They had mother
home base democratic village cultures healthy creative e, mostly peaceful, honest
& respecting the women creators of life we share, love, enjoy & help
out everyday for centuries on oral, not written history. Also their language & group sharing,
deciding & agreeing in meetings werenÕt recorded until after white man
learned & wrote of their ÔdemocracyÕ that inspired the US revolution, Declaration,
Bill of civil Rights & Constitution.
The women in the 6 nations of Iroquois had beyond equal power in family
& village life Their decisions
come from 3 sources: traditional ways & beliefs; long discussions of
solving new problems & voting by concensus, discussion lasts till all agree
&or understand what happening now & needs to happen with unity. Women,
esp clan mothers are deeply respected & followed. Having wisdom of Mother
earth, human, plant & animals needs for cooperating in balance
There language
was different in most Iroquois nations, was transmitted simultaneous 7? ways of
collective cultural making, learning & keeping trust & unity of deep
agreements together.
1. Being
present to communicate
honestly here now feeling, history & needs Feeling & talking About whatÕs
happening now while cooperating to help out.
2. Voicing (speaking, singing, moaning, laffing,
crying,?) about past, now & future connected, communicating how it feels
now about experiences & predicting how filling needs or conflicts in
growing patterns.
3. Outward
learning by seeing &
doings, sharing needs, thots & feelings about it, now & helping plan by
agreeing to cooperate in future together openly.
4. Story
telling in groups of personal
experience, dreams, spirits or collective history & >>??
5. GROUP
MEETING sitting in
circles in peaceful place, indoors? Sharing honestly & deeply discussing
any collective issue, need or problem to solve, mystery, challenge, conflicts, ills,
fires, threats, potential,
land/water issue. Opening sharing
in circle from few minutes to all day or many days, toward understanding before
deciding to cooperate &or agree on potentials for helping reach goals. Group agrees on where & when & how long to meet about what?
6. Concensus decisions of all agreeing evolves by long
discussions of all imagined potentials based on past & present experience
in similar conditions. Complex
& new challenging issues can take many meetings, Sharing until each one is clear for collective response cooperating
for all benefits. True passions of
love, sadness, anger, fear, anxiety, even hate are aloud full expression in
meeting circle, or helped outside for wild expression. They had/have 5 big
celebrations/year & village & family gatherings as desired, organized
by the women
7. Celebrating
gatherings in family,
village & whole tribe meeting
around seasons & food cycles from planting to harvesting to feasting,
dancing, singing, praying, playing, etc
.