Jillian Morris is Kanien’kehá:ka, turtle clan and band member of Six Nations of the Grand River Territory now living in Collingwood. She will be sharing stories and experience passed down through the oral traditions of Kanien’kehá:ka culture in her regular column, entitled Kan’nikonhrí:io, (The Good Mind) published on CollingwoodToday.ca.
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Shé:kon sewakwé:kon, hello everyone. Let’s start at the beginning, today.
Sky Woman reaches, grasping at the roots of the great celestial tree. She’s falling. She grabs hold but the vegetation breaks from the tree and Sky World steadily vanishes from her wide, fearful gaze. Below, the darkness of an unknown world.
How did Sky Woman find herself in such a predicament? Some say curiosity led her to dig deep beneath the sacred tree. Another version maintains that through dream, Sky Woman’s husband is guided to uproot the tree to expose passage to the world below. Most often, in some form, there is influence from the Great Spirit.
The light pierces through the opening in the sky and signals the water and sky animals beneath. This is an extraordinary happening.
The entity that comes into sight has no wings, no fins. How will she survive in this place of water? Through frantic coordination, they bring Sky Woman safely onto the back of the willing, giant turtle.
As Haudenosaunee, this is how I understand the birth of Mother Earth, the land animals, plants, and our most distant relations.
We must ground ourselves in where we come from to be assured of where we are going. As Indigenous people, nation, clan, and spirit name can guide our understanding of self. Through story and oral tradition, we see how our being connects and intersects with the larger stories of creation and evolution.
Knowing that Sky Woman cannot remain on the turtle’s back indefinitely, the water animals remember the soil that sits at the bottom of the vast, endless waters.
None are sure they are capable of swimming to those depths. Some try and fail. Muskrat – near death – resurfaces, mud beneath his curved claws. The mud falls to the surface of the turtle.
Sky Woman is full of gratitude and joy. She thanks all her helpers by performing song and dance for them. Harmony flows from her mouth, her steps full of care. Round the turtle’s back, cycling counterclockwise.
Beneath her feet, the earth begins to form, the mud expanding. Finally, her new home, Turtle Island emerges.
Told in detail the story of Sky Woman and the beginnings of Turtle Island can take hours, even days to recite. I offer only a cursory view, yet the teachings are rich even in this form.
We learn about unity, compassion, love. The symbolism of the circle, cycles, and Earth as a spiritual and physical being. Collaboration and cooperation can cultivate expansive growth. There is reciprocity in relationship.
Sky Woman still clutches pieces of root and seeds from the Sky World’s sacred tree. She plants them and nurtures the life they carry. Life is diversified further.
Sometimes Sky Woman knows of her pregnancy before her fall and sometimes she realizes it after.
She bears a daughter.
I have my own creation story. You have your own creation story. They all connect to our Mother’s creation story. We all originate from this Earth. When you truly know this, you carry it always. Where you go will be guided by her, the one who formed us all.
The story gets so good from this point. Sky Woman’s daughter is going to change everything.
