Wolf Canis lupus - Finnish and Russian wolf

Jikohnsaseh: Great Peace Woman

A long time ago, there was a woman of the northern Nations, that lived along a path that ran East and West. Many warriors used this path on their way to war. They would often stop along the way at the home of the woman to get rest, to eat, and to tell the tales of their great war deeds. Now the woman was well renown among the many peoples for her hospitality. She was so honored, that she was chief among her own people, the Neutrals or Ka-kwah.

The woman was known as Jikohnsaseh, or Lynx Face. She relished in the stories of the young braves, and always anxiously awaited the next party of warriors. At this time in the history of the Nations there was much fighting. One family and Nation was always at war with other families and Nations. One’s own neighbor could not be trusted, so the people did not go out alone at night in fear for their lives. Some of the people grew weary of the constant fighting and the constant mourning for the loss of life of loved ones.

Among the people, Hayenwentha, an Onondoga, had grown weary. He had lost every member of his family, and so he talked of Peace among the Nations. Many of the tribes said that this is not the tradition, but Hayenwentha found a home among the Mohawk, as many of their people were weary of the strife and liked the idea of this peace.

About this time, another man, Dekaniwida, who had been born of a virgin Huron woman, arrived to his white stone boat. He came with a message of Peace and the Great Law. He joined with Hayenwentha, to teach this Great Law and bring Peace to the Nations.

Together they sought out Hayenwentha’s old friend, Jikohnsaseh. to tell her of the Great Peace law. Jikohnsaseh, because of her respected position and the work that she did with the War parties, would be a valuable asset to their cause of Peace.

Jikohnsaseh welcomed the travelers. She offered them water for they may have been thirsty from their long journey. Then she prepared food for them that they should not go hungry. Then Dekaniwida began to lay down the Law of Great Peace before Jikohnsaseh. The Peacemaker told her that if she accepted his words of Peace, she could no longer morally shelter and feed the warriors going to battle.

At first, she was reluctant, for she enjoyed the heroic stories so much and it has been the way for a long time. But she was a chief among her people and she quickly grasped the concept of Peace. And how it would help the people. She saw also that her lodge could be a refuge of peace, and where she could spread the idea of Peace and the stories of the Peace Maker that the Giver of Life had sent in the White Stone Boat.

She believe in his visionand was the first person to accept what came to be known as the Great Law of Peace (Kaianerekowa). She encouraged him to share his message. She immediately began using her home and her influence to spread the cause of Peace among the people and the young warriors. Because of her strong belief, and her good ideas, and her unflagging energy put forward for the law of Great Peace, Hayenwentha gave her the name Great Peace Woman.

Jikohnsaseh: Mother of Nations. When the story is recounted, it sounds as though the Confederacy of Peace was formed in only a few years. There is speculation that it may have been a life time job for the three, Jikohnsaseh, Hayenwentha, and Dekaniwida. As with many Native Peoples today, they were not in a hurry to change things. It all had to be thought out and considered very carefully. So it may have taken 40 years for the Confederacy to join together. During this time there were undoubtedly many meetings, and long hours into the night of spirited conversations as the three discussed and re-discussed the idea of Peace, and the Great Law, and what it would mean for the People. It would be in such meetings that Jikohnsaseh would argue and narrate the value of the woman and the advantages of women in creating the balances and check s that the Great lay would need if it were to truly serve ALL the People. Her wisdom and verbal ability would give much insight and weight to her ideas and proposals. It is because of her great statesmanship that the Great Law was crafted into the first and only true democracy to be established ever.

When the Great Law was finished, the women would own the offices. These offices were of a political AND spiritual purpose combined. If the men put in office were not doing right by the people and by the Great Law, it is the women who would remove them and find a more suitable leader. The wisdom in this decision comes from a valid look at the woman raising the children and who better but the women, would know the hearts and the abilities of those who would become leaders and sachems of the People.

Women would also hold the veto power over war. The young men, always eager, would clammer for war, and men, whose nature it is to be warriors, may not always see clearly the path of Peace but a woman who knows that she must bury her loved ones, the children she has sucked, she would see and know if the fight would be worth its cost in life and mourning.

Women owned the property. Again there is great wisdom in this. The woman raised the children. A need for a home and means to provide for the children was of most importance. Men could always fend for themselves but for a woman with little ones to tend for, time would be limited for replacing items needed.

Again, the children belonged to the lineage of the woman. In this way, every child had a mother where father may or may not be of note. The mother’s family took in the child and child had a place among the People from the beginning of it’s journey here on this earth.

And such was the contributions of the Great Peace Woman. Her wisdom, and her unfailing devotion to the cause , made her an important part of every proceeding of the Great Law.

At last, five nations had been convinced of the prosperity they would have if they joined the Confederacy of Peace. There was only one hold up in the events. Adodarhonh, a wicked sorcerer of the Onondoga Nation, had agreed t join the Confederacy. It is said that it was Jikohnsaseh’s suggestion to offer to Adodarhonh, the position of head Faith Keeper, or Fire Keeper of the Confederacy. However, first Adodarhonh must have his body and mind mended so that he might be well and look as other men.

Dekaniwida taught a healing song and the People did sing it, but finally, Dekanawida sang the song himself and then Jikohnsaseh combed the writhing snakes from Adodarhohn’s hair. Then Adodarhonh became straight as other men, and Jikohnsaseh and the War Chief set the horned gustewen upon Adodarhonh’s head. The healed Adodarhonh became a trustworthy defender of the Law of Great Peace.

Hayenwentha stood before the Great Council now. He took an arrow and he broke it. "This is your Nation individually," he said. Then he took five arrows, one for each of the five Nations resent, and tried to break them but they would not break. "This is our Nations together", he said.

Now the five Nations were One to be known as the Haudenausaunee, People of the Long House. Over the years, Jikohnsaseh had seen the young men grow to manhood. She had mothered many in much the same way she had mothered the law of Great Peace. Dekaniwida then gave to Jikohnsaseh a new name. He gave to her "Mother of Nations".

The Law of Great Peace would serve the People well for nearly 1000 years. Eventually, a new people, a white race from across the water would come to the People. The White Race would come with their hearts burning with the desire for Freedom, a desire that would be further fueled by contact with the Haudenausaunee and the democracy they had formed. They would use the Law of Great Peace as a format for their own form of democracy to be set down in the Constitution of the United States of America. However, the White Race had no honored women of stature like Jikohnsaseh, to help forge the important document and so the work she had done for the People was erased in the White Man’s version. It would take the new government until the 1920’s to begin to give women the rights the Haudenausaunee women had enjoyed for hundreds of years. Like wise, the new race also recorded the histories in their own moralistic viewpoint and Jikohnsaseh contribution was omitted from many of the White Man’s versions of the Iroquois story.

About the Painting The Hiawatha Wampum Belt backs the painting. It is a treaty belt representing the five nations that joined together in the Law of Great Peace. Jikohnsaseh stands before it with her cape of freshwater pearls. The shadows of the gustewen's of the Mohawk, Oneida, Onondoga, Cayuga, and Seneca, represent the past generations while the children represent the 7th generation and pose the question, "What will be left for us?" The Oneida child holds the condolence cane, a story stick of sorts, where the names of the sachems or clan leaders are inscribed in their respective nations for the remembrance of future Haudenausaune.