•• The Hadoui Society held a meeting last week and set the date for the Hadoui ceremony. The ceremony will take place on Sunday, April 3, 2011 at 6:00 pm at the Longhouse.

The Hadoui (False Face) is a medicine society. They have their own singers and recruit their members from within the Longhouse. The Hadoui wears a mask-red, white, black, plain and has hair on the mask. The faces are very distinct and characteristic.

The Hadoui leadership will ask some women to cook the mush for the ceremony. You bring a bowl, spoon, and cup along with some candy, apples, oranges or sacred tobacco. The candy and other items will be given to the Hadouis who come in to collect after the eating is through.

Sunday is the night for the people and Hadoui to dance together. The ceremony will open with the Ohenton Kariwatekwen. A speaker will then explain what will take place. Tobacco will be collected, a speaker will be designated to burn tobacco, singers are selected and then it’s ready to start.

After the tobacco is burned, every one dances. No one sits on the sidelines. If you can’t dance for health reasons then you sit on the bench with the singers.

Once the dancing is over, mush is passed out and then the Hadouis come in for the candy and other items.

The closing words are said and the ceremony is over.

•• The Haudenosaunee Peace and Trade met last Tuesday, March 22nd at the Onondaga Nation Cookhouse. Representatives were in attendance at the meeting from the Confederacy Nations. Iroquois Nationals Board members were in attendance to give a report on the INL and bring everyone up to date on the passport issue.

Percy Abrams, executive director for the INL gave a brief report then went into the passport issue. Things are moving in a positive direction but very slowly. An ad hoc committee comprised of legal counsel and INL Board members are continuing to work on the check list. Percy Abrams will keep the Peace and Trade updated on the activities associated with the passports.

Other items included discussion on the activities in the communities, upcoming meetings and ongoing work.

•• The Native American Indigenous Caucus met for a long weekend on March 18th to draft the final statement to the National Forum on Indigenous Issues at the United Nations in May. The draft statement has the input of the 120 nations in attendance. The statement will include methods for implementation of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People A signed document, a document full of encouragement for first nation’s people must have methods to implement and evaluate.

That’s what the caucus group works on ways to implement the words upon words.

•• Indian Time received a notice from the Mohawk Nation office inviting everyone to a presentation on Thursday, April 7th at the Seniors Center in Hogansburg. The presentation will be given by Rick Hill on “The Requickening: How the Haudenosaunee survived the War of 1812.” Start time is 7:00pm.

This presentation will examine the thinking of our ancestors prior to, during and after the War of 1812. It will share their words as they wrestled with the difficult questions of loyalties, treaty obligations and their own best chances for success. We will examine the various camps of thought that led up to the conflict, attempts to keep the peace, the consequences of the battles and the final reconciliation through which the Grand River Haudenosaunee made peace with the Buffalo Creek Haudenosaunee.

•• Upcoming meetings:

April 12th (tentative): Haudenosaunee Peace and Trade

Tentative: Grand Council Meeting within the next few weeks.

The next Haudenosaunee Documentation Committee will take place in Oneida. Date(s) not confirmed.