Our Research on the Mohawk


                                                                                      Ceremonies

            The Mohawk Indians had many, many different ceremonies. I am only going to talk about a few of those.  These ceremonies were ways for the Indians to celebrate things, ways for them to honor different important things in their lives, and ways for them to give thanks for things that they had been given.  The Mohawks used ceremonies for pretty much anything and everything that meant something to them or to their tribe.  There are certain things that must be present or part of every ceremony that takes place in the Mohawk tribes.  Three of these must have traditions are” singing, dancing and eating” (Snow 24). Some of the other traditions that make the ceremonies is the “burning of tobacco and the clearing of the mind” (Snow 24). Other items were always used in the Mohawks ceremonies too, such as “specific artifacts like mask and such that were symbolic to the tribe, they also used speeches to open and close the ceremonies”(Snow 24).     Many of the ceremonies went hand in hand with their new moon calendar that the Mohawks used to determine many important times of the year.  

            One of the ceremonies that were very important to the Mohawk Indians was The Thunder Ceremony.  The thunder ceremony is when the tobacco is tossed on the fire throughout a ceremony.  As the “tobacco is thrown on the fire, it produces smoke, the smoke goes up in the air for people that live in the distance are able to see” (Snow 37).  This tradition occurs in the spring when the first set of thunderstorms roll through.   Another ceremony that is important to the Mohawk Indians is the Strawberry Ceremony.  It occurs during the month of “June when there is a new set of strawberry crops coming on the plants” (Snow 89).  This is the start of summer and a time of warmth/happiness.  The tobacco throwing is left out in this ceremony. The Green Corn Ceremony is also an important ceremony to the Mohawk Indians.  This is a time when the corn crop is ready to be harvested and eaten by the Indians (Snow 134).  This is also the time that the Mohawks believe that “children should be named if born after midwinter” (Snow 134). They also had the Little Water Ceremony.  This ceremony was quite different from many of the other ceremonies that the Mohawk Indians had.  This ceremony still had that same base structure too it but at this one there was to be “no smoking, no drinking, and no menstruating” (Snow 220).  The Indians placed there fresh, ripe” strawberry’s in a bucket with two rattle snakes and covered with a white cloth” (Snow 220). This medicine was renewed to the tribe after this ceremony was performed and the tribe felt renewed again. 

            These are just a few of the ceremonies that help make up what and how the Mohawk Indians believe.  These show the importance of tradition, health, praise, and loyalty to those who gave the Mohawks good crops, weather, and hunting.  Many of these traditions are still carried on today by the Mohawk Indians.  They believe that by praising for what they had been given it will continue to be good and prosperous.  All of the ceremonies that are performed by the Mohawk Indians have the same base routine to them; the thing that changes for the most part is what it is exactly that they are celebrating.  

                                                                            Mohawk Trade Goods

The Mohawk Indians like many other Indian tribes had for a long time depended and used many goods that were made by the Europeans.  These goods were brought in off boats for the Indians to trade/ buy the goods from the Europeans and to take back to there tribes. When this trading first started the item that the Mohawks were allowed to receive was very limited. Only a few items at a time were allowed to go with the Indians.  As the Europeans and the Mohawks had more and more contact with each other they learned what supplies were needed and which were not.

This trading system that the Indians had with the Europeans became larger as time went on. The Mohawks needed more and more items from the Europeans because they were learning that they could use some of the used items for other things.  Some of the items that they Europeans were bringing over for the Mohawks included “iron axes, glass beads, and copper kettles” (Snow 77). The most important item that the Mohawks were receiving from the Europeans was the copper. The Indians used the copper and made many other things out of it after the copper kettles had been used and worn out.  The Mohawks used the copper to make “jewelry such as bracelets, bells for costumes, and copper points for the arrows” (Snow 77).    For the Mohawks, using the copper points for there arrows was a big deal.  It changed the way that the made there arrows and the way that they were able to kill there food. Salt was also a very important item that the Europeans were bringing over for the Mohawks. Salt was expensive to buy and they found that there were other more efficient ways of preserving their food. The Europeans found that the Mohawks had items that the there people wanted for also. The Mohawks were trading beaver felts which were in high demand by the European people.  The Indians wanted the items to better there lifestyles and the Europeans wanted the felts for luxury reasons for the main part. This trading of the felts with the Europeans helped the Mohawks become more active in the economic world that was growing and becoming more efficient every day.  After the trading continued for a while the Europeans realized that there were other products that were needed by the Mohawks other than just the few items that they had been bringing over. Some of these items included “iron needles and long-bladed knives” (Snow 78).  The glass beads that were being traded and brought over for the Mohawks were being used for bracelets and other decorations on ceremonial outfits for the tribe’s people.  These beads were usually “clear, white, or light blue in color because these colors were positive energy colors for the Mohawks”(Snow 78).  The Mohawks believed very strongly in energies and the effects of something that had negative energy in it. They did bring over some black beads also just not nearly as many of the black beads were needed as the lighter colored beads were needed. Most of these beads were either round in shape or they had a tubular shape to them.

