Cultural Ties

Breaking Down Haudenosaunee Elements

Vocabulary 

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Haudenosaunee: the Haudenosaunee is the autonym for a confederacy made up of six Native American tribes:

Seneca, Cayuga, Onondaga, Oneida, Mohawk and Tuscarora

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Autonym: The name a people call themselves

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Skydomes

In the Haudenosaunee creation story, there existed a world, the sky world, represented by sky domes. The skyworld is where people lived before the people came down below, to the physical Earth world. 

In Haudenosaunee imagery skydomes appear as half circles (sometimes alone and sometimes alongside others) with a protrusion on top. That protrusion represents the Celestial Tree of the skyworld. This tree provided all the people needed to survive.

Beneath the skydomes are three petal shapes. These shapes represent the three sisters; Corn, Beans & Squash. These are Haudenosaunee staples and represent living in harmony with Earth and in a sustainable way. What one plant depletes from the soil, another deposits. 

Below the three sisters a line of lines and triangles often appears. These shapes represent the vastness and prosperities of the crops, and therein the prosperity and longevity of the Haudenosaunee people.