Legends, Traditions, and Laws of the Iroquois, or Six Nations, and History of the Tuscarora IndiansJohnson, Elias
History
Legends, Traditions, and Laws of the Iroquois, or Six Nations, and History of the Tuscarora Indians
Johnson, Elias
Iroquois Indians; Tuscarora Indians
After his death, Sase-ha-wa, (Johnson) of Tonawanda, was appointed his
successor. The first and only person ever "raised up" by the Iroquois,
and invested with the office of a supreme religious instructor--a sincere
believer in the verity of Handsomelake's mission, and an eminently pure
and virtuous man--Sase-ha-wa (Johnson) has devoted himself with zeal and
fidelity to the duties of his office, as a spiritual guide and teacher of
the Iroquois. He was a grand-son of Handsomlake, a nephew of Red Jacket,
and was born at the Indian village of Ga-no-wan-ges, near Avon, about the
year 1774.
At the condolence and religious councils of the Iroquois, which are still
held at intervals of a few years, among the scattered descendants of the
long house, it has long been customary to set apart portions of two or
three days to listen to a discourse from Johnson upon the new religion.
On these occasions he explains minutely the circumstance attending the
supernatural visitation of Handsomelake, and delivers the instructions,
word for word, which he had been accustomed to give during his own
ministration. Handsomelake professed to repeat the messages which were
given to him from time to time by the celestial visitants, with whom he
alleged to be in frequent communication, and whom he addressed as his
spiritual guardian, thus enforcing his precepts as the direct command of
the Great Spirit.
At their councils and religious, festivals, it was customary for the
chiefs and keepers of the faith to express their confidence in the new
religion, and to exhort others to strengthen their beliefs. The late
Abraham La Fort, an educated Onondaga Sachem, thus expressed himself upon
this subject at a condolence council of the league, held at Tonawanda as
late as October, 1847.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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