Iroquois Nursing Home Inc started providing nursing home service since Nov 4th, 1992, and was recognized by Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) as one of modern providers which are carefully measured and assessed to have high-quality nursing home services for promoting health and improving the quality of life. Iroquois Nursing Home. The Iroquois everyday life was builting a loof things and went hunting. Village Life The Iroquois believed in cooperation. This belief affected the way they grew food, the way they governed themselves, and the way they lived. The Iroquois lived in villages. Gwaa (ga”gw3) and instructed its bearer to run his course daily in the heavens.” Shortly after he is said to have “dug up the tree of light, and looking into the pool of water in which the stump trunk had grown, he saw the reflection of his own face and thereupon conceived the idea of creating Ongwe and made them both a man.
Dream Practices in Native American Cultures
A small bit of the research I’ve done on dream theory. Enjoy (:
Dream Practices in Native American Cultures
All humans dream every night. However, it is the norms of each person’s cultural upbringing and surrounding society that determines how an individual reacts to and interprets these dreams. As Lee Irwin reminds us, “We all dream…if we forget or do not attend to our dreams, the images and activities that come to us unbidden, it is because our cultural environment does not support a means by which dreaming could transform and revitalize our awareness” (Irwin, 9). Western cultures are primarily ruled by logic and reason, and theories about dream interpretation have been isolated to fields of psychology. Mainstream western religion and society disregards dreams as fantasy or nonsense. Other cultures, especially Native American cultures, have a contrary perspective. Dreams and visions hold an essential role in the religious, historical, and storytelling traditions of Native American tribes across North America. In this paper, I will explore the role of dreams in the Eastern Woodlands and Great Plains Native tribes of North America. I will illuminate how these tribes utilize their dreams to connect to the land on which they live, to explore personal experience, and to communicate through community performance.
Dreams are viewed as a core aspect of Native American culture. In traditional Iroquois families in the Eastern Woodlands, parents encourage children to recall their dreams each morning to promote habitually paying attention to and valuing them. The dreams are interpreted to have real life consequences. Sometimes, dreams can be purposefully misleading to propose a challenge to the dreamer, but other times, they hold answers to real life concerns. (Tooker, 90). In the traditions of the Great Plains tribes, no distinction is drawn between physical, waking reality and the reality of dreams and visions. Dreams are instead just another medium through which a person can experience and perceive the multitudinous layers of reality. These realities are “enfolded” into one another in layering realms of perception. Neither physical reality, nor dream realities are considered more or less real than one other (Irwin, 18). That being said, the information and power transferred into experienced dreamers through dreams and visions are highly valued and respected both socially and religiously: “Among traditional Plains peoples, dreaming is given strong ontological priority and is regarded as a primary source of knowledge and power” (Irwin, 19). The information and perceptions acquired during dreams surpass the level of experience available in everyday perception, and therefore, skilled dreamers are perceived to have great amounts of power.
The imagery and information of dreams are used to tie the Native Americans to their land. This is a very intriguing process, as a nearly subconscious function of the mind is used to connect to the extremely physical reality of the earth. In daily life, Iroquois people use dreams for logical purposes in navigating the land, such as to hunt game (Tooker, 91). The Iroquois also incorporate the telling of their dreams into the celebrations of crops throughout the different seasons. During celebrations such as the Green Corn Ceremony, Maple Ceremony and Strawberry Ceremony, traditional dream songs are retold to celebrate the rebirth of nature. Any participant in the ceremony who has a vision—a dream-like experience while being awake—communicates what they learned through performance and ritual. This information is used immediately to improve daily life, perhaps by enhancing the harvest or aiding the sick (Tooker, 269).
It is worth considering that westerners write most information available about Native American traditions. When the western settlers took over the native land, they proposed a very different method of recalling and recording history: written text. Traditionally, the histories of the Native Americans are told orally, through the passing on of stories, dreams and visions. In this way, the dreams of the people become an integral part of the identity of the tribe, as the experiences become a part of their history: “The Anishinaabe heard stories in their dream songs. Tribal visions were natural sources of intuition and identities, and some tribal visions were spiritual transmigrations that inspired the lost and lonesome souls of the woodland to be healed” (Vizenor, 9).
Gerald Vizenor offers a firsthand perspective of an Anishinaabe native in Summer in the Spring. In this book, Vizenor undertakes the project of translating a collection of Anishinaabe dream songs not only into English, but also into text. Dream songs are traditionally passed down from generation to generation via speech and song. Oral transmission allows stories to adapt over time and space. As a result, the stories are continuously relevant to current issues and practices. Text, on the other hand, freezes a story at one specific moment in time. Oral language can also use intonations and gestures in ways that punctuation cannot compare to: “The use of italicization and lower case for anishinaabemowin words is intended to emphasize the value of oral language rather than a total imposition of the philosophies of grammar and translation” (Vizenor, 19-20). Thus, writing dream songs in a book is not only a translation from anishinaabemowin into English, but also a translation from native cultural traditions to western cultural traditions.
