the owner of the piece of land on which the reconstructed village stands.

c. Six Nations Confederacy Council, which meets on the Six Nations Reserve, but is not recognised by the Canadian government and has no political power. Chief Arnie General, whom I met several times, is a member of this body. Of the two guys who occupy the building one is a real Mohawk but is not very talkative, the other is a white Canadian named Andy, who supports the cause. He is the one talking to me but appears to be not very well informed. He seems to confuse the Reserve Council, recognised by the government, and the unrecognised Confederacy Council. He blames Arnie for things like state of education on the reserve. He also says that the Grand River Reserve was given to the Mohawks and the other tribes of the Confederacy have no rights to it. The document of governor Haldiman, who in 1795 gave this land to Mohawks, is still in possession of the tribe but is kept in a secret place.

"Yowne should come here soon. She is an elder and an expert on Indian herbal medicine. She also supports the Mohawk movement." Indeed soon a white car arrives, an Indian lady gets out and joins the conversation. She seems to be in a good health even though she is just as old as Arnie. She knows him, of course. She explains a little more who the rebel Mohawks are. She says they are the Mohawk Workers, which is not a new organisation. It existed before the war and was against removing the Confederacy chiefs from power. Mohawk Workers are Christians who think that the Confederacy Council, which is dominated by the Longhouse chiefs, is not radical enough.

Haldiman monument in Ohsweken

"We live in a dysfunctional society", she says. "So many young people commit suicide, but it is we ourselves who should give them hope. What can we achieve if we are so divided? We are like crabs in a bucket, if one climbs higher, others pull him down." She also talks about the Haldiman document. "You want to see that document? Bill Squires has it. I'll phone him. Damn it, he doesn't answer."

The information that the Mohawks are in possession of the document is a bit surprising. A few years ago Yvonne Thomas, my other friend on the reserve and herself a Mohawk, asked me to find the original document in the British Library. They wanted to build a monument commemorating the declaration and wanted to cut in stone a facsimile of the original. They couldn't find it in Canada so she asked me to try to find it in London. I couldn't find it either. In the British Library I found only a handwritten copy in a personal notebook of the governor Haldiman. He copied in this notebook all the documents he issued. Yvonne didn't want this and after all they cut on the monument the words of the declaration written in a computer type. I saw this monument only yesterday in Ohsweken. It has the Haldimand document cut in stone as well as a map of the lands given to the Iroquois.

I met Yvonne yesterday as well in Ohsweken, on the rez. There was a village feast there, a small powwow in a gym, a small fair outside. Yvonne in such cases usually has a stand with hand made copies of old wampums. It takes a lot of time to make such a wampum. Yvonne sat behind her stand and patiently threaded white and purple beads. She shared her stand with Naomi who demonstrated similar threading skills of the Ojibway. In the 19th century the Ojibway did not wear buckskins any more but cloth jackets decorated with beads in fantastic patterns. Naomi showed me how it was done on little bead strawberries. I mentioned that my Marysia would have liked it, pity she couldn't see it any more. Naomi must have noticed tears in my eyes when I said this because she chose one of her bead strawberries and said:

"This one is for you."

The strawberry looks not quite ripe, the beads are green and yellow, but it is beautiful all the same.

You will find this text, 
and many more on the subject, 
in my book "DO THEY STILL LIVE IN WIGWAMS?":