BY: PHIL PRESTON

INDIAN TIME - VOLUME 22 - NUMBER 5 - FEBRUARY 5, 2004 EDITION

Our traditions and teachings from Shonkwaiatison (our Creator) were given to us thousands of years ago. Messengers from Shonkwaiatison have added many more teachings to our way of life throughout the centuries. As human beings we were given free will so that we could make decisions for ourselves on whether to accept the teachings and live the instructed way.

We follow traditions as they are passed down from our parents, elders, and leaders. From time to time a mistake may be made that people will follow. This mistake is passed down the generations, becoming accepted as tradition. For example, we tend to accept fry bread as a traditional Native food, though we never had wheat flour. Many of us love to add tasty salt pork to our traditional corn soup, though pigs are from Europe.

All these traditions can be fixed once we realize the truth. For example, at Longhouse a few years ago, the Snipes were moved from the north side of the Longhouse to the south side. The reason for this is that Snipe Clan and Deer Clan people are not Mohawk, but Onondaga. It was explained that Snipes traditionally sit on the south side of the Longhouse in Onondaga, so the move was made. More and more people these days are also becoming aware of what foods are not good for Iroquois people, and all Native people. Very simply, if the food is not indigenous to our country, it is probably not good for our diet such as cheese, milk, wheat flour, sugar, candy, white/wheat/fry bread, cookies, boxed cereals, drugs, alcohol, etc. are examples of foods not in our native diets.

Many people talk about the four traditional colors to be those on the medicine wheel: black, red, white, yellow. However, the medicine wheel is not Iroquois, nor mentioned anywhere in the Great Law, or Kariwiio, nor anywhere in the Longhouse. It has been explained that our four traditionally important colors are green for the summer time grasses, black for our rich soil, blue for the color of the sky, and white for the blanket of snow in winter.