Jake's Message

There are very few of our Elders left who have the knowledge that was given to us by our Creator. All I can give to you, my people, is what I know.

Many of our people can be carriers of a certain kind of gift; some were born to be singers, others may be singers and dancers, and maybe a speaker or an artist, or one that is a wise person.

It is the way of our people that we are to be glad for our people if they have many gifts. This has always been our peoples' way. We were never to be jealous or have hard feelings of someone who stands before us and possesses many gifts.

Our Elders had many gifts, they knew many things; the knowledge has gone with them. Nowadays, our people are changing, and as we look around, there are not many people that have the gift to recite the sacred laws of the Haudenosaunee, to recite the Gaiwí:yoh - the good message of the Handsome Lake Code. Not many people know of our sacred songs and how our ceremonies are to be conducted.

What will happen to our people when there is no one left to teach us these things, for this is the way that our Creator intended for our people to be - carriers of our original teachings. Who, of our young people, will carry these things that I have mentioned?

I have seen many of our people amongst the different nations of the Iroquois Confederacy denounce or put down many of our wise Elders.

It is our way that we look for positive things, the good things in our people; that is the way of our forefathers, and if we look for the bad things we could find it in anyone. But it is said that it is our way that we take the good out of life and keep it within us.

For myself, there have been many times I have been hurt and sad when I look around and see my people who have lost their language. The meaning of our ceremonies has no more value for them. And I see our Elders passing away; wise men of different nations are being lost to us. Every year, in our Mid-Winter ceremonies, we hear of another Elder who has left us. I am not that old that I would call myself an Elder, but my father and other Elders spent much time with me in my younger days.

The Condolence Ceremony and what it means, the names of fifty chiefs or sachems has to be memorized, and a man has to conduct a ceremony all from memory. How many of our people can conduct this ceremony today?

I wonder how many will be able to do it in twenty years. And when that day comes, when we cannot have any more condolences as it says in our original teachings of our sacred Law, how then are we going to live by the "Great Law" or the Kaianerenkówa?

When no one can recite by memory the Code of Handsome Lake or the Good Message, how are we going to remind ourselves of the path that we must be walking on as Onkwehónwe or Original People? Who will be reminding us that we must carry our songs, our ceremonies and our language?

I see myself in this position and I always tell the people before every ceremony, the gift that I have is the knowledge of our ceremonies.

Don't judge me for myself, for I am just as human as you are, accept what I know of our original teachings. If that is your wish, it is up to you and your Creator to carry on your Indian way. I cannot decide that for you, I cannot make you learn the sacred songs and dances or how to conducts a ceremony.

I hope that many of our young people and old people will recognize how important it is to accept the teaching of our Elders, for we can recognize how fast our Elders are disappearing, the Creator is taking them back. And the prophecies of our people are coming true and we are not watching for the signs.

It is also said that when our people, who are travelling throughout their life cycle, fall, our people, knowing and caring for their sacred Laws and original teachings, will pick up that person and help him walk again until he is strong and able to walk on his own.

We have not been doing this. We have taken too much of the whiteman's ways and cut each other down and cut down our leaders; no longer do we place honor on our chiefs, clan mothers, and faithkeepers.

We rely on a whiteman's book and argue amongst ourselves and say that this is how it must be done; but we can never rely on the whiteman, for he will never truly understand what the Creator has given us, our original teachings, our sacred Laws, the Kaianerenkówa.

I rely on the young people to carry on what the Creator has given us. And I hope that one day there will be someone to see how important it is to pick the importance and the values, of our ceremonies, of our sacred laws, and to appreciate that which was given to us for our people and no one else. And the only way that we can carry it on is the way our forefathers have always carried it, in the language of our Forefathers.