All of these products whether it is for the Mohawks or for the European people were useful on both ends. These products for the Indians helped them make life easier and more efficient compared to what they may have been able to do for themselves.  The Mohawks did not become dependent on these goods by any means if they were made or had to they could have went back to the ways of the land and lived off of it the way they had for many years before hand. 

                                                                                                  Rituals

The Mohawk Indians are just one group of six nations that helped to make up a group called The Iroquois.  The Iroquois were just a group that had formed from many smaller tribes coming together to make one larger group of Indians. The Mohawks had many rituals that they believed in.  The se rituals were very important and part of these people’s everyday lives.  Some of the rituals that I will be telling you about were not maybe something that you would have thought of as being called a ritual.  These rituals influenced the way that these people lived and the way that the raised their children to live.

         One of the rituals that determined the Mohawks and the Iroquois year was how they believed that the turtle plays a role in not just the year but some other rituals also.  The turtle is believed to play a very large role in the new moons every year.  This turtle is a mosaic picture that has the turtle placed in the center of the picture with thirteen larger plates around the turtle and many smaller ones around the outside of the turtle (Snow 5).  The count for the New Year starts with the turtles legs. As the moon moves across the picture of the turtle, it starts above the left front leg of the turtle (Snow 5).  The new moon moves farther counter clock wise around the turtle it cross different areas of the turtles body and this is how the Indians determines what part of the cycle the Indians are in of the New Year.  The Mohawk Indians did not believe in the same calendar as the rest of the world.  The believed that the lunar calendar was short some days and that it was incorrect so they had to fix that problem with there calendar. The Mohawks added a “lost moon” to there calendar which was to account for the missing days that the lunar calendar left off (Snow 5).  This “lost moon” was not accounted for in every single year. It was only added in like a leap year is added in on the lunar calendar. Some examples of the New Moon calendar that the Mohawks used and how impacted there lives so much would be how they considered “April to be a good fishing month, May the month to plant their crops, October to be the month to take there crops off and harvest them, November to be a hunting month, and December and January to be very cold months of doing nothing” (Snow 108).   The Mohawks based many of the things they did throughout the year solely on this system of the new moons and where it landed on the turtle throughout the time.

         This Ritual of the turtle and how it helped to make up the New Year is something that was important to these people. It did not just allow them to know when the seasons  where going to change but it also allowed them to know when it was time to hunt, when animals would be having their young and many other important issues that allowed the Indians to survive.  This ritual also allowed them to base when they were going to have there ceremonies for the tribe. Ceremonies were also a very important part of the Mohawks lives.  This is not the only ritual that the Mohawk Indians had but I felt it important to make it the most known ritual that they used seeing how many of their living, breathing, staying alive functions were based off of this one ritual. The Indians had to come up with some type of system/ calendar and this seemed to be a pretty good one that worked for them and their tribe. 


                                                     Roles & Traditions of the Mohawk Men, Women, & Children

All members of the Mohawk tribe had equal shares of the work load; even the children had plenty of work to do. Life as a Mohawk Indian was not only filled with work, they also made time for play, celebrations, and rituals.

