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On Monday, April 8 Eastern Ontario will experience a total solar eclipse. SLC, in partnership with Indigenous members of the college community, are planning a condolence ceremony to coincide with the timing of the eclipse.
Our Brother the Sun, and our Grandmother the Moon, have danced across the sky forever. They occupy key roles in every human culture and are part of our mythology. They influence our planet, our environment, the plants and animals, and our mental and physical health. Their meeting in the sky has long been viewed as a powerful event to be celebrated (or avoided) and, as such, they act as milestones for major events in human history.
The Haudenosaunee people are an alliance of six Indigenous tribes, also known as the Iroquois Confederacy, who live in communities along the Canadian provinces of Ontario and Quebec as well as in the American state of New York. They follow the Great Law of Peace as created and spread by the Haudenosaunee figures, Hiawatha, and the Peacemaker, which led to their establishment of the world’s oldest democracy.
Stories tell that Hiawatha, in a deep depression following the loss of his loved ones, was wandering the land when he met the Peacemaker. The Peacemaker recognized Hiawatha’s need to overcome his grief and carry the message of peace forward and therefore performed the first Ceremony of Condolence. Inspired and renewed, Hiawatha traveled among his fellow Haudenosaunee people spreading the message of the Great Law of Peace and succeeding in ending the war and bloodshed by forming the Iroquois Confederacy.
Since then, the Condolence Ceremony is performed in Haudenosaunee communities to recognize and resolve grief: to clear the eyes to see well again, to clear the ears to hear well again, and to clear the throat to speak well again. This allows clear communication and reconciliation.
Historically, we Canadians were taught little about the relationships between colonial powers, our government, and the attempted genocide of Indigenous peoples. As individuals and organizations learn and share more about this forgotten or ignored history, many feel overwhelmed by grief, anger, and sadness, all emotions the Condolence Ceremony was/is developed/designed to address.
The historical record tells us that when the Iroquois Confederacy was founded, in approximately 1142, there was a complete solar eclipse. This rare astronomical phenomenon will occur again over Eastern Ontario on April 8, 2024. We therefore believe that it is fitting to mark this historic event with a Condolence Ceremony for the SLC community to clear our grief and set us on a good path for true reconciliation.
The Meaning of the Logo:
In Haudenosaunee culture, the Great Tree of Peace depicted in this image symbolizes the unity, strength and harmony agreed to by the nations of the Haudenosaunee Confederacy.
The sun image depicts the meeting of the moon and the sun and represents darkness. The 4 white roots represent peace, enlightenment and the light that extends to the FOUR directions of the Universe indicating ALL humans are welcome to unite under the Great Tree of Peace.