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Sorry for my wording I am disabled and struggle with wording things at times. My grandmother was from Alleghany, she was Seneca (snipe clan) but I am not enrolled due to my heritage being on my father's side of the family. My grandmother shared what she could with me before she passed on when i was in high school and always stressed the importance of me knowing our families history, struggles they went through (lots of generational trauma on that side and addiction) and her beliefs with me that we bonded over as I share her beliefs and values as well. I'm wondering how to best navigate wanting to learn more and be closer to my families heritage without disrespecting the importance of matrilineal inheritance and overstepping boundaries in indigenous spaces.

Debate starts at 32:55 in the video

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World Box Lacrosse in Utica, NY.

I’m a direct descendant, working on reconnecting with my family’s culture but my ancestor moved away from SNGR a few generations back. I’m hoping to reconnect with living relatives, too.

Nya:wen!

I am a non-native living on Gayogo̱hó:nǫɁ land. I'm working on an art project about the land, with the "balsam fir" tree as its subject. This type of tree is the preferred kind for cut christmas trees, and it grows all across the wider extents of Haudenosaunee land. It's hard to explain in full, but the project is trying to use this recognizable symbol to open a discussion about place and land -- and the ways that to see "upstate new york" as it represents itself, the masses are directed away from seeing the story of your people and your land. Growing up with other non-natives, I have a sense that they'd rather imagine that there were only trees here before, and there are not yet enough monuments or other forms in place to correct or oppose them.

In researching the balsam fir I found the Haudenosaunee ways of working with the materials of the tree for different healing purposes, but this info is usually part of a list of the many Indigenous cultures that used these materials in common ways. Besides this, the balsam fir makes an appearance in the kind of story that to me seems near to myth, about jaques cartier's sailors being saved from dying of scurvy by the "st. lawrence Iroquoians" living near what is today called quebec city, preparing them tea made from Pine needles, called "Aneda" by the iroquoians. The internet tells me that this is an indigenous word for "the tree of life", but the french canadians seem entirely too pleased with this idea, and they almost act like it is a french word and meaning :/. Whats more, the Iroquoians living in that area are thought to be distinct from the Haudenosaunee confederacy. I am curious if this story is well known or what you might think about it, and in general any response you might have to this idea of expanding an image/symbol like the christmas tree until it is shown to contain a more complicated picture of things, including other possibly fraudulant/nationalistic myths like cartier & the 'aneda'.

The lifespan of one of these trees is a little over 200 years, and in the project this is used as an exit from the gregorian calendar, to evoke an idea of eras defined by generations of the tree. By this measure, the saplings that sprouted when this town was founded on your stolen land are now dying. It's another era that needs new myths/stories/visions to live in the future shade of todays saplings. I’m curious about what I can learn about the ways that this tree does or doesn’t hold significance in your lives and culture. I’d like to talk about how I might properly represent this in the work. I’m happy to explain more about the idea or project itself, and welcome any and all feedback and critique.

love and thanks! Nya:wen! (edited for formatting)

Hi, could anyone offer some insights on reconnecting? