This series on “Moving the Fire” was requested by the Mohawk Nation council so people will understand the history of this event.

For two months the people of Akwesasne worked diligently to have the new Longhouse built for the moving of the fire. It was the night before October 29th and many people stayed late into the night to finish the ceiling, the benches and to clean up. Although the Longhouse was not thoroughly completed it was ready enough to accept the fire, which would be moved from the old Longhouse.

Huron Miller of the Six Nations territory conducted the ceremony which recognized all previous ceremonies ever held and all of the spirits within the old Longhouse that the building was not being abandoned. That it had grown old and had served its purpose and the Akwesasne Mohawks of the Haudenosaunee Confederacy decided it was time to build a new one.

He explained that the carrier of the fire, in the form of wampum, would be the first to exit the old longhouse and the first to enter the new one.

Behind Miller walked the Haudenosaunee delegates, chiefs, clan-mothers, faith-keepers, elders, men, women, infants, teenagers and children of the Six Nations Confederacy. The Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga, Cayuga, Seneca and Tuscarora all followed in unison towards the west where the new Longhouse awaited.

Nature provided a picture perfect day. The weather was neither too hot nor too cool as the winds blew briskly-almost as if to tell the people that the four directions were present and wanted to participate.

Over two-thousand people travelled by foot, horse and buggy and automobiles while making their way down route 37. They were full of pride because these people of the Longhouse have endured many hardships including the loss of language, breakdown of their culture, and the destruction of Mother Earth, which has caused the loss of large portions of their land.

One Akwesasne resident’s words reflected the feelings of many who have participated in the ceremonies held at the old Longhouse. “I was thinking about the old Longhouse when we left and I felt sad because we weren’t going to be there no more”, said Kenny Perkins.

Leon Shenandoah of the Onondaga Nation, who is a condoled chief within the Iroquois Confederacy, commented that he had not seen such a large crowd of people for any event in a long time and said “they’re coming back. If they do make it back it makes the Confederacy that much stronger.” He was referring to the fact that many people had lost their way when they discontinued practicing the four sacred rituals set forth by the Creator but that the turnout on that day was pretty remarkable’, and that it showed the interest of the people”

Shenandoah did not feel that the loss of language would deter people from going back to the Longhouse but instead would make them want to learn their language all that much more.

Senna, an eight year old from the Six Nations territory near Brantford, Ontario was another person who was very excited to have been a part of the special day. “I walked all the way,” she said. When asked how many people she thought there were she looked towards the sky in deep thought and pursed her lips to one side. Then nodding she replied, “more than a hundred.” Senna is part of the turtle clan within the Mohawk nation but she explained that she attended a Cayuga immersion school on the Six Nations territory and that she speaks the Cayuga language.

At the end of the historical day a social dance was held in celebration of the day’s events. Akwesasne’s own young men’s singing society and singers from other Haudenosaunee territories sang social songs and danced in the new longhouse which will surely be hosting many more future events. It was a day that many will not soon forget. Little Senna and all those who took part in the making of history that day will leave a legacy of great pride and learning for the seven generations of the Six Nation Iroquois Confederacy.