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According to Iroquoian mythology, at the beginnings of time, when the earth was not yet formed and human beings were not yet appeared on its surface, in the sky there was an island, in the middle of which a great tree was standing. From its branches flowers and fruits were continually blossoming, all through the year. It represented an infinite abundance, not subjected to the seasonal variations. The being who lived in the heavenly world, similar to humans but with divine characteristics, feed on the fruits of the World Tree. But the Big Chief of the sky people, a sort of divine being, decided to uproot the tree, thus creating a hole in the ground, which permitting a communication between the upper world and the world below, a world that was going to become the earth, but was actually covered by waters. Through this hole in the sky, the Sky Woman fell, was supported by water birds and deposed on the back of the Turtle. This episode is the beginning of the narrative of the origin of the world, because, from a lump of earth which some animals brought on the back of the Turtle the entire surface of the earth was formed, as a necessary condition for the appearance of humanity and its flourishing (Parker 1912).
Shoulder bag with flower motif embroidery, realized by the Ojibwa around the late XIXth century (Baltimore Museum of Art) |
Another World Tree existed for the Iroquois on the earth and was described as a large pine tree, or an elm, situated in the middle of the earthen surface. Its upper branches reached the sky and pierced it, while its roots reached the underworld. This conception is very similar to that of the large ash tree called Yggdrasil among the ancient Northern Germans. The Iroquois prophet Deganawidah, to whom the first effort to create the Iroquois Confederation was due, had a dream in which he saw a Great Peace Tree, under whose branches the five Iroquois nations could gather peacefully, to settle disputes among them and to put the premises for non conflictual relationships. The concept of the cosmic World Tree was thus reinterpreted as a political metaphor for the construction of an inter-tribal alliance (Lynch 2010: p. 116).
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Wampum belts, ceremonial objects made with shells and employed as gifts during the stipulation of treaties and as documents testifying important historical events. The specimen above is the Washington Covenant Belt, because it was donated byt the Iroquois to President George Washington in 1794 for the ratification of a treaty. The belt in the center was called Hiawatha Belt, from Hiawatha, the mythical founcer of the Iroquois Confederation. In the middle is represented the Tree of Peace, reinterpretation of the World Tree, while the square figures recalled the nations composing the Iroquois League (the originals are kept by the Onondaga Nation, Nedrow, New York) |
The guardian of the World Tree was, according to Iroquoian tradition, the Great Face, a giant who presided over all the False Faces, spiritual beings who were impersonated during ceremonies by masked dancers. He rubbed his turtle-shell rattle on the tree trunk, thus obtaining the power transmitted from the tree, a gesture which was imitated by the masked dancers during the celebrations of the Winter Ceremony (Parker 1912).
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The two sides of a decorated bag made by the Iroquois, showing the World Tree motif beside two birds (from a private collection)
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Animals