Media Release

Mohawk Territory on the Internet
www.wampumchronicles.com

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

MOHAWK AUTHOR TAKES A NEW LOOK AT OLD LEGENDS IN
CREATION & CONFEDERATION: THE LIVING HISTORY OF THE IROQUOIS

Ahkwesáhsne Mohawk Territory--January 3, 2006--The author of a new book on the history of the Rotinonhsón:ni, or the People of the Longhouse, hopes to bring attention to the work of Iroquois scholars who have helped to preserve the creation story, migration legends, and the Great Law of Peace, known in Mohawk as Kaianere’kó:wa.

“It has often been said that ours is an oral culture, where stories are recited from memory, with only wampum belts to help us tell the tale,” says Darren Bonaparte, author of Creation & Confederation: The Living History of the Iroquois. “But for over three and a half centuries, our ancestors have made sure that these stories got committed to paper, either by telling them to some non-native scribe or by learning to read and write themselves. This Rotinonhsón:ni literary tradition allows us to travel back in time and learn from elders who have long since passed.”

Bonaparte, a Mohawk journalist, artist, and former elected chief from the territory of Ahkwesáhsne, has gathered many of these old sources in his book. His research has given him a new appreciation of his ancestors and the way they looked at the world.

“Our creation story talks about a woman falling from heaven and landing on the back of a great turtle that eventually grew so large that it became the continent of North America. For years, people have just dismissed that as a colorful myth, but now we can see that they were really talking about the formation of their landscape,” he explains. “For instance, a flood of water from a melting glacier carved out a land formation in the Mohawk Valley that took the shape of a giant turtle, which you can see today from the air or on any topographical map.”

Bonaparte’s study of the origin of “Great Turtle Island” took on an even deeper meaning on December 26, 2004, when shifting tectonic plates caused a massive tsunami in Southeast Asia, killing hundreds of thousands of people living in coastal areas. “We really do live on the backs of giant sea turtles, and do so at their leisure,” he writes in his book.

The author’s research suggests that the old migration legends, once dismissed by scholars, offer clues to the mysterious disappearance of the “St. Lawrence Iroquoians” encountered by French explorer Jacques Cartier in the 1500’s: “The Mohawks of Kahnawà:ke told a French priest in the early 1700’s that their ancestors once followed a woman named Gaihonariosk all the way to Quebec City, then turned around when they found the land unfit for cultivation, eventually ending up in the Mohawk Valley. This explains why our people have always felt that the St. Lawrence River Valley was our ancestral territory, and that the people archaeologists call the St. Lawrence Iroquoians were our own people.”

Bonaparte says the most intriguing discovery came from his study of the many written versions of the founding of the Rotinonhsón:ni Confederacy. “The story evolved over time, particularly in the 19th century, and the changes that occurred were a reflection of what was taking place in the time of each storyteller. It was being influenced not only by the effects of European colonization, but by our increasing involvement with other aboriginal nations,” he says. “As the white roots of peace spread out to the four directions, elements of other cultures were being absorbed into our own in a subtle, almost unconscious manner.”

Creation & Confederation: The Living History of the Iroquois is the first in a series of books which will bring the reader from the days before European contact up to the present day. Bonaparte has already begun the next two volumes, which examine European contact and colonization.

Bonaparte is the creator of a website known as The Wampum Chronicles: Mohawk Territory on the Internet and a frequent guest speaker at schools and universities in the United States and Canada. He creates wampum belt replicas, like the famous Aionwà:tha belt that inspired the flag of the Rotinonhsón:ni Confederacy, and uses them to teach history. “In Ahkwesáhsne, we have a tradition of doing things for ourselves. We have our own radio station, newspapers, museums, you name it. We don’t wait for some scholar to interpret our history and culture. We do it ourselves. This new book is an extension of that.”

Creation & Confederation: The Living History of the Iroquois will be available at retail outlets throughout the Rotinonhsón:ni Confederacy as well as through the Wampum Chronicles website at www.wampumchronicles.com.

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Creation & Confederation:
The Living History of the Iroquois
Written by Darren Bonaparte
Illustrations by Darren Bonaparte, Dave Fadden,
Curtis Mitchell, Jr., & Natasha Smoke-Santiago
Softcover, 136 pages.
Published by The Wampum Chronicles
Ahkwesáhsne Mohawk Territory
P. O. Box 459 Akwesasne QC H0M-1A0
P. O. Box 1026 Akwesasne NY 13655

Review copies are available upon request.

Full color and grayscale photographs of the author and book cover are avialable at
The Media Center

To read sample chapters, click the following link:
Creation & Confederation: The Living History of the Iroquois

Click the link below to visit
The Wampum Chronicles