"Awakening the Spirit Event Popular Attraction on Reserve"

OHSWEKEN - Several weeks ago there was an interesting conference at Ohsweken on the Six Nations reserve. It was called Awakening the Spirit and it was sponsored by the Iroquois Women's Circle. The Iroquois Women's Circle is a group of concerned women of the Six Nations community which gathers together for the purpose of looking for a stronger foundation and for a deeper spiritual understanding of life.

This particular conference focussed on Iroquoian and Ojibway native beliefs and teachings. It opened on a Friday evening at J.C. Hill School gymnasium with a potluck supper. Then, in keeping with its theme of showing tradtional native values and ways, there was a sunrise ceremony at about 6:30 a.m. on Saturday morning and this was repeated on Sunday morning.

In the afternoons those attending had the choice of four groups, called teaching circles, in four different classrooms. The Indian nations represented by the speakers were Mohawk, Seneca, Cayuga, Ojibway, Mescalero Apache and Cherokee. The teaching circle I attended on Sunday afternoon was jam-packed, with some people even sitting on the floor.

The leader of the taching circle was Sako kweniomkwas (Tom Porter), a knowledgeable Mohawk elder from Akwesasne. One of the reasons traditional native culture clashes with modern ways is because of our toleration of pollution of "our Mother, the Earth." Modern Canadians and Americans are just now realizing what many natives have known all along. When we poison the earth, we are poisoning ourselves.

For example, the elders at Akwesasne have forbidden the use of white foam plastic cups in the Longhouse. "What has that got to do with anything?" you might ask. Only that plastic cups are made from petroleum-based chemicals which are not only extremely poisonous but which will take thousands, perhaps hundreds of thousands of years to break down and become harmless. By using things such as this we are poisoning future generations of the human race. This is a fact, not a religious argument. Ask the scientists.

Perhaps those of us who attend Christian churches should be making similar decisions. Think of the impact on these poison-dispensing industries if groups all over North America stopped buying their products. Or would we rather be part of the problem than part of the solution?

The conference ended with a chance for those who had attended to address the whole assembly in the gym. Several non-Indians expressed their satisfaction and hoped the event would be repeated in the future. A minister in clerical collar asked several non-religious questions and then the conference was closed in a ceremony outside the school.

Our Town is an Expositor feature which provides a forum for news and views fom some of the smaller centres in the region. Geoge Beaver is a Six Nations reserve resident and was a teacher and principal on the Six Nations and New Credit reserves for 33 years.