þÿ<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN"> <HTML> <HEAD> <META HTTP-EQUIV="Content-Type" CONTENT="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1"> <TITLE>The Mewinzha Project - LauraLee K. Harris </TITLE> <SCRIPT LANGUAGE="JavaScript1.1"> <!-- Begin function right(e) { if (navigator.appName == 'Netscape' && (e.which == 3 || e.which == 2)) return false; else if (navigator.appName == 'Microsoft Internet Explorer' && (event.button == 2 || event.button == 3)) { alert("Contact me for copyright information"); return false; } return true; } document.onmousedown=right; document.onmouseup=right; if (document.layers) window.captureEvents(Event.MOUSEDOWN); if (document.layers) window.captureEvents(Event.MOUSEUP); window.onmousedown=right; window.onmouseup=right; // End --> </script> <link rel=stylesheet href="stylesheet.css" type="text/css"> </HEAD> <BODY BGCOLOR="#000000" TEXT="#FFFFCC" ALINK="#FFFFCC" VLINK="#E0D8B9" LINK="#FFFFCC"> <div> <center> <table width="400" border="0"> <tr> <td><center> <FONT FACE="Arial" size="+1"></FONT><I>About The Mewinzha Project</I><br> <p> <IMG SRC="images/legacsasayofpeacemakerweb.jpg" BORDER="0" ALT="xxxxxxx"> <P> <FONT FACE="Arial" SIZE="-1"><I>The Legacy Of Peacemaker </I> - 48" x 24", Acrylic on Fir, The Collection of The Fort Erie Historical Museum</FONT><P> </td> </tr> <tr> <td><center> <HR width="800" SIZE="1" NOSHADE> </td> </tr> <tr> <td><center>&nbsp;<BR> <FONT FACE="Arial" SIZE="+1" COLOR="#634200">The Legacy Of Peacemaker</FONT><P> <FONT FACE="Arial" SIZE="-1" COLOR="#634200"> FORT ERIE PEACE BRIDGE AUTHORITY MUSEUM<br> <p> Original 3 Works are the Collection of The Fort Erie Historical Museum, 402 Ridge Road, fort Erie, Ontario<br> <p> September 29th 2006 - Project Statement  "The Mewinzha PEACE" or "The Long Ago Peace"<br> From The Inside of a Tree, To the Glass of Windows, Looking Inside and Out<br> <p> August 7, 1927 - Peace Bridge Linking Canada and the United States is built connecting Buffalo, New York with Fort Erie, Ontario and named as such to honour 100 years of peace between Canada and United States<br> <p> Although I am a First Nation's Artist, it mattered to me that those stories, from the ones who began here in this place, The Six Nations, who instituted this relevant wisdom through their own history, was told. So I respectfully asked the Six Nations permission, to tell these stories, making sure, they were the correct ones looking in and out of these windows. I wanted to honour in these windows the historical meaning of Peace that occurred in this place, because of its very location then, and now looking out and greeting those crossing over the Peace Bridge. It was important to me to honour the Iroquois who began and ended their lives, their bones found underneath the land, broken, then woken, respectfully moved and reburied in this place, that their stories remained prominent, that their stories would have an impact on those here and now, those who have lost life through war, and the aggressive world we live in today, who arm themselves with new tools of war.<br> <p> I seek to reaffirm Canada's focus on Peace and what the Peace Bridge means from a historical perspective with these three works I've created, two of which reflect Peacemaker's teaching: strength of unity, communication using reason, in "Legend In a Stone ~ The Great Law of Peace", and "The Legacy of Peacemaker". "Legends Of The Falls", are two stories about two brave women who fall; one from the Sky called Skywoman, who goes on to Create the world and the other, LelaWala who falls off the ledge of water; Niagara Falls and goes on to protect her people. Skywoman and LelaWala do not remain victims of their falls but do what is required to help their world survive. All three stories are about helping the world to survive and are based on the Iroquois triumph of Reason. Reason over suffering and tragedy, where a political system is founded on reason, not on mere power. Power was obtained through uniting and the two way exchange of views, like these windows and this bridge are ways to see and move back and forth, not just one way, but both ways.<br> <p> The US constitution was adopted from the Iroquois model that united the five Nations to Peace, respect and the rights of its peoples. Some of the same symbols used remain: clasped arrows or pine needles, eagle, and the Tree of Peace or Liberty. This is the connection which brings the teaching and message of Peacemaker full circle to the Peace Bridge. This bridge that connects us to the coming and going over the river divide, where the flint was buried and histories collide, remind us that today we can honour peace by joining minds with understanding and respect, an ear to the long ago time and bury our tools of war.