Page 63 - ECOlogic Book

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Dekanawidah’s The Tree of the Great Peace

I plant the Tree of Great Peace. I name the tree the Tree of the Great Long
Leaves. If anyone of any nation shall show a desire to obey the laws of the
Great Peace, they shall trace the roots to their source and they shall be
welcomed to take shelter beneath the Tree of the Long Leaves. When more
people come, the branches of the tree simply grow longer. An eagle lives at
the top of the tree and warns the people whenever the peace is threatened.

The Iroquois Four White Roots of Peace

The Four White Roots of Peace are symbolized in the Iroquois tradition by a
pine cone from the bottom of which four white leather thongs dangle. (See
P. 56) They form the basis of the Iroquois (Hau do no sau nee) Great
Binding Law of Peace, a highly sophisticated oral “blueprint” (taught with the
teaching aid of wampum belts) for democratic government from which the
U.S. Articles of Confederation and Constitution were explicitly modeled.
Both were given to the Iroquois by Hiawatha, (Aionwatha) and his partner,
Jigonsaseh, the “Mother of Nations.”

Hiawatha and Jogonaseh learned the Four White Roots and the Great Law
from the great Huron prophet, “The Peacemaker”, sometimes called
“Handsome Lake”, who traveled among the Indian nations, teaching them
these things to bring peace to the tribes, many of which had been locked in
retributive warfare for many years.

Logic is the essential tool of the Four White Roots. The human is assumed
to be essentially benign with the power of rational thought. Peace comes
not through military force, but through the power of mind. Its intention is to
bring about a world safe from the irrational behavior of people caught in the
grip of fear, hatred, and conflict. These principles map out a process for
clear thinking and a way for humans to put their minds together to create
peace.

The principles of the Four White Roots of Peace are as follows (as nearly as
can be translated to writing from an oral tradition):

79 Dekanawidah, Founder of the Iroquois Confederation, after which the U. S. Articles of Confederation
were modeled.

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