1 The Tree of Light refers to the life forces of nature. The keeper of that tree is essentially the power of creation, the source of all life.

2 Tohta is a term of endearment used to refer to one’s grandmother or grandfather. The word comes from the longer word Aksotha, meaning “all that I am,” with reference to one’s lineage.

3 The name Haudenosaunee means “people of the long house.” The confederacy consists of six nations—the Oneida, Onondaga, Seneca, Cayuga, and Tuscarora, in addition to the Kanien’kehá:ka (or Mohawk, as they were formerly known)—that joined together in the spirit of peace and mutual coexistence.

4 In his book, The Rotinonshonni: A Traditional Iroquoian History Through the Eyes of Teharonhia:wako and Sawiskera (Syracuse University Press, 2013), Brian Rice, a Kanien’kehá:ka, incorporates most known core elements of the Sky Woman story as part of his retelling of the larger epic of the establishment of the Haudenosaunee confederacy.

5 In many cases, we have come to believe what someone else says of us and taken it on as our own “truth.” An example of this is seen in the idea of using blood quantum as a measure of how “Indian” one is. Many of our own people believe that this is an accurate measure of Indigenous identity when, in fact, as seen in old adoption practices of my ancestors, the notions of race and blood “purity” have no place in our traditional concept of identity and belonging. The adoption and integration of non-Kanien’kehá:ka people served to replenish and balance communities. The use of blood quantum as a measure of identity by our people reflects a changed thinking. Instead of relationships between all things being equal, they are now hierarchical. Therefore, as we became unbalanced, our families and communities became unbalanced.

6 The principle of mutual co-existence was articulated in the Two Row Wampum Treaty of 1613, an agreement made between the Haudenosaunee and the Dutch government that became the foundation for the Haudenosaunee approach to all newcomers to North America. The agreement is based on peaceful co-existence, sharing, and reciprocity, in which neither party seeks to impose its ways on the other. The relationship is symbolized in wampum belts by two purple rows with a white row between them.