<br> <p> <I>"Legends of the Falls : SkyWoman and LelaWala"</I><br> <p> When I was picking wood for this project, I found this piece which reflected sky and water and at first I wasn t sure where it was going until I found her in the sky portion of the wood. Skywoman was falling in only the way one could fall, she was flailing, until goose saved her. As it transformed I found the water to be raucous and a portion seemed to fall off the edge. It occurred to me that this wanted to be Niagara Falls and as I researched the story of Niagara Falls, I found there was a girl who went over the falls. The tourist industry calls her Maid of the Mist, while the Iroquois call her Lelawala. I found her in a canoe, lower right corner and as the stories unfolded for both Skywoman and Lelawala, so did the images, telling of women who found solutions for their worlds by working together with people, animals and spirits. In the falls are also images of Thunder God Hunin and his sons. In the sky is Skywoman s angry husband and West Wind. Looking closely at the original reveals many beings for both stories. <p> <I>"Legend in a Stone ~ Great Law of Peace"</I><br> <p> Water enters into each of these three pieces, meant to respect the spirit of the waters that are a gift of life, a being of the Great Lakes. I also wanted to honour the escarpment, another part of the land which holds great significance, world wide. And most importantly, I wanted to honour in these windows the people and their historical story of peace because the very placement; at the Peace Bridge, marks a symbol of connection. My research of the story took me hunting for a piece of wood that had the symbols of peacemaker for the Peace Bridge situate. I found the Great White Pine, the Eagle with his wings stretched far whose sight was far looking this way and that, where water and sky are connected by the red escarpment in this Fir piece of wood. I worked Peacemaker into the wake and like a totem; Eagle, Peace Tree, Peacemaker, Stone Canoe, and the Water that holds it up, they are as one in the timeline order of the story. On the Left lined up are the original Five Nations: Starting at the top: Mohawk: Eastern Door of the Longhouse, Onandaga: People on the Hill, Cayuga: People of the Great Swamp, Seneca; Keepers of the Western Door, and the Oneida; People of the upright stone, united as one. <p> <I>"Legacy of Peacemaker"</I><br> <p> This piece amazingly so, had the Peace Bridge straight across it with the arch underneath. I added the railings and put the Peacemaker moving North. The Peace Bridge here is geographically correct as it runs East to West from Canada. This painting speaks to a sunset and the evening and the good night when day meets night and east meets west and two sides speak as the clouds do where the sky crosses. The clouds form animals speaking but also form eyes, his wake is the nose but also birds speaking and the opening of the bridge a mouth symbolizing; voice and speaking out. The bridge is relevant to the present meeting the past, as Peacemaker and the Peace Bridge juxtapose one another, as east to west is our red road and south to north, our spirit road and they are together here meeting, crossing paths and Peacemaker moves into the sky where it crosses. Peacemaker travels North into the Spirit world, and he has the North Star to guide him. On the East Side of the Bridge is Raven guiding someone from the present, east, to learn about the past about the Legacy of Peacemaker, as he looks back to continue the story, the sun sets and Peacemaker looks West telling of the good night about today.<br> <p> Bibliography<br> <p> <u>1600</U> The Neutrals were the First peoples to occupy this land, named by the French because of their peace keeping ways during the time when the Iroquois were fighting the Huron, they remained neutral. The peaceful neutrals called the area "onghiar" pronounced 'on ge ara' meaning "thunder of waters" or "the great throat" (1)<br> <p> <u>neu·tral</u> - adjective - Not belonging to, favoring, or assisting any side in a war, dispute, contest, or controversy (4)<br> <p> <u>neu·tral</U> - noun - Somebody who or a country that remains neutral in a war, dispute, contest, or controversy (4)<br> <p> <u>The Iroquois or Haudensaunee</u> - Iroquois [rattlesnakes, real adders, they called themselves the "Haudenosaunee" (People of the Longhouse)]: This formidable, highly organized tribe controlled the two lower lakes (Erie and Ontario) and the portages between them. There was no nation or combination of tribes in the Ohio or Lake Erie country comparable to the organized Iroquois between the Niagara and Hudson rivers.