Description
Tsi Ni:iot Rotiiena:on Ne Rotiskere:wake Ne Ononhkwa:shon:a Rontenonhkwa'tseranon:ha: How the Bear Clan Became the Medicine Keepers is a Mohawk language resource adapted by Skaronhianon:we Hattie Nelson for use by elementary students at Kanehsatake, Quebec. This illustrated story retells a Mohawk legend about the coming of medicine to the Iroquois People. Long ago, an elderly man stopped at a Turtle Clan longhouse asking for food and lodging. The woman of this longhouse turned the old man away. On he travelled to the Snipe, Beaver, Deer, and Wolf Clan longhouses. Each in turn turned the man way. Weary and ill from his travels the man came to the Bear Clan longhouse. Here the woman invited him inside and provided him with delicious food and a place to stay. But the man suffered many illnesses. Each time a new sickness came to him, he instructed the Bear Clan woman to go out and pick a particular root. Each root was made into medicine according to the man's instruction. And each time he took the medicine he was healed. One day the Bear Clan woman came to her lodge and found a handsome, young man waiting for her. He told not to fear him and in fact he had created her. From that time on, the Bear Clan women and men are known as the healers and medicine keepers. This 16-page Mohawk and English publication features colour drawings by Wahiaronkwas David on every other page to allow students to follow the story. The work of the Language teachers and educators at Tsi Ronterihwanonhnha Ne Kanienkeha keep the traditional stories and Mohawk language alive for the coming generations in this publication.