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Doug George-Kanentiio is shown here speaking to the Syracuse University community Sept. 22, 2013.

“Iroquois prophecies for today’s world”

Journalist and historian Doug George-Kanentiio will present a talk called “What Iroquois Prophets Foresee for the World” at Oneida Public Library on Wednesday evening, Jan. 11, at 7:00 p.m.

Sparked by the current Native American protests at Standing Rock, N.D., over the proposed building of a petroleum pipeline through Sioux territory, George-Kanentiio will address how the Iroquois or the Haudenosaunee prophets and seers have foretold the environmental disasters that may face the world with carbon-fueled climate change.

“In Iroquois society there have been prophets such as Skennenrahowi [“He Makes the Peace”] and Skeniateriio [“Handsome Lake”] who have intervened during times of great social distress, bringing stability and direction based upon moral and political directives,” George-Kanentiio said. “Each prophet’s instructions were meant to effect political action.”

Nowadays, he added, the Iroquois people “have looked to seers who can interpret dreams or perceive the future.” Recent prophecies have concerned the prospect of natural disasters in North America, including massive earthquakes that will divert major waterways, cause tsunamis and sink coastal lands.

George-Kanentiio, himself an Akwesasne Mohawk, will discuss how the warnings of the prophets, especially those of the early 19th-century Seneca religious leader Handsome Lake, reveal not only impending ecological catastrophes but also the ways and means for the Iroquois people to survive and endure.

“The Iroquois take all of [the Code of Handsome Lake] with sincerity and respond accordingly,” George-Kanentiio has written. “Each year those who adhere to his Code recite it in its entirety over the course of many days. Such is the Code’s importance that at every social, ceremonial or political gathering the prophet is expressly thanks for preserving the Iroquois as a people.”

George-Kanentiio is the author of “Iroquois on Fire” and “Iroquois Culture and Commentary.” He is also co-author with his wife Joanne Shenandoah of the picture book “Skywoman: Legends of the Iroquois,” published in 1998. A graduate of Syracuse University and the Antioch School of Law, he has been an editor of “Akwesasne Notes” and a contributor to many national newspapers.

The talk on Iroquois prophecy is free and open to the public. For more information, stop by the Oneida Library, 220 Broad St., or call 363-3050.

By martha

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