Mohawk men were in charge of trading, war and hunting for food such as fish, wild fowl, and animal meats. At times the men of the tribe would go on organized communal deer hunts, at this time they could catch as many as one hundred animals. On these hunts the men would walk in two lines which formed a V. Rattles and noises where made to scare the deer and animal, by doing this they would lead the animals into the narrow space inside the V where the animals could now easily be killed. The men would also go on long hunting expedition that could last many moons in the winter months. 

The traditional dress of the men of the Mohawk tribe consisted of a breech cloth of deerskin in the summer months. In the winter they tended to have deerskin leggings and a full piece deerskin skirt. Several shells strand earrings and necklaces would typically be part of their attire. The men’s hair was either worn long or a three fingered width forehead-to-nape hair row which stood approximately three inches (a Mohawk). Moccasins would be worn in the winter and in the summer slippers made of corn husks would be worn. The men would also carry a quill and flint arrow hunting bag as well as arm and knee bands.

The women of the Mohawk tribe were in charge of the farming, gathering, the property, and the family. The relationship between women and food production is symbolized by their belief that a women deity in ancient past gave corn, beans, and squash to the people. These became the primary crops of the tribe and were referred to as either the Three Sisters or Our Life Supporters. Since the women performed the farm work they were considered the owners of their family’s fields and produce. This meant that the women controlled the distribution of all food within their households. Women were very important to the Mohawk tribe.  The women also made all the clothing for the tribe out of deerskin. 

Traditional dress for a woman in the tribe would tend to be topless in the summer months with a deerskin skirt. In the winter months a women would wear a full woodland deerskin dress, leather tied underwear, and ankle rapped moccasins. Their hair tended to be long and styled straight down or braided and rubbed with bear grease. They fashioned several shell earrings, and necklaces.

Children of the Mohawk tribe did some of the same things children do today; they play with each other, are schooled, and did plenty of chores, which took up most of their time. The children did have toys and played games. The Mohawk girls played with cornhusk dolls and boys enjoyed playing a game where they tried to throw a dart through a moving hoop. At a certain age the boys would venture with the men of the tribe on short hunting ventures and eventually when they were ready got to go on the long hunting trips. They also helped their mother with the farming and work around the property. As babies they would be carried by their mother in a cradleboard on her back.  The Mohawk children wore clothing very similar to their parents.

Living a life as a Mohawk could be very challenging during their lifetime, but they continue to honor their traditions and beliefs. Tribe members make their lives the best they can be by working hard as a tribe and working together to survive.



                                                               Life Styles of the Mohawk Indian Tribe

The Mohawk Indians, known for their great battle skills and named for their hairstyles during wartime. Men of the Mohawk tribe would cut their hair, leaving only a strip in the middle and painted their faces to look fierce to their enemy during battles. 

Mohawk Indians were hunters, gathers, and planters. These people ate a wide variety of foods and even more drinking options than you may think. They planted corn, beans and squash; gathered sap, berries, nuts, and wild potatoes; and hunt deer, elk, moose, bear, beaver, partridge, and wild turkey. Fish were also caught in the lakes and rivers. They would drink water, and a variety of teas. They also learned the healing properties that came from many plants, tree barks, and oils from fish snakes, and other animals.  

As all Indian tribes have done the Mohawk people made their clothing from deerskin, which they dies black. For shoes they made moccasins and for the summer months they had slippers made from twined cornhusks. Armbands, wristbands and deerskin belt were very popular throughout the tribe. Many of the Warriors also tattooed their face, chest and shoulders with geometric designs that represented animals.

Mohawk life was not always filled with work they also made time for games. One game they enjoyed playing involved six or eight players a deerskin ball, and sticks with nets on the ends. Today we know this game as lacrosse.

Actually the lives of the Mohawks were organized around a yearly cycle of activities, which are based on the phases of the moon. The first economic activity takes place two moons after midwinter. At this time women go into the woods to obtain sap from maple trees. Next the men go out to hunt birds that arrive in the early spring. The men also catch fish that fill the rivers and lakes. This is followed by the women starting their farming activities. These tasks fill the summer and fall months and end with the fall harvest. In autumn the men leave the villages on long hunting expeditions, they will return home by the winter solstice and once again the Mohawk people will prepare for the next yearly cycle.

The Mohawk lifestyle is in many ways a cycle of events that continually happen year after year. Their way of life demonstrates hard working individuals and without them and their beliefs they could not survive the harsh life of the Mohawk River Valley.