The book Summer in the Spring is a collection of dream songs. Dream songs are pieces of knowledge given to a dreaming individual by their dream-spirit. The dream songs in Summer in the Spring tell stories of Anishinaabe connections to nature and the land through the character of the “trickster.” The collection is rich with nature imagery:
“as my eyes
look across the prairie
I feel the summer
in the spring” (Vizenor, 23).
The dream songs capture the essence of the native land as it is experienced through physical and dream perceptions. This book allows the collective memories of the Anishinaabe people to live on even once the land’s ownership has turned over to western settlers.
It is important to remember that Native Americans do not have different dreaming abilities than westerners. Rather, they just interact with their experiences in a different light. The natives of the Great Planes use the imagery of their dreams to link the dream realms to the physical world in which they live: “There is a strong sense of continuum between human perception, the natural world, and the mysterious appearance of visionary events…a stone might speak, an animal change into another creature, a star fall to earth as a beautiful woman” (Irwin, 27). These transformations and personifications are the same sort of phenomena that occur in all human dreams. However, it is the mode of interpretation that alters the significance. Rather than disregarding these transformations as irrational and unimportant, the Native Americans use them to personify their world and relate to the earth more fundamentally. Hearing a stone speak in a dream alters the dreamer’s encounters with stones the next day, as he or she has gained insight into another mode of perception of the same object.
The Native American focus on the dream experience opens up possibilities for personal awareness: “The dream is a medium of knowing, a way of experiencing the reality of the lived world, a faculty of perception” (Irwin, 21). To incite the experience of a vision, natives of the Great Planes strive to earn the compassion of a dream-spirit who will guide the dreamer through his or her vision. Compassion and pity for suffering draws the dream-spirits to the dreamers. In order to acquire this sympathetic attention, dreamers would often fast, cut off pieces of their own flesh, and cry. Even the most powerful and strong men would weaken themselves in order to be granted a vision: “The vision seeker’s lamentations and emotional expression are cathartic of deep feelings of dependence and conditionality” (Irwin, 139). Women were more likely to have these visions, since they were more likely to experience strong, deep-rooted emotions.
The cathartic emotional release of weakening the self results in the much-valued visions, or waking dreams. The dream-spirits are drawn to the obedience and suffering of the dreamers, and then aid the dreamer in discovering knowledge and power in his or her visions. Expressing dependence on the spirits encourages them to give the gift of power to the dream seeker. Once the vision begins, a mysterious animal known as an icha’eche transfers power into the dream seeker (Irwin, 140). The resulting visions are “highly imaginistic, nonverbal, spatially defined, and emotionally laden,” unique to the individual and his or her emotions, perceptions and needs (Irwin, 16). The dream songs that are given to the dreamer by his or her dream-spirit are meant to be taken at face value: “Dream songs are of private revelatory nature; words of power are not to be discussed or debated, only used to invoke their sources” (Irwin, 165).
An advanced dreamer no longer needs to incite the help of the dream-spirit, but rather, can enter and exit the visionary world at will in a “dramatic demonstration of power and ability” (Irwin, 22). Thus, the “power” acquired from the dream-spirit in order to incite a vision is directly related to the social power an individual has within their own tribe. Practiced dreamers often incite their visions at ceremonies and rituals as a form of community performance: “The explicit cultural order of religious symbols, icons, rituals, dances and songs represents a testimony to some sort of received, inherited, or purchased power, frequently transmitted through dream experience” (Irwin, 25). At such rituals, the vision is not translated or interpreted for the onlookers. Rather, the symbolic gestures, actions, words and songs expressed by the dreamer are left to speak for themselves in a performance of power and knowledge. The dreamer communicates the message of the dream to the community while still keeping the details of the experience mysterious. This assures that the dreamer maintains the power to interpret the dream, as they are the only one to experience it firsthand (Irwin, 165).
Dreams play an essential role in telling the communal story of the tribe. The individual recollections of experience are performed and retold until they turn into a collective history that runs throughout the culture and traditions: “the unique psychic history of the individual also contributes a memorable testimony to the collective identity of a people” (Irwin, 164). Through their dreams, each individual contributes directly to the collective history and culture of the tribe. The experience of dreams and visions are mediums of communication inseparable from the physical environment. Each dreamer’s experience and practice are woven into the religion, culture, and beliefs about the land, personal reality and power (Irwin, 26). The dreams are viewed as a communal activity that links the culture between the dream experience and the waking lives of the members of the society.
Native Americans are the original owners of the land on which United States citizens now dwell. Native American connections to the land, to each other, and to themselves are deeply rooted in an attention to their dreams and visions. Dreams help to enhance individual ties to his or her homeland. The individual experience of dreaming flourishes knowledge of the self. The performance of dream songs and visions at rituals and ceremonies engages the community in a communal knowledge and history. There is much to learn from studying these practices and reading these dream songs. However, the western scholar must not forget that they too have the ability to dream every night, and experience the same phenomena that the original owners of the land deemed sacred and powerful. Social standards and cultural traditions are the only distinguishing factor between a disregarded dream and a sacred vision. Learning from the beliefs of other cultures can help enhance our understanding of our selves as individuals, human beings, and members of the earth.