(3) When Iroquois warriors encountered people already living in a region, they invariably killed the men and "adopted" the women and children, thus increasing the size of their band and assimilating some characteristics of the conquered culture. Iroquois or the Haudensaunee wiped out the Neutrals in a battle. The Huron, Neutral, Susquehannock, Seneca, Cayuga, Onondaga, Oneida and Mohawk are all descendants of these Iroquois bands. The Oneidas and the Mohawks lived in the Mohawk Valley. (2) Seneca, "Onondowahgah," meaning The People of the Great Hill, also referred to as the Large Dark Door.<br> (<p> (<u>Cayuga, "Guyohkohnyoh,"</u> meaning The People of the Great Swamp.<br> (<p> (<u>Onondaga, "Onundagaono,"</u> meaning The People of the Hills.<br> (<p> (<u>Oneida, "Onayotekaono,"</u> meaning The People of the Upright Stone.<br> (<p> (<u>Mohawk, "Kanienkahagen,"</u> meaning The People of the Flint.<br> (<p> (<u>Tuscarora, known as "Ska-Ruh-Reh"</u> meaning the Shirt Wearing People. (2)<br> <p> <u>1776  US Government - On June 11, 1776</u>, John Hancock welcomed as brothers  the Haudenosaunee, the forest diplomats , recognizing a long and friendly channel of communication between the Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) and the colonists on freedom, law, democracy and government. John Hancock was bestowed the name Karandowan  meaning great tree. For decades the Iroquois concealed the colonists in the Art of Union, urging them to unite. Three weeks later the Declaration of Independence was signed and a new democracy was born. The Tree of Peace became a symbol of an emerging United States government. White Pine became the Liberty Tree displayed on colonial flags and Eagle-that-sees-far became a symbol of American Government. And today, on the U.S. Great Seal, the American Eagle clutches a bundle of 13 arrows, representing the original colonies. American Government was patterned after the Haudenosaunee where all people, are represented and control their government. (1)<br> <p> <u>1992 -96 Legacy of Stone</u>  <i>"Largest prehistoric aboriginal discoveries in North East North America along banks of Niagara in Fort Erie, Ont and adjacent to the International Peace Bridge, 300,000 artifacts consisting of 4800 museum quality arrowheads, spearheads, knives &Major source of onadaga flint"</i><br> <p> LEGACY OF STONE: ANCIENT LIFE ON THE NIAGARA FRONTIER Co-authored by Ron Williamson and Rob MacDonald, and published in association with the Buffalo and Fort Erie Public Bridge Authority and Eastendbooks. Legacy of Stone was the winner of the Ontario Archaeological Society (OAS) Public Archaeology Award. "A guidebook to the past that goes back four thousand years ... highly readable ... stories of trade and warfare, thunderbirds, layers of human bone ... potsherds, pictures, and context: what people ate and how the weather was ... more adventurous readers will be encouraged to visit the site ... and gaze out at a great waterway ... a powerful past brought imaginately to life." (M.T. Kelly, Books in Canada). With the Free Trade Act in the late 1980s came increased traffic across the river between Buffalo, New York, and Fort Erie, Ontario. Canadian customs facilities needed to be expanded and as construction began in Fort Erie in the early '90s, bulldozers uncovered an area rich in human remains and artifacts, eventually determined to be from a range of cultures dating back as far as 2,000 BC. The unfolding story of the region's history is compelling, but equally revealing is the story of cooperation between town officials, archaeologists, contractors and native peoples representatives as decisions were made about the burial site and its contents. "Around 1800 BC, the Niagara Frontier was the site of one of the largest stone-tool workshops and trading centres in the Great Lakes region, and many traces of this prehistoric activity, and the people who pursued it, are still left below the streets of Fort Erie, Ont. ... profusely illustrated with photos and maps." ('New and Noted,' Globe and Mail) <u>flint</u> noun - a. very hard grayish-black fine-grained form of quartz that occurs widely as nodules and bands in chalk. b. piece of fine-grained quartz shaped into a tool by prehistoric people (4)<br> <p> <u>Sources</u><br> 1. http://www.accessgenealogy.com/native/tribes/Iroquioi/neutralhist.htm<br> 2. http://www.paulkeeslerbooks.com/Chap5Iroquois.html<br> 3. http://www.great-lakes.net/teach/history/native/native_3.html<br> 4. Encarta® World English Dictionary © 1999 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved. Developed for Microsoft by Bloomsbury Publishing Plc. http://www.championtrees.org/yarrow/greatlaw.htm<br> <p> <P> <B>LauraLee K. Harris</B> <P> </FONT> <P> </td> </tr> </table> <HR WIDTH="400" ALIGN="Center" SIZE="1" NOSHADE><BR> <FONT FACE="Arial" SIZE="-1"> <A HREF="frontpage.html">To Main Page</A></FONT> </div> </BODY> </HTML>