                                                                         Architecture of the Mohawk Indians

The Mohawk Indians lived in the Mohawk River valley, near what is now Albany New York. Here they built large longhouses made out wooden poles, covered with dirt and elm bark. The longhouses accommodated two families of five to six people per family. 

Platforms were built for a place to sit during the day and a place to sleeps at night. For blankets they used animal pelts and reed mats. Bins inside the longhouse stored dried fruit, corn, and cured deer meat. Shelves also were built for food, utensils, and tools. At the ends of the house, wood was stored for heat and cooking. The longhouses were used for many of the same things we use them our houses for today. 

The Villages were located on hilltops close to rivers and lakes choosing this location helped with travel routes. They also were sure to set up village close to a source of drinking water. Small villages contained somewhere close to twenty long houses, but the larger villages could have as many as one hundred. The Mohawk people built palisades around their villages for protection from their enemies. Outside of the village lay the fields for planting.

The Mohawk women where in charge of the villages, they controlled what went on in the village. For example they dispersed the food, medical treatments and the land for farming.

                                                             The Mohawk involvement in the Iroquois Confederacy

The Iroquois Confederacy, also known as the Iroquois Nation or theKanonsionni, which means “people of the longhouse” originally consisted of five tribes: the Mohawk, Oneida, Cayuga, Seneca, and the Onondaga and the symbol of these people was the longhouse, in which the Iroquois people resided in.  By 1722, there were a total of six tribes, which included the Tuscarora tribe as well as the original five.  Of these six, the Mohawk tribe was one of the founders of the Nation.  They were the easternmost tribe, taking up most of today’s New York Territory and “keepers of the eastern door.”  However, later many of them retreated to the Canadian territory. 

According to The Mohawk, by Jill Duvall, the Mohawk people were known as the “Keepers of the Eastern Door” (17).  According to Duvall, this was because their land was at the eastern side of Iroquois territory.  If there was any threat to the Iroquois Nation that came from the Eastern Side, it was the duty of the Mohawk tribe to defend the nation.

The Mohawk role in the Iroquois Confederacy is a very important one.  This is because one of the main founders for the Confederacy was, according to The Mohawk by David C. King, a Mohawk himself named Hiawatha (12).  According to King, the idea of an alliance between nations was conjured by the Huron Profit, Diganwidah, and his spokesman, Hiawatha.  Hiawatha “negotiated with the Iroquois Chiefs, presenting Diganwidah’s Ideas” (King 12).  According to King, Diganwidah had trouble speaking and asked Hiawatha to do so for him (12).  What resulted from this meeting was something very grand: a constitution called the Great Law of Peace (King 12).  This constitution was a very important piece of Iroquois Nation History because it “united the nations against their enemies” (King 12).

Further into the realm of the Iroquois Confederacy, according to the Encyclopedia Britannica, the Mohawk tribe alone had nine representatives from their tribe whom were basically spokesmen in the council.  There were nine because they needed three representatives for each of their clans, which included Turtle, Wolf, and Bear.  Each of these tribal leaders had a say in major decision making.  Also, tribal leaders had a local council called the Clan Mothers, which were all female, from their clan that guided decisions and how they would be represented to the Iroquois Confederation.

During the French and Indian War, the Mohawks were divided.  According to the Encyclopedia Britannica, some of the Mohawk tribe became Catholic converts and moved North to Canada.  The Catholic converts of the Mohawk tribe, known as the “Praying Indians of Quebec,” had mission settlements along the St. Lawrence River and gave support to the French, which went against the Mohawk brethren of the Iroquois Confederation, who mostly sided with the British (Encyclopedia Britannica, 223).

            It is believed by many people that the Iroquois Confederacy is non-existent in today’s world.  However, they are wrong.  The Iroquois Confederacy is located at the Six Nations Reserve in Ontario Canada and is still alive and well, as are the Mohawk people.  However, according to the Encyclopedia Britannica, there are only 5,000 Mohawk people left today (223).         


