Pow-Wow

On the Caughnawaga Indian Reservation, across the St. Lawrence River from Montreal, Chief American Horse and Chief Two Axe last week stood before Indians of the Six Nations/- and argued for the abandonment of Christianity. The Six Nations are a remnant, they are poor and they are despised by the whites, complained the leaders. Their present status, they said, began when the French Jesuits brought them Christianity. Of course the Indians, with little written knowledge of Canadian history, did not know that their subjection began, not with the coming of white priests, but with the appearance of white trappers, traders, merchants.

For three days the reservation Indians debated in powwow. Then they voted to abandon Christianity, to revive the cult of the Great Spirit.

/-A Federation formed towards the end of the 16th Century by the Mohawks, Oneidas, Onondagas, Senecas and Cayugas. In 1722 they admitted the Tuscaroras. In the American Revolution they fought for the English. Now their shrunken tribes are on reservations in Canada, New York, Oklahoma and Wisconsin. Most are Roman Catholics, some Methodists. Hiawatha retells some of their myths.