My Fictional Iroquois Adoption

My Fictional Iroquois Adoption

By Joseph Parish

When I read and study the Native American topics, I often like to make up a role-playing game with myself taking an active part. I have always felt that this type of imaginative learning reinforces the material which I had studied. In this article I would like to declare that I had been doing some recent reading involving the rituals and customs of the Iroquois tribe.

As I place myself in my role-playing position, I come to realize that the date is 1608 and my adoption ceremonies are complete, I am now a member of the 20,000 strong, Iroquois Confederacy. I was the result of “Mourning wars,” where the Iroquois League would raid my village and I became a captive of the tribe. I was then adopted by the grieving family to replace their dead warrior son. There had been a major meeting scheduled for this afternoon to discuss the current welfare of our people and the state of our land. There will be a host of Native Americans present at this meeting, including Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga, Cayuga, Seneca, and of course an English representative.

A feast of food has been prepared and freely offered to all the participants. Various native dialects could be detected in the abundance of chatter and in general, the event is on a similarity with that of a Pow-Wow. All in attendance wore their traditional ceremonial clothing, providing a brilliant display of color within the camp. The men joyfully danced around the fire with colorfully painted faces of red, blue, and other bright tints. The recent snowfall had lessened and the children of the attendees can be heard playfully running around the tribal area enjoying sports, such as “Snow Snake,” while some of the elders were actively engaged in playing the “Peach Stone Game”.

As the time for the meeting arrives, we can see the English representative has approached on horseback. Chief Powhatan has arrived from the Virginia area and is about to speak to us. The chief stands and addresses his people, “Fellow members and Captain Smith, it is important to remember that our ranks are composed of a mixture of farmers, fishermen, gatherers and hunters, thus our land is actually vital to our existence. The crops we produce are primarily corn, beans and squash, and the “three sisters” are considered special gifts from our Creator. I ask of our English friend to consider these aspects of our lives and the association we have with our land. We have greeted our foreign friends with open arms in the past. We provided food and assistance as were needed, however this must stop. We have no intentions of parting with our forefather’s land. You must stop demanding more and more from my people. Land should be free for all human beings to enjoy and private ownership should be discouraged. This land which you see before you are ours to farm and to hunt in. The water which flows through this land is reserved for our people. We would like to discourage other groups of people such as the Dutch, French and the Huron Tribes from entering our space. We prefer to live in peace, however, should our neighbors insist upon invading our land and waterways we will have no choice but to consider this a hostile act and retaliate. “

Beside the gentleman who arrived from Jamestown, a Captain John Smith stood his wife and the daughter of Chief Powhatan. Rumor has it that the Chief and Smith were not on favorable terms. While directing his glance towards Captain Smith, The Chief conveyed that our last resort will be to indulge in an undesired war. Off in a corner of the camp could be seen the medicine man busy determining the future from the “Animal Totems” near him. The medicine man had sadly predicted that in 1909, we shall be indulged in a series of conflicts with the French known as the Beaver Wars. This is unfortunate, but we are left no other recourse. He has also predicted that within the next couple of years the Fort at Jamestown will experience what will be known as the "Starving Time" causing the death of 440 English colonists.

I enjoyed my first meeting as a member of the tribe; however, the sun was on the threshold of setting at this time, and many of our guests were projected to travel long distances to return to their homeland. We all bid each other good-bye and provisions were cordially furnished to the travelers for the departure. No future dates were set-up for further gatherings; however, Powhatan had made his thoughts known to all present and it appeared agreeable to the other native tribes in attendance. The only question which remained was how Captain Smith would respond to the ultimatum. Unfortunately, history will eventually disclose that the Captain did not take the warning provided by the chief with any sort of seriousness, for he exploited his wife as a bargaining point in forcing the chief to do his bidding.

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