BY: PHIL PRESTON

INDIAN TIME - VOLUME 22 - NUMBER 24 - JUNE 17, 2004 EDITION

"Look! That guy has a Mohawk haircut!" What is a Mohawk hair cut anyway? Is it just hair that is cut and styled by a Mohawk person? Unfortunately, the stereotype is very well known, but as with some stereotypes there is a hint of a true story behind this one.

To answer this question, it only makes sense to try and understand how Mohawk people, as well as the collective Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) peoples have always perceived the purpose and function of our hair. Long hair is a physical trait preferred by nearly all Indigenous, original cultures around the world. Always there is spiritual reasoning for men and women alike to wear their hair long. Anyone can take a stroll through the Akwesasne Museum and see old pictures of men with long hair, even if they are wearing suits. Indeed, pull out your old family photos at home (for those of you that haven't already donated some to the museum) and you might see the same thing. It was not very long ago. The men are usually referred to as "Traditionalists," meaning they have kept to our original Mohawk Way of belief and not colonized into becoming Catholic or another type of Christian, thus proudly keeping their hair long. Eventually colonization further eroded the old lifestyle and long hair, like many other traits, pretty well disappeared on men for a while. (...mostly returning in the 1970s when Native pride movements emerged.)

So, what is so Traditional about long hair? It has been explained to me over and over again, that when Shonkwaiatison finished creating the first human beings, our Onkwehonwe ancestors, he did what any modern day manufacturer would do. Our Creator gave us an "official stamp" denoting us as human beings. He gave us our uniquely human hair upon our heads. Our hair, as a natural part of the gift of a healthy human body, was to grow long symbolizing our pride and most importantly, our connection to our Creator. It was said that the longer a person's hair, the stronger their connection to Shonkwaiatison and our original Native Ways. Simply put, our hair is like our personal connection to the Creator, unique to each person. To cut one's hair off is to sever this connection.

Likely so, there would come a time when our ancestors would have to do things that would directly go against everything Shonkwaiatison had taught us. We were instructed that no man or woman reserves the right to end the life of another human being. To do so, would be to go against our Creator's teachings and instructions on how to live in a good way. Someone would have to be truly insane, intensely confused, or twisted to do such a thing. While this is true, our ancestors found themselves at times when no other alternative could be found than to defend their people with physical violence. Such violence might involve the dreadful and mournful, evil act of killing another human being.

Our people have always very proudly and stubbornly held onto all traditions, there being no exception here. So, when the young men would prepare for battle they would be cognizant that they could not take their Creator, Shonkwaiatison, into battle or war with them. No Creator or God would support a man ending another's life. Knowing and believing this, the men would do something that would tear at them and cause mourning, but driven by necessity with all other alternatives exhausted, they would have to sever their connection from Shonkwaiatison so that they could go and do in battle what must be done. If a man had to end another man's life, Shonkwaiatison would not guide his hand in battle; the man would have to act alone. In order to sever this connection, the men would cut their hair, shaving off every strand, or shaving all but a topknot, or maybe what is stereotypically recognized as a Mohawk with just the sides shaved off leaving only a strip of hair in the middle. With this connection broken, the men would leave to do what they had to. When the violence was over, they would allow their hair to grow back restoring their connection and recovery toward a clear and good mind again. If a man kept that hairstyle it symbolized that his mind was still not clear, that he still had a mind of violence and twisted thinking. Perhaps a condolence would have to be done to help him return to the true and good way.