The Iroquois Book Of Rites Part 12

NOTES ON THE CANIENGA BOOK

The meaning of the general t.i.tle, _Okayondonghsera Yondennase_, has been already explained (Introduction, p. 48). In the sub-t.i.tle, the word _oghentonh_ is properly an adverb, meaning firstly, or foremost. This t.i.tle might be literally rendered. "First the ceremony, 'At-the-wood's-edge' they call it."

1. The chiefs, in their journey to the place of meeting, are supposed to have pa.s.sed the sites of many deserted towns, in which councils had formerly been held. Owing to the frequent removals of their villages, such deserted sites were common in the Iroquois country. The speaker who welcomes the arriving guests supposes that the view of these places had awakened in their minds mournful recollections.

_Desawennawenrate_, "thy voice coming over." This word is explained in the Glossary. It is in the singular number. According to the Indian custom, the speaker regards himself as representing the whole party for whom he speaks, and he addresses the leader of the other party as the representative and embodiment of all who come with him. Throughout the speeches "I" and "thou" are used in the well understood sense of "we"

and "ye." In like manner, tribes and nations are, as it were, personified. A chief, speaking for the Onondagas, will say, "I (that is, my nation) am angry; thou (the Delaware people) hast done wrong." This style of bold personification is common in the scriptures. Moses warns the Israelites: "Thou art a stiff-necked people." "Oh my people!"

exclaims Isaiah; "they which lead thee cause thee to err."

2. _Denighroghkwayen_, "let us two smoke." This word is in the dual number, the two parties, the hosts and the guests, being each regarded as one individual.

The difficulties and dangers which in the early days of the confederacy beset the traveler in threading his way through the forest, from one Indian nation to another, are vividly described in this section. The words are still employed by their speakers as an established form, though they have ceased to have any pertinence to their present circ.u.mstances.

3. _Alnuah deyakonakarondon_, "yea, of chiefs,"--literally, "yea, having horns." The custom of wearing horns as part of the head-dress of a chief has been long disused among the Iroquois; but the idiom remains in the language, and the horns, in common parlance, indicate the chief, as the coronet suggests the n.o.bleman in England. Among the western Indians, as is well known, the usage still survives. "No one," says Catlin, "wears the head-dress surmounted with horns except the dignitaries who are very high in authority, and whose exceeding valor, worth, and power are admitted by all." These insignia of rank are, he adds, only worn on special and rare occasions, as in meeting emba.s.sies, or at warlike parades or other public festivals, or sometimes when a chief sees fit to lead a war-party to battle. [Footnote: _Letters and Notes on the Manners, Customs, and Condition of the North American Indians._ By George Catlin; p. 172.] The origin of the custom is readily understood. The sight, frequent enough in former days, of an antlered stag leading a herd of deer would be quite sufficient to suggest to the quick apprehension of the Indian this emblem of authority and pre-eminence.

5. _Sathaghyortnighson_, "thou who art of the Wolf clan." The clan is addressed in the singular number, as one person. It is deserving of notice that the t.i.tles of clan-ship used in the language of ceremony are not derived from the ordinary names of the animals which give the clans their designations. _Okwatho_ is wolf, but a man of the Wolf clan is called _Tahionni_,--or, as written in the text, _Taghyonni_. In ordinary speech, however, the expression _rokwaho_, "he is a Wolf," might be used.

The English renderings of the names in the list of towns are those which the interpreters finally decided upon. In several instances they doubted about the meaning, and in some cases they could not suggest an explanation. Either the words are obsolete, or they have come down in such a corrupt form that their original elements and purport cannot be determined. As regards the sites of the towns, see the Appendix, Note E.

6. _Deyako-larakeh ranyaghdenghshon_,--"the two clans of the Tortoise." Respecting the two sub-gentes into which the Tortoise clan was divided, see _ante_, p. 53. _Anowara_ is the word for tortoise, but _raniahten_ (or, in the orthography of the text, _ranyaghdengh_) signifies, "he is of the Tortoise clan."

7. _Jadadeken roskerewake_, "thy brother of the Bear clan."

_Okwari_ is bear, but _roskerewake_ signifies "he is of the Bear clan." _Rokwari_, "he is a Bear," might, however, be used with the same meaning.

8. _Onghwa kehaghshonha_, "now recently." It is possible that _onghwa_ is here written by mistake for _orighwa_. The word _orighwakayongh_, which immediately follows, signifies "in ancient times," and the corresponding word _orighwake-haghshonha_ would be "in younger times." The period in which these additions were made, though styled recent, was probably long past when the "Book of Rites"

was committed to writing; otherwise many towns which are known to have existed at the latter date would have been added to the list. In fact, the words with which the catalogue of towns closes--"these were the clans in ancient times,"--seem to refer these later additions, along with the rest, back to a primitive era of the confederacy.

9. _Rawenniyo raweghniseronnyh_, "G.o.d has appointed this day," or, literally, "G.o.d makes this day." In these words are probably found the only trace of any modification of the Book of Rites caused by the influence of the white visitors and teachers of the modern Iroquois. As the very fact that the book was written in the alphabet introduced by the missionaries makes us certain that the person who reduced it to writing had been under missionary instruction, it might be deemed surprising that more evidences of this influence are not apparent. It is probable, however, that the conservative feeling of the Council would have rejected any serious alterations in their ancient forms. It seems not unlikely that David of Schoharie--or whoever was the penman on this occasion--may have submitted his work to his missionary teacher, and that in deference to his suggestion a single interpolation of a religious cast, to which no particular objection could be made, was allowed to pa.s.s.

The word _Rawenniyo_, as is well known, is the term for G.o.d which was adopted by the Catholic missionaries. It is, indeed, of Huron-Iroquois origin, and may doubtless have been occasionally employed from the earliest times as an epithet proper for a great divinity. Its origin and precise meaning are explained in the Appendix, Note B. The Catholic missionaries appropriated it as the special name of the Deity, and its use in later times is probably to be regarded as an evidence of Christian influence. That the sentence in which it occurs in the text is probably an interpolation, is shown by the fact that the words which precede this sentence are repeated, with a slight change, immediately after it. Having interjected this pious expression, the writer seems to have thought it necessary to resume the thread of the discourse by going back to the phrase which had preceded it. It will be observed that the religious sentiment proper to the Book of Rites appears to us confined to expressions of reverence for the great departed, the founders of the commonwealth. This circ.u.mstance, however should not be regarded as indicating that the people were devoid of devotional feeling of another kind. Their frequent "thanksgiving festivals" afford sufficient evidence of the strength of this sentiment; but they apparently considered its display out of place in their political acts.

15. _Nene karcnna_, "the song," or "hymn." The purport of this composition is explained in the Introduction (_ante_, p. 62). Before the Book of Rites came into my possession I had often heard the hymn repeated, or sung, by different individuals, in slightly varying forms. The Onondaga version, given me on the Syracuse Reservation, contains a line, "_Negwiyage teskenonhenhne_" which is not found in the Canienga MS. It is rendered "I come to greet the children." The affection of the Indians for their children, which is exhibited in various pa.s.sages of the Book, is most apparent in the Onondaga portion.

_Kayanerenh_. This word is variously rendered,--"the peace," "the law," and "the league," (see _ante_, p. 33). Here it evidently stands for _Kayancrenhkowa_, "the Great Peace," which is the name usually given by the Kanonsionni to their league, or federal const.i.tution.

_Deskenonghweronne_, or in the modern French orthography, _teskenonhweronne_, "we come to greet and thank," is a good example of the comprehensive force of the Iroquois tongue. Its root is _nonhwe_, or _nanwe_, which is found in _kenonhws_, I love, like, am pleased with--the initial syllable _ke_ being the first personal p.r.o.noun. In the frequentative form this becomes _kenonhweron_, which has the meaning of "I salute and thank," i.e., I manifest by repeated acts my liking or gratification. The _s_ prefixed to this word is the sign of the reiterative form: _skenonhweron_, "_again_ I greet and thank." The terminal syllable _ne_ and the prefixed _te_ are respectively the signs of the motional and the cislocative forms,--"I _come hither_ again to greet and thank." A word of six syllables, easily p.r.o.nounced (and in the Onondaga dialect reduced to five) expresses fully and forcibly the meaning for which eight not very euphonious English words are required. The notion that the existence of these comprehensive words in an Indian language, or any other, is an evidence of deficiency in a.n.a.lytic power, is a fallacy which was long ago exposed by the clear and penetrative reasoning of Duponceau, the true father of American philology. [Footnote: See the admirable Preface to his translation of Zeisberger's Delaware Grammar, p. 94.] As he has well explained, a.n.a.lysis must precede synthesis. In fact, the power of what may be termed a.n.a.lytic synthesis,--the mental power which first resolves words or things into their elements, and then puts them together in new forms,--is a creative or co-ordinating force, indicative of a higher natural capacity than the act of mere a.n.a.lysis. The genius which framed the word _teskenonhweronne_ is the same that, working with other elements, produced the steam-engine and the telephone.

_Ronkeghsota jivathondek_. Two translations of this verse were given by different interpreters. One made it an address to the people: "My forefathers--hearken to them!" i.e., listen to the words of our forefathers, which I am about to repeat. The other considered the verse an invocation to the ancestors themselves. "My forefathers! hearken ye!"

The words will bear either rendering, and either will be consonant with the speeches which follow.

The lines of this hymn have been thus cast into the metre of Longfellow's "Hiawatha:"--

"To the great Peace bring we greeting!

To the dead chiefs kindred, greeting!

To the warriors round him, greeting!

To the mourning women, greeting!

These our grandsires' words repeating, Graciously, O grandsires, hear us!"

16. _Enyonghdentyonko kanonghsakonghshen_,-"he will walk to and fro in the house." In councils and formal receptions it is customary for the orator to walk slowly to and fro during the intervals of his speech.

Sometimes, before beginning his address, he makes a circuit of the a.s.sembly with a meditative aspect, as if collecting his thoughts. All public acts of the Indians are marked with some sign of deliberation.

21. _Eghnikonh enyerighwawetharho kenthoh_,--"thus they will close the ceremony here." The address to the forefathers, which is mainly an outburst of lamentation over the degeneracy of the times, is here concluded. It would seem, from what follows, that at this point the candidate for senatorial honors is presented to the council, and is formally received among them, with the usual ceremonies, which were too well known to need description. The hymn is then sung again, and the orator proceeds to recite the ancient laws which the founders of their confederacy established.

22. _Watidewennakarondonnyon_, "we have put on the horns;" in other words, "we have invested the new chief with the ensigns of office,"--or, more briefly, "we have installed him." The latter is the meaning as at present understood; but it is probable that, in earlier days, the panoply of horns was really placed on the head of the newly inducted councillor.

23. _Aghsonh denvakokwanentonghsacke_, etc., "as soon as he is dead"

(or, according to another rendering, "when he is just dying") the horns shall be taken off. The purport and object of this law are set forth in the Introduction, p.67.

24. _Ne nayakoghstonde ne nayeghnyasakenradake,_ "by reason of the neck being white." The law prescribed in this section to govern the proceedings of the Council in the case of homicide has been explained in the Introduction, p. 68. The words now quoted, however, introduce a perplexity which cannot be satisfactorily cleared up. The aged chief, John S. Johnson, when asked their meaning, was only able to say that neither he nor his fellow councillors fully understood it. They repeated in council the words as they were written in the book, but in this case, as in some others, they were not sure of the precise significance or purpose of what they said. Some of them thought that their ancestors, the founders, had foreseen the coming of the white people, and wished to advise their successors against quarreling with their future neighbors.

If this injunction was really implied in the words, we must suppose that they were an interpolation of the Christian chief, David of Schoharie, or possibly of his friend Brant. They do not, however, seem to be, by any means, well adapted to convey this meaning. The probability is that they are a modern corruption of some earlier phrase, whose meaning had become obsolete. They are repeated by the chiefs in council, as some antiquated words in the authorized version of the scriptures are read in our own churches, with no clear comprehension--perhaps with a total misconception--of their original sense.

27. _Enjonkwanekheren_, "we shall lose some one," or, more literally, we shall fail to know some person. This law, which is fully explained in the Introduction, p. 70, will be found aptly exemplified in the Onondaga portion of the text, where the speeches of the "younger brothers" are evidently framed in strict compliance with the injunctions here given.

28. _Jadakweniyu_. This word, usually rendered "ruler," appears to mean "princ.i.p.al person," or perhaps originally a "very powerful person." It is a compound word, formed apparently from _oyata_, body or person, _kakwennion_, to be able, and the adjective termination _iyu_ or _iyo_, in its original sense of "great." (See Appendix, Note B.) M. Cuoq, in his Iroquois Lexicon, defines the verb _kiatakwenniyo_ as meaning "to be the important personage, the first, the princ.i.p.al, the president." It corresponds very nearly to the Latin _princeps_, and, as applied in the following litany to the fifty great hereditary chiefs of the Iroquois, might fairly enough be rendered "prince."

_Kanonghsyonny_, in modern orthography, _Kanonsionni_. For the origin and meaning of this word, and an explanation of the following section, see the Introduction, p. 75.

_Yejodenaghstahhere kanaghsdajikowah_, lit., "they added frame-poles to the great framework." Each of these compounds comprises the word _kanaghsta_, which is spelt by Bruyas, _gannasta_, and defined by him, "poles for making a cabin,--the inner one, which is bent to form the frame of a cabin." The reference in these words is to the Tuscaroras, Tuteloes, Nantic.o.kes, and other tribes, who were admitted into the confederacy after its first formation. From a ma.n.u.script book, written in the Onondaga dialect, which I found at "Onondaga Castle," in September, 1880, I copied a list of the fifty councillors, which closed with the words, "_shotinastasonta kanastajikona Ontaskaeken_"--literally, "they added a frame-pole to the great framework, the Tuscarora nation."

29. _Onenh jathondek, sewarihwisaanonghkwe Kayanerenghkowa,_--"now listen, ye who completed the work, the Great League." This section, though written continuously as prose, was probably always sung, like the list of chiefs which follows. It is, in fact, the commencement of a great historical chant, similar in character to the 78th Psalm, or to some pa.s.sages of the Prophets, which in style it greatly resembles. In singing this portion, as also in the following litany to the chiefs, the long-drawn exclamation of _hai_, or _haihhaih_, is frequently introduced. In the MS. book referred to in the last note, the list of councillors was preceded by a paragraph, written like prose, but with many of these interjections interspersed through it. The interpreter, Albert Cusick, an intelligent and educated man, a.s.sured me that this was a song, and at my request he chanted a few staves of it, after the native fashion. The following are the words of this hymn, arranged as they are sung. It will be seen that it is a sort of cento or compilation, in the Onondaga dialect, of pa.s.sages from various portions of the Canienga Book of Rites, and chiefly from the section (29) now under consideration:--

_ Haihhaih!_ Woe! Woe!

_Jiyathonick!_ Hearken ye!

_Xivonkliti!_ We are diminished!

_ Haihhaih!_ Woe! Woe!

_Tejoskawayenton._ The cleared land has become a thicket.

_ Haihhaih! _ Woe! Woe!

_Skakentahenyon._ The clear places are deserted.

_ Hai!_ Woe!

_Shatyherarta--_ They are in their graves-- _Hotyiwisahongwe--_ They who established it-- _ Hai!_ Woe!

_Kayaneengoha._ The great League.

_Netikenen honen_ Yet they declared _Nene kenyoiwatatye--_ It should endure-- _Kayaneengowane._ The great League.

_ Hai!_ Woe!

_Wakaiwakayonnheha._ Their work has grown old.

_ Hai!_ Woe!

_Netho watyongwententhe._ Thus we are become miserable.

The closing word is the same as the Canienga _watyonkwentendane_, which is found in the closing section of the Canienga book. The lines of the Onondaga hymn which immediately precede this concluding word will be found in Section 20 of that book, a section which is probably meant to be chanted. It will be noticed that the lines of this hymn fall naturally into a sort of parallelism, like that of the Hebrew chants.

30. _Dekarihaokenh_, or _Tehkarihhoken_. In John Buck's MS. the list of chiefs is preceded by the words "_Nene Tehadirihoken_," meaning the Caniengas, or, literally, "the Tekarihokens." For an explanation of this idiom and name, see _ante_, p. 77.

_Ayonhwahtha_, or _Hayeirwatha_. This name, which, as Hiawatha, is now familiar to us as a household word, is rendered "He who seeks the wampum belt." Chief George Johnson thought it was derived from _oyonwa_, wampum-belt, and _ratiehwatha_, to look for something, or, rather, to seem to seek something which we know where to find. M. Cuoq refe/s the latter part of the word to the verb _katha_, to make. [Footnote: Lexique de la Langue Iroquois, p. 161] The termination _atha_ is, in this sense, of frequent occurrence in Iroquois compounds. The name would then mean "He who makes the wampum-belt," and would account for the story which ascribes to Hiawatha the invention of wampum. The Senecas, in whose language the word _oyonwa_ has ceased to exist, have corrupted the name to _Hayowentha_, which they render "he who combs." This form of the name has also produced its legend, which is referred to elsewhere (p. 87).

Hiawatha "combed the snakes out of Atotarho's head," when he brought that redoubted chief into the confederacy.