Indian Time - A Voice from the Eastern Door

Submitted by Native North American Travelling College

For thousands of years the knowledge of traditional medicines was relative to our environment and people (Rotinonhshon:ni) and have been vitally important for our survival as a distinct people. The medicine family is called Ononhkwa’shon:’a and is properly honored and respected in our Ohenton Karihwatehkwen or Thanksgiving Address. It’s these traditional medicines that assist or enable us to maintain the good mind, body, and spirit that the Creator intended us to possess throughout our days on Mother Earth.

Today there are only a few individuals and families that continue to use and practice these age old medicines on each of the Six Nations territories. Medicine is another part of our culture, as Rotinonhshon:ni people, that we are barely clinging on to. This type of knowledge can be very powerful if used in the correct manner and dangerous if used in the wrong fashion. There are so many different herbs and reme­dies that Mother Earth provides for us out there in her mountains, marshes, meadow­lands, and roadsides. That is why this knowledge is so important to preserve because it strengthens or reaffirms our connection and relationship with nature and its natural laws that we as Onkwehonwe are supposed to uphold. Now, when someone gets sick or ill we have to run to the white man for his medicines because we have forgotten or simply lost faith in the traditional way of curing and treating certain illnesses.

What we need to do is have more of our people develop an interest in medicines, begin to relearn this aspect of our culture and maybe start out with the children and see if they develop any interest and have them hang around our elders for awhile. In other words, we could utilize the seven generation concept by having more interaction with the young and old. Today its a shame that some of our own people may tend to look down or degrade these medicine people because we have grown ignorant or no longer understand that particular aspect of our culture. Immediately, people judge them and consider them different or taboo. This is a direct result of all the foreign ideologies, religions, and other cultures that have been imposed upon our people since the arrival of Europeans.

Here are some important facts about these medicines that were told to me from different medicine peoples. Some people pick their medicines according to the moon and its lunar calendar. For example, it is a really good time to pick medicines when the moon is full or near full because they are believed to possess more strength. When you are gathering the roots for medicines its best to gather them when there is no moon at all. The medicines should be picked mostly in the morning, try to avoid picking in the afternoon. It was said that the spirits are in the woods in the afternoon and the plants should not be gathered. Different types of medicines are to be picked at certain times of the year and at certain seasons of the year. For instance, it is good to gather the medi­cines before the first frost because the frost may tend to damage certain plants. Sometimes the tops of the plants fall off and the plant is no longer good to pick.

The medicine roots should always be picked and gathered before the fireflies appear. No reason given. It is also important how these medicines are stored and cared for. They should be kept in a safe place because a woman on her moon is very powerful and could ruin the medicine. Certain medicines need to breathe after they are harvested because they are still alive like us. Never wet or wash your plants. Especially the roots because there are a lot of nutrients inside the dirt or earth that’s stuck in the roots of the plant. Different medicine people have different ways of caring for and storing their medi­cines. Medicines are also shared and traded by medicine peoples throughout each of the Nations that make up the Confederacy.

Most of these medicines that are useful usually grow right outside in your back­yard. It’s just that most of our people don’t know what these medicines are, what they look like, or how they are prepared. Just like our languages, the wide-range knowl­edge of traditional Indian medicines is slowly deteriorating. The majority of our people are getting too accustomed to running to the white man for his medicine. The plants and herbs are growing sad and lonely because our people have lost faith in them. Some of our old people are very reluctant to undergo treatment when they go to the hospital. They don’t understand what’s being done to them and I think it may scare them a little. Often they are given medications that have some kind of side effects or something. As much knowledge that these doctors have with all their degrees, they are not always cor­rect in their decisions. Everybody has the ability to make mistakes. Today, it’s even dif­ficult to succeed in the medical profession because a lot of these doctors are getting slapped with malpractice suits and putting themselves in a vulnerable predicament because they are trying to help people.

Medicine: In the beginning, when the world was new, the twin brothers created the medicine plants. Depending on which twin created the medicine, determined its use, its power, and the way it must be handled or cared for.

Medicine and people are very much alike. People never live alone in seclusion unless there is something wrong. People live in communities and villages. When one observes the medicine plants one never finds them growing all by themselves. They will all live together in patches or what we might call families or villages. The elders have told us that the Creator gave each of the medicine plants a certain power and with this power the medicine will be able to remove or defeat sickness from the people or the animals. In fact, the elders say that the medicine plants are always in waiting for the people to ask them for help. The medicine plants, when asked to doctor the sick, are so honored they just jump for joy.

Ways to pick medicine: The first thing one does is to locate the kind of medicine needed. When one finds the place where the medicine grows you will notice that there is one medicine plant that is in front and seems or appears different or more noticeable. This plant is called the leader of the medicine village. You will now speak to the medi­cine plant leader and tell him that you need the aid of his village or family. You will then tell the medicine leader the name of the sick person and the nature of the sickness that prevents that patient from having peace of mind. You then remind the leader that the Creator prescribed this procedure which has been described. Now at this time you will give an offering of tobacco to the leader as a confirmation of the request and agree­ment. You also have the choice of smoking a pipe or to actually make an open fire close to the patch of medicine and offer the sacred tobacco to the medicine leader and his people. When this has been done you then proceed into the patch of medicine going in at least three plants before you begin to pick. Never take more plants than you need. Most people will leave tobacco in the Earth from the cavity left when taking the plant. This is how elders said to pick the medicines.

Two main medicine groups: The medicine plants that belong to the day or to Teharonhiawakon (right handed twin) are medicine plants that are not particularly hard to care for. The Teharonhiawakon medicine plants can be brought into the house and used or prepared with no problem.

An example of a medicine plant that belongs to the night or Sawiskera (1eft hand­ed twin) is Ginseng. This medicine plant is said to be very powerful. The Mohawk word “iotkon” is used to describe this type of medicine. The closest English translation for this expression is that the medicine is endowed with mystical powers and should be handled with caution. It is not good to have it in your house unless you prepared it in a special way. Most people will have another building that they keep medicine in, partic­ularly, the real powerful medicines such as ginseng.