[singing in native language]
[speaking in native language]
>> My name is --
in the Oneida language.
That means that there's
two paths that I'm going through
simultaneously.
To me, it's like being in our
world, the traditional world,
and then also understanding this
world that we live in today.
I walk both those paths.
I'm from the Bear Clan,
the --,
and Onnyote'a'ka',
that's the People
of the Standing Stone.
Today we are called
the Oneida Nation.
[singing in native language]
>> Oneida History
was funded in part by
Irene Daniell Kress,
the Evjue Foundation,
a charitable arm of
the Capital Times ,
Ron and Patty Anderson,
the Wisconsin History Fund
with support from
the National Endowment
for the Humanities,
and the Friends of
Wisconsin Public Television.
[trickling water]
>> When you talk about
who we are as people,
I could talk for days.
But I'm trying to wrap it up
in a little, bitty nutshell
to kind of give you
some insight I guess,
or just an understanding
as to who the Oneida people are.
I would begin with
our creation story and
our purpose for being here.
Primarily, it's just as
the caretakers of the land,
respecting it.
I think the key is that
every thing, every plant,
every tree, every animal,
every bug, every thing
that's on the Mother Earth,
what we call our mother,
the Earth, the animals.
Each and every one
was created for a purpose,
and was given a responsibility
for being here by what
we call -- in our language,
the One Who Created Us.
Our understanding is that the
human being, they were
the very last things created,
different colors,
different sizes,
different languages
and different customs.
Just like everything
in creation.
They talk about that web of
life.
Everything's connected.
So, our creation story teaches
about respecting everything.
It teaches about responsibility
that we have as the human
beings, as protectors and
caretakers of this natural
world.
It teaches us about
reciprocating, of giving back,
through ceremonies, thanksgiving
and acknowledgements.
The key, I think, the most
important part of it is the
relationship, that the
creator had intended for us
to have this relationship,
intimate relationship
with all of creation,
and all of the human families.
Over time, different teachings
have come to our people.
The --,
what we say in our language,
the People of the Long House,
what contemporary people
call the Iroquois.
But there's a number of Iroquois
nations, and each one has
retained some information,
the Mohawks, Oneidas, Onondagas,
Cayugas, and Senecas,
and later on, the Tuscaroras.
What I've been doing for the
last 25 years is trying to learn
all of them and combining them
so it gives a clearer picture of
who we are.
I made reference to the Earth
as our mother, because our
understanding was that that's
where everything is molded and
shaped by this being.
We look to her as our mother.
We look to the different...
[laughs]
We look to the different
greater forces around us, and
there's relationship there.
The thunder is our grandfathers,
and there's a story behind that.
The stars are our relatives.
There's a story behind that.
The sun is our elder brother.
There's a story behind that.
The moon is our grandmother.
There's a story behind that.
There's a story
connected with everything.
It's all rolled up
into that creation story.
As time progressed
and people began to multiply,
different people went off
into different directions.
In our oral tradition it tells
us that we originally came from
the southwest area.
It talks about this great river
that we crossed that ran north
and south, and went off into the
northeast, it tells us,
and that different nations
arose from that.
When the nations
began to identify themselves
as geographically
from where they lived,
in our homelands in New York,
we began known as --,
the People of the Standing
Stone, or Granite.
Our relatives to the east
became the --,
called the People of the Flint,
the Mohawks.
Our relatives to the west of us
are known as --,
the People of the Hills.
They went into the foothills
of the Appalachians Mountains
there.
Then next to them
was the --,
the People of the Mucky Lands,
the --.
Then the --,
the People of the Mountains,
the Senecas.
So every nation, its name
is derived from the territory
that they resided on, you know,
for centuries,
probably thousands of years.
Within each, there were a number
of clans too, that emerged.
There's a story behind that too,
of how the clans came to be.
It tells us that
there came a time in our history
that there were so many people,
and people were dying, that
the people, everybody mourned,
and that began
to affect the ceremonies.
It disrupted
the whole social society.
People were grieving
all the time.
There was a messenger that
came here, that was sent here
by the creator,
to put things back into order.
An idea came from this young man
that we ought to pattern
ourselves, just as the natural
world is.
Because we're matrilineal, it's
our eldest women who are the
ones that speak for that family.
Different families,
these old, old ladies
and all of her offspring,
her sisters, and her nieces,
daughters, and their offspring,
and spouses, that's how
they would live in their homes,
their longhouses.
Matriarchally.
The man would go and live
with them when they marry in.
Those old, old ladies were
always in the habit of getting
up early in the morning.
What they were instructed to do
was to pay special attention
of that real quiet time.
It was sacred time at daybreak.
Over time, each one of those
old ladies, there was an animal
that came to them.
Three from the sky world,
three from the four-legged,
and three from the water world.
So for the Oneidas we have three
clans, Bear, Turtle and Wolf.
But there's three different
kinds from the canine family.
There's three different kinds,
or sizes of bears, from the
bear, and there's three
different types of turtles.
There's nine distinct families
that eventually became the
Oneida Nation.
It's like that with all those
other nations, as well.
For each one there's a certain
number of clans that it's
composed of.
Over time, there was different
messages that we received.
The clans came first,
then the ceremonies came.
The ceremonies was our way
of giving back, of showing
and honoring things in creation.
It's cyclical.
We follow the natural cycle of
the universe and the seasons.
There's ceremonies to give
thanks for certain times,
when we harvest things,
when things become ripe
in the natural world.
With each one there's a story
behind it, as well.
The songs, as well,
how they came to us.
Whether it's medicinal,
ceremonial,
or what we call a social dance,
when it's just for fun
and entertainment.
Even in that creation story too,
it talks about, over time
as people became sick,
different spirits came,
different animals volunteered
to assist to help the people,
because they have the power.
They have the medicine.
Today, a lot of these plants and
trees and everything we look at,
there's medicinal purposes that
they serve.
The most important plant that
the creator gave to the people
was the --, what we called
the native tobacco.
Again, in the creation story
it tells us that that plant
originally came from
the sky world.
There's another world out there
somewhere.
From that world, a woman came
and fell from that world
who was pregnant.
She set into motion what we have
today.
And that was one of the plants
that she brought
from that world.
Our instruction is that whenever
we take anything from the
natural world, we can make an
offering and talk to that plant,
just like I'm talking to you.
Because that plant, he
understands, or it understands,
because it was here when
those languages were created
so he knows those languages.
Again, to show that respect,
we just don't go out and take.
We have a ceremony.
That's what it is.
We take that little bit of time
to sit and talk to that plant,
and share our understanding
of why that plant's here.
So we use that tobacco
in a very sacred way,
a very honorable way.
We can just offer it,
or we can smoke it.
Our people, we've had pipes,
but nothing like what they have
in the plains,
those kinds of pipes.
They were more functional pipes
made from clay.
That's what we did.
We could do that too.
We can smoke that pipe
and blow that smoke,
and talk.
Our understanding then is that
that message will be carried
to whoever it is
that you're talking to.
Just like in everyday life
when there's hardships
that we encounter, we walk
that path that the creator
intended for us to walk.
There's times that we need
to ask for help or direction,
and we can do that, too.
We can burn that tobacco,
and we can talk to the creator
and ask for that help,
for that guidance.
In some way, if we believe,
those answers will come.
It can be in a dream,
because there's beings
that are around us day and night
they say, that are helpers,
the creator's helpers.
They bring back those messages
from the creator.
They can come to us
through our mind.
They say that they never touch
the earth.
The level they come to
is where our shoulders are.
It's through our mind that's how
they come and communicate to us.
So it can be in that way,
or it can be in a thought.
They're providing that.
It can be something
that we need to see
in the natural world.
There was a time in my life
where I was really struggling
with my history, my past,
since birth.
Because in our community,
and the indigenous community
is all over Turtle Islands, what
we call this continent here.
Alcoholism has really devastated
our people, you know.
That's the kind of home
I grew up in.
So I was really struggling
with some of those issues
of growing up
with domestic abuse.
I was walking in the woods
and I came around this corner,
a bend in the woods
on this path,
and here there was this grouse,
a mama.
She stood in the path.
She stood her ground
and she put her feathers out.
She was running at me,
and she's stop, and stop.
I just stood there like that
and I watched her.
I looked around, and
here on one side of the path
there were her chicks,
about a dozen of them,
little ones.
That's what she was protecting.
That helped me,
because that was my mom.
That's what she did.
She stood in front of danger,
my dad, who was the alcoholic,
to protect us.
She did her best.
And so, that really helped.
That's what I needed to see,
that I needed to move on.
I needed to see that to help me
to move on, and come to
some acceptance of my past.
Those things are there, if we
would just take that time
and stop and look and listen.
Or what the creator will do
is that he'll bring people
into your life.
They'll have something
to say to teach you.
Again, an example in my own
life, is that I've had a number
of elders, I call elders,
who are raised the old way.
They know their language.
They practice their ceremonies,
their traditional way of life.
Those are elders to me.
A number of these elders
have come into my life
over the last 25 years
and have really helped me grow.
They've taught me about
my history, the real history.
Whatever clan you belong to,
each one of those families,
there's what we call
in the language, --.
In English, we call them
Clan Mothers.
We're are matriarchal.
They are the ones that appoint
our political leaders.
They are the political leaders,
but they appoint the men,
what we call --,
what we call the chiefs
who do all the speaking
on behalf of the families.
Within each one of those
families, there are also
two other people,
what we call Faith Keepers,
--.
What that means is that they are
the ones that are responsible
for ensuring the four sacred
ceremonies that came to us as
Iroquois people are carried on.
Then each one, the man
and the woman,
they also have an assistant.
Kind of like an apprentice.
Because if we, especially like
I'm a grandpa now.
The third one is going to be
born tomorrow.
You get a whole different
perspective on life when you
start having grandchildren.
You're doing more observing
than taking care of.
Our elder people, you know,
they can see that in children.
They can see what their gift is.
Like I was saying
in the creation story,
everything here,
the creator put here,
placed here, planted,
has a purpose for being here.
The same is true
with the human beings.
Each and every one of us too
is here for a reason.
That's the old belief.
Not everybody is a teacher.
Not everybody is a singer.
Not everybody, you know,
is a leader,
have those characteristics
or qualities to be that.
You're born with that.
And so, what those old people
did, those elders,
they would watch the children
as they're growing up.
They would see which one
has that ability,
that natural gift,
as a peacemaker,
or as a singer,
or as good with crafts,
and things like that.
Or who was really good
with the memory
and can tell those stories
from just listening to it
maybe one time.
The old people, they can see
that in the children.
So then, they are kind of
groomed then.
They're steered
in that direction.
Maybe eventually that person
is going to be that Clan Mother.
She'll be by her side then,
you know.
Even in the language.
When we talk, like in English,
we say a Clan Mother.
That doesn't really give justice
to what that really is,
that responsibility.
But in the language, --.
You can look at that word
and you can take it apart.
Inside of there,
there's a part of that word
that talks about a way of life,
a path that you're taking,
a responsibility.
When you look at that journey
that they're going through life,
it goes on infinitely.
That journey
that you're talking about
is all those responsibilities
that's tied to that
as that matriarchal leader
for that family.
This is where they talk about
the seven generations.
That's a part of that, too.
That's how far ahead that your
looking on that journey that
you're taking through life.
You're looking ahead
that many generations.
The decisions that you're making
at that very moment, how is that
going to impact those children
that have yet to be born?
Is that going to benefit them?
Or is that going to cause them
to suffer?
Now if you think about that,
when my ancestors moved here,
they turned their backs to all
of that, any thing traditional,
ceremonial.
They became Episcopalians,
you know, around 1700 there,
somewhere in there.
That fractionalized our nation.
Consequently, when the
Revolutionary War broke out,
the ones that were
predominantly Christian
sided with the Colonists.
Then there was a group
of our people that sided
with the British,
and then some
that tried to remain neutral.
What that war did is it really
finalized that separation,
because you had families
fighting against one another.
Our people were the scouts
for that war.
What George Washington did
was send in the troops to
exterminate the Iroquois people.
The Oneidas
were the scouts for that.
So when they came here,
and I think that's one of the
big reasons why they came here,
was because of that.
We made a land deal
with the Menominees
and wanted to re-establish
themselves as a power,
which never materialized.
This community here,
the Oneidas of Wisconsin,
have been pretty much
the leaders in terms
of the assimilation process.
Consequently,
when I was growing up here,
I didn't know nothing
about my history.
I didn't know nothing
about my culture.
I didn't know my language.
English was what was spoken
in my home.
Alcoholism was prevalent in
my home and in this community.
I went to the public school.
In terms of any kind of
ethnicity, you know,
other than the skin
being a different color,
there was nothing evident here.
But in the '70s, there was
a lot of indigenous people
that began to kind of look at
their past, to re-instill
that pride in indigenous people.
They said, look,
you all have a a story.
You all have a creation story.
You all have songs.
You all have traditions.
Revitalize it,
bring it back to life.
It's been gasping for centuries
for a lot of nations.
That's when we started
going to Canada.
There's another community there,
the Oneidas of the Thames.
They have a longhouse there,
and they have ceremonies there.
We still had the language here,
but it was just the
conversational language,
nothing ceremonial
in terms of traditional.
But there, they still had that.
There's many communities
on the Canadian side that had
longhouses, and just a few
on the States' side.
We went there and we started
attending ceremonies.
We started learning.
That's where my pilgrimage
began in terms
of learning my history.
From that,
we built the longhouse here.
In 1983, we had our very first
ceremonies.
From that time on,
the last 25 years,
we were able to do them
ourselves now
in the language.
That's what we're doing today.
We revitalized it.
The elders out East,
they look at that as a miracle.
That's a miracle,
that the people
from this community here
are carrying on our ceremonies
by people from this community,
which I believe never, ever
occurred, you know,
up until 1978, I think.
It was illegal.
It was illegal in this country
for Native Americans
to practice
their traditional beliefs.
Illegal.
So that's,
I guess,
a little bit of the history.
[laughs]
>> To learn more about the
sovereign Indian nations
in Wisconsin
visit wisconsinact31.org.
To purchase a DVD of this and
other Tribal Histories programs
visit wpt.org or
call 800-422-9707.
Oneida History
was funded in part by
Irene Daniell Kress,
the Evjue Foundation,
a charitable arm of
the Capital Times ,
Ron and Patty Anderson,
the Wisconsin History Fund
with support from
the National Endowment
for the Humanities,
and the Friends of
Wisconsin Public Television.