We recommend inviting an Indigenous community member into the learning environment when discussing creation stories with students.
- Review the Ohèn:ton Karihwatéhkwen (The Words That Come Before All Else): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eJH_5TXzCjw
- To do this teachers can also play short video segment embedded in the ten-minute video accompanying the Indigenous Knowledge Bundle depicting Kanyen’kehá:ka community member Liv Rondeau speaking about the significance of the Ohèn:ton Karihwatéhkwen. Additionally, teachers can play a short clip embedded on the QUILLS website of Kanyen’kehá:ka community member Liv Rondeau reciting the Ohèn:ton Karihwatéhkwen.
- Ask students why they think the Haudenosaunee give thanks to the water in addition to the land.
Creation Stories
- Review Creation Stories.
- Haudenosaunee Creation Story (Onondaga Historical Society): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GDuO3IPHpP0
- Anishinaabe Creation story- The Great Flood: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1RYByws56TQ
- Stories can also be accessed in Anishinaabe The Great Flood.pdf and Haudenosaunee Sky Woman Falling.pdf
- Teachers discuss with students how in both Anishinaabe and Haudenosaunee cultures water is central to the creation story. Without water there is no life. Water is a gift from the creator.
Please note that the learning represented in these activities reflects Big Idea A. in the Indigenous Knowledge Learning Bundle: “Indigenous knowledge is contained in language and storytelling”. To help your students learn more about this big idea check out the Learning Activities titled: Ohèn:ton Karihwatéhkwen (The Words that Come Before All Else), The Importance of Storytelling, and Creation Stories and Language found in the Indigenous Ways of Knowing and Being with the Natural World Learning Bundle (Grades 7-10).