                                                  The First European Encounters with the Mohawk Tribe

The Mohawk tribe’s first encounters with the Europeans were quite violent.  In fact, according to “Adopt or Entrée” by David Sheimann, the Mohawk people were one of the most feared of all of the Iroquois Nation tribes and their name (in the Algonquin tongue) actually means “flesh eater.”  Over the centuries, the Mohawk tribe was engaged in several wars in which made up most of the European experience with these people.
     

 The Mohawk Indians were a part of an Indian Alliance called the Iroquois Nation, which is sometimes referred to as the Iroquois Confederation.  This group was an alliance of five Native American tribes that each had their part to play.  The Mohawks, being the easternmost tribe in the confederation, taking up much of the current day state of New York, were known within this group as the “Keepers of the Eastern Gate,” which meant that, in the case of someone invading from the east, the Mohawk tribe was responsible to take care of the situation.  With this in mind, it is easy to see why the Mohawks were the first large tribe of Indians that the first European explorers came across.

According to Lake George and Lake Champlain by Max Reid, the first European account with the Mohawk tribe occurred in 1609, when Samuel de Champlain, a noted French explorer, began his second voyage and initiated his exploration southward from Canada.  According to History of the Mohawk Valley, edited by Nelson Greene, Champlain had struck a friendship with the first Natives he encountered, the Huron and Algonquin tribes, and ended up helping them in their quest to take down their enemies, the Mohawks (Greene 187-191).  On July 29 of 1609, Champlain, with the company of two Frenchmen and 60 Natives, shot down two Mohawk Chiefs, which eventually lead to the Mohawk’s defeat at Lake Champlain (Greene, 187-191).  The Mohawks then plotted Revenge against the French and their Indian allies, which eventually happened in the form of a defeat in which Champlain was not escorted home by his Indian friends and was held captive until 1616.  Upon Champlain’s return to Quebec, he was revered as “risen from the dead” (Greene 187-191).             


According to Chronicle of the Indian Wars by Alan Axelrod, the next big Mohawk encounter with the Europeans was with Henry Hudson, a Dutch Explorer.  Hudson had established trades with the Mohican Indians and in 1626, the Mohawks initiated war with the Mohicans.  Hudson sent a small force under the command of Daniel van Krieckebeeck to help them. Unfortunately for the Mohicans, this was not enough to ward off the Mohawk tribe (Axelrod 38).  They were defeated and the Mohawks, apparently unconcerned with “the annihilation” of the Mohicans, forced themselves upon the Dutch as trading partners (Axelrod 38).  The Mohawks fought off any other tribe hoping for trade with the Dutch, creating a Monopoly of trade with the explorers (Axelrod 38).  It was this trade that lead to the Mohawks being one of the first recipients of European firearms.

None of this is to say that there wasn't any cruelty on the Dutch part.  Things were actually pretty bad when it cam to how the Dutch treated the Mohawk.  In fact, according to Chronicle of the Indian Wars by Alan Axelrod, there was a petition by the Mohawk Chiefs Directed toward Fort Orange that fobid the Dutch from kicking, beating, or assaulting their people.



                                                                                      Mohawk Warfare

According to “The Mohawk” by Jill Duvall the name “Kanyekahaka,” the name in which the Mohawks call themselves, means “People of the Flint” (5). This name referred to their location in New York, where flint, a stone used for arrowheads and spearheads, was an abundant commodity.  However, according to The old Mohawk Turnpike Book by Nelson Greene, the name “Mohawk,” given to them by other Algonquian speaking tribes, means “Man Eater” in the Algonquin tongue (97).  This name was given to them due to the implications (that remain controversial) that they were a cannibalistic people before the Iroquois Nation was established between 1400 and 1600 (Axelrod 41).

            When it came to a matter of war, the Mohawk tribe was very equipped.  According to History of the Mohawk Valley, edited by Nelson Greene, early Mohawk warfare, such as their encounter with Samuel de Champlain, consisted of the Mohawk tribe using stone and iron axes as well as the bow-and-arrow to attack (189).  Also, according to Chronicle of the Indian Wars by Alan Axelrod, the Mohawks were quite known for taking their defeated opponents hostage and enslaving them.  Furthermore, according to Greene, “their chiefs were clad in arrow-proof armor” to protect themselves (187).  Later, the Mohawks established trade with Dutch explorers by defeating the Mohicans and the Dutch in 1628 (Axelrod 38). After this battle, the Mohawks took control of Dutch trade and became one of the first of the Iroquois Confederations tribes to acquired rifles.  The acquisition of rifles (which was a handsome trade for Beaver skins) later proved to be a great asset to Mohawk warfare.

            The Mohawks fought in many battles against many opponents which include Samuel de Champlain, Henry Hudson and the Mohicans, and even the other four tribes during the Beaver Wars.  However, perhaps the most noted Mohawk involvement in warfare was during the Revolutionary War.  During this war, the Mohawks once again sided with the British, which was not an immense surprise since, according to Chronicle of the Indian Wars by Alan Axelrod, they did the same thing during the French-Indian War (76).  According to 500 Nations by Alvin Josephy, Joseph Brant, also known as Thayendanegea, was a Mohawk War Chief who said "If we do nothing for the British...there will be no peace for us...we should go and join the father [England]...this is the only way for us” in order to get the Mohawks and other Iroquois to the British side (266).  After the Americans won the Revolutionary War, the Mohawks were forced to follow Joseph Brant out of the United States to Ontario, Canada, where most of the 5000 Mohawks live today at the Six Nations Reserve.   

            The Mohawk Indians also had a hand in the French and Indian War.  According to the Encyclopedia Britannica, during this war, the Mohawk People were divided.  There were the Traditional Mohawk people, mostly residing in the present day state of New York, and then there were the Mohawks that had converted to the Catholic Faith (Encyclopedia Britannica 223).  These People broke off from the traditional tribe and moved North to St. Lawrence River in Ontario Canada.  These converts were known as the “Praying Indians of Quebec” and, in the French and Indian War, took the side of the French, which lead them into many battles against their Iroquois brothers(Encyclopedia Britannica, 223).



                                                                                    Works Cited
Axelrod, Allen. Chronicle of the Indian Wars: From Colonial Times to Wounded Knee. New York, New York: Prentice Hall Reference, 1993. Print.

Bonvillain, Nancy. “The Mohawk Indians of North America.” Ancestors 1-8. Philadelphia: Chelsea House, 2005. Print.

Bonvillain, Nancy. “The Mohawk Indians of North America.” People of the Place of Flint. 9-27. Philadelphia: Chelsea House, 2005. Print.

Bonvillain, Nancy. “The Mohawk Indians of North America.” Keepers of  the Western Door.

28-45. Philadelphia: Chelsea House, 2005. Print.

Bonvillain, Nancy. “The Mohawk Indians of North America.” Adjusting Change. 75-86. Philadelphia: Chelsea House, 2005. Print.

Bonvillain, Nancy. “The Mohawk Indians of North America.” The Mohawks at a Glance.100-101 Philadelphia: Chelsea House,                                                      2005. Print.

 Duvall, Jill. The Mohawk. Chicago: Children’s Press, 1991. Print.

Greene, Nelson. History of the Mohawk Valley, Gateway to the West, 1614-1925; Covering the Six Counties of Schenectady, Schoharie, Montgomery, Fulton, Herkimer, and Oneida. Vol. 1. Chicago: S.J. Clarke, 1925. Print.

Greene, Nelson. The Old Mohawk Turnpike Book. Fort Plain, NY: N. Greene, 1924. Print.

Josephy, Alvin M. 500 Nations: an Illustrated History of North American Indians. New York: Gramercy, 2002. Print.

King, David C. The Mohawk. New York: Marshall Cavendish Benchmark, 2010. Print.

“Mohawk Indians.” Native-net.org. Native Net, 23 May 2009. Web. Feb. 2010.

“Mohawk Indians.” Indians.org. Indians, 15 June 2010. Web. June 2010.

Redish,  Laura. “Mohawk Tribe.” Native Languages of the Americas.com. Sept. 1998. Web.                                                     Sept. 2010.

Reid, W. Max. Lake George and Lake Champlain the War Trail of the Mohawk and the Battle of France and England inn Their Conquest for the Control of North America. New York: G.P. Putnam's, 1910. Print.


The Encyclopedia Brittanica. 15th ed. Vol. 8: 223. New York: Encyclopedia Brittanica, 2005. Print.