Legends: Hiawatha of the Iroquois

As we've seen many times, 19th century poets, playwrights and novelists romanticized Native peoples, sometimes to the point where it's hard to separate the legend from the reality.  Hiawatha, an early Iroquoian leader who was partly responsible for the Iroquois Confederacy and their Law of Peace is one example.  Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's poem of Hiawatha and his wife or daughter Minnehaha is a masterpiece of American literature.  It is what most people know of Hiawatha.

Hiawatha or Ayenwatha, was either a leader of Onondaga or the Mohawk, or perhaps both.  Or he was born an Onondaga and adopted into the Mohawk tribe as a child.  During Hiawatha's time, the Iroquoian tribes were bitter enemies.  Raids happened frequently and taking captives to replace lost tribal members was a common occurrence, so either scenario is possible.  Hiawatha was a noted warrior when he met a Huron prophet known as Degonawadida.  Degonawadida was not only a foreigner to the Iroquois tribes, though the Huron themselves are an Iroquoian people.  He also had a speech impediment and other impairments which didn't allow him to be a warrior.  He won Hiawatha's trust as a prophet, along with the confidence of a powerful clan mother, Jigonhassee.  With Jigonhassee's clout and Hiawatha's speaking ability, the Great Peacemaker's teaching soon spread throughout the five original Iroquois nations, the Mohawk, Seneca, Cayuga. Onondaga and Oneida.  They agreed to peace and to govern themselves by a set of principles known as the Great Law of Peace, or as it is sometimes now called the Iroquois Constitution.

So when did this happen?  Scholars have attempted to date Hiawatha's life by means of a central element in the story.  According to oral tradition, the Seneca were the hardest to convince, and were still fighting the other tribes when an event happened that helped Degonawadida validate his prophet status.  While it's not specified what this was, some have put for the idea that it may have been a solar eclipse.  Some possible dates include an eclipse that would have been visible in North American in 1192 or 1451.   Archaeological investigation remains ongoing to determine which date is the most likely.

A wampum belt of purple and white beads has been preserved which commemorates the union of the Five Tribes.  It's called the Hiawatha belt.  Research on the belt showed that, while most of the beads are traditional shell beads, the belt did contain some glass beads from the Colonial era.  Most likely, the belt that survives today is a replica of a much older original, wampum belts being an accepted way to commemorate treaties and great events.  The Hiawatha belt's imagery of a pine tree with two squares to either side is the flag of the Iroquois Confederacy/Haudenosaunee today.