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290 5 The Kari:wio ari:wio of Skanyiatar:io Teharonhia:wako Sends Four Messengers to Restore Order and Peace within the Longhouse Teharonhia:wako had seen his children war against one another and lose their land. He felt sad inside but knew that he could not return any longer. If he appeared in full form, then so would his brother. They would then fight one another and destroy the world. The onkwe:honwe were falling like leaves to the mind changer. They seemed to have no purpose in life. Many of them were no longer practicing the ceremonies given to them by Teharonhia:wako. Sawiskera seemed to be in control of their beliefs. Almost all the Kenienké:haka and Oneota:haka were Christian. There were still some Onontaka:haka, Kaokwa:haka and Sonontowa:haka who were still doing the four ceremonies. Teharonhia:wako said to himself, “My children are becoming farther and farther apart from me than ever before. They bring the mind changer into their ceremonies and all-night feasts, and then they kill one another. I have brought them the four ceremonies, a clan system, and a Peacemaker to help them live. What more can I do for them?” He continued, “I will send the four spiritual beings who live in the direction of the four winds to visit them. They will tell the onkwe:honwe how they should conduct their lives. Their territory for the ceremonies will be confined to the size of a longhouse until the time when there will be a great change that will take place to mother earth. There, they will continue their way of life. I will choose an onkwe:honwe who is beyond redemption to be visited by the four messengers, so that the onkwe:honwe will know that anyone can be redeemed if they choose to follow my teachings once again.” The Kari:wio of Skanyiatar:io | 291 There was a Kenienké:haka onkwe:honwe who seemed to be the ideal person to pass the message. He was a person afflicted by the mind changer. He began to have visitations by three of the messengers. Soon he was preaching about the things that he saw. It seemed that wherever he went, no one would listen to him. They thought he was crazy. The man then began to take the mind changer again, and he died in the mist walking in the valley of the Kenienké:haka. He was alone when he died, for there were no more Kenienké:haka living in the valley. It was said that you could see steam coming from his body that was left in the cold in the valley. From that time on, it would be hard for the Kenienké:haka to accept the message. Only a few would. Sawiskera would make sure that the original Good Message would be influenced by him, and this would turn the Kenienké:haka and others away from it.1 However, in the end all who would follow the traditional teachings would practice in the new Longhouse way brought by the four spiritual beings even though they would continue to disagree among themselves as to their meaning. The four messengers had tried the eastern door of the Kenienké:haka first; now they would enter through the western door, the entrance to the territory of the Longhouse of One Family. The Sonontowa:haka, however, were being pushed farther and farther west, and there were now few left. Like the other onkwe:honwe of the Rotinonshonni, their spirits were broken . Many had accepted the deceptive powers of the fire water, which they called the mind changer. Since Sawiskera’s Islanders had invaded their country, they could neither live in peace nor go to war. They lived without purpose. The Otiyaner, clan matrons, no longer had any land to look after and therefore could no longer grow the three sisters. The men could not hunt, for many of the game animals had been destroyed. Their lands were forcefully given away in treaties by the Rarontaron, war chiefs. The royaner, peace chiefs, had lost their influence among the people. Sawiskera’s Islanders traveled down the ancient pathways of their country, bringing the fiddle , the cards, and the mind changer. The men of Sawiskera’s Island would then drink the mind changer and take the onkwe:honwe women, knowing that the laws in cases of murder or rape were made to protect them alone. Next, Christians came and preached against the mind changer...

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