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Native pageant to It OHSWEKEN - If you're one of those peo- ple who go to a play to have your ego stroked, this year's Six Nations Native Pag- eant would not have been for you. Many Ca- nadians are as bad as Americans in this re- gard. They prefer their history to be sugar- coated with a bit of chocolate sprinkled on top. Real history is often somewhat bitter but, like medicine, hopefully it will make you better in the future. This year's play, at the Forest Theatre on Sour Springs Road, was native history told from a native perspective. Some of the epi- sodes depicted have never before been seen in print. They come from the oral history of the Six Nations. The play covers the troubled period after the Six Nations Iroquois were uprooted from their ancient tribal lands dur- ing the American Revolution, up to the pre- sent time. 'Our T~wn 1 George Bea't;~r ers called castles. They came to a land bar- ren of shelter from the elements and already depleted of fur-bearing animals. They were United Empire Loyalists as much as any Scot or Englishman but they have never been called that because they were natives. And they have rarely been treated as UELs. One of the lesser-known episodes which occurred in the 1840s is depicted in this year's play. When white squatters began en- croaching on Six Nations land by the Grand River, the Six Nations Counci~ which con- sisted of Chiefs of the Confederacy, appealed to the Canadian government to control their people. Agents were sent out to request the squatters to move but they demanded pay- ment for the buildings, fences, etc., that they e It was "'" would be easier to move the Indians across the river, The squatters were only too happy to assist 'in. this and there are stories passed down byt word of mouth of the white squat- ters driv,.ng the Indians across the river with clubs anp pitchforks. This occurred along the river south of Brantfo~d, from Cainsville to Onondaga and from Middleport to Caledonia. The Tutelos, who I lived at what is now Tutela Heights, were also driven out in the same fashion. The Tutblos were part of the once numerous Neutral1 Confederacy that shared southern Ontario with the Hurons and Petuns (Tobac- co Indians). They were also Iroquoians and, in fact, some of their ceremonies still survive in the Longhouse rituals at Six Nations. It has been said that those who do not learn ftom their history are doomed to re- peat it. 'However, before you can learn from it, you have to know what your history was. This ye;ir's Six Nations Pageant told it like it was. 1 Our · Town is an Expositor feature which provides a forum for news and views fro some pf the smaller centres in the district GeorgEf. Beaver is a Six Nations ReseNe resi dent a' d was a teacher and principal on the Six N ·ons and New Credit reseNes for 33 It was called The New Beginning because after living prosperously for hundreds of years in the Finger Lakes Region and along the Mohawk River, the Six Nations had to leave their homeland and start anew in the wilds of southern Ontario. They left vast fields of corn, beans and squash, The Three Sisters. They left fruit orchards, villages and hu e fortified buildin the European writ- had put u . The government decided it.,--Wum.i.r'--------~------1