Works Cited:
Irwin, Lee. The Dream Seekers: Native American Visionary Traditions of the Great
Plains. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1994.
Tooker, Elisabeth. Native North American Spirituality of the Eastern Woodlands:
Sacred Myths, Dreams, Visions, Speeches, Healing Formulas, Rituals, and
Ceremonials. Mahwah: Paulist Press, 1979.
Vizenor, Gerald R. Summer in the Spring: Anishinaabe Lyric Poems and Stories.
Daily Life Iroquois
Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1993.
Daily LifeFood
The Iroquois men hunted from the beginning of the Fall to mid-Winter, and fished in the lakes during the summer.. Farming determined the way the Indians lived. The Iroquois moved to new locations when their large fields no longer produced a good crop of beans, corn, and squash. They called beans, squash, and corn (The Three Sisters). The women tended the crops. One favorite food of the Iroquois was corn cakes. It was made by patting corn into round cakes then baking it.
Harvested vegetables along with berries, meat and fish were dried for use during the winter. And grain was stored in baskets which were then buried in the ground.
During harvest time, there was a special Thanksgiving ceremony, when the Three Sisters, namely corn. squash and beans which were key staples of the Iroquois diet, ripened. They were combined together in a dish we still know as succotash.
Here is a recipe for corn cakes in the Iroquois style:
| Iroquois White Corn Cakes 3/4 cup Iroquois white corn flour 1/2 tsp double-acting baking powder 1/2 tsp baking powder 1/2 tsp salt 1 cup buttermilk 1 egg, lightly beaten 1/2 cup bacon fat, or substitute 1/4 cup softened butter |
| Iroquois Corn Pudding, Serves 12 Ingredients: 1 medium onion, diced 1 tablespoon butter 3/4 teaspoon dried marjoram 1-1/2 cups roasted Iroquois cornmeal 3 cups fat-free or regular half-and-half 1-1/2 teaspoons sea salt Freshly ground black pepper 1-1/2 cups low-fat milk 5 eggs, lightly beaten 2 cups corn kernels, fresh or frozen Instructions 1. Preheat oven to 325º. Prepare a 9x13-inch baking dish with cooking spray or butter. 2. Sauté onion in butter and marjoram. Set aside. 3. In a medium saucepan, whisk roasted cornmeal with half and half. Add salt and a generous grinding of black pepper. Simmer over medium-low heat, stirring, until mixture begins to thicken. Remove from heat. Add onion mixture, milk, eggs, and corn kernels. 4. Pour entire mixture into prepared pan. Cook 45–50 minutes, until set and lightly browned |
Click here for more Native American recipes!
This page has many recipes on it, too!
Clothes
Iroquois people mainly wore shirts, pants, leggings, robes and capes. The men wore feathers in their hair and wore jewelry including a ring in their nostrils. Women wore skirts, and robes mainly made out of deer skin.They wore moccasin shoes which were highly decorated items. Masks were a popular item made of corn husks and were used in ceremonies. Furs of animals, hides of elk and deer, corn husks, and woven plant and tree fibers were used to produce clothing. Clothing went through considerable change in the late 1600s - 1700s, with European influence and availability of beads, trade cloth etc..
Learn more about the Haudenosaunee clothing.
Society
The men were hunters, warriors, and statesmen. But women had a lot of power and decided which men should be speakers and representatives. If a raid or war-party was not approved by the women, they would refuse to provide food for the journey. When the women agreed with a course of action, they worked to make sure that the idea was executed. Iroquois women always occupied a position far superior to that of European women of the same time period. Modern Iroquois women still have their own council, and choose the men to fill ancient tribal positions.
Longhouse
| Click here more pictures of longhouses |
Daily Life Iroquois Facts
Longhouses were the focal point of Iroquois life. Longhouses were long and narrow bark covered houses that contained one large extended family of up to 60 people. Longhouses had two doors at each end and no windows. The only other openings in the house were at the ceiling to allow fire smoke to escape.The doors were covered with a curtain made from animal skins. Numerous longhouses in an area were what made up a village which was sometimes protected from intruders by a fence.
Longhouses were related to the clan structure. Above the door of each longhouse was the symbol of the clan of the families inside. When a daughter got married, her husband would come to live in the longhouse of her mother (his mother-in-law). A husband did not lose his clan; though he lived with his wife in her mother's longhouse, he still had ties with his own clan. So regardless of where they lived, Iroquois belonged to the longhouse family into which they were born, that of their mother, and this longhouse family membership lasted a lifetime.
Daily Life Flash Game
OTHER PAGES
Families Learn about how Haudenosaunee women ran family life.
Religion A page on the religion of the Haudenosaunee, which was similar to religions of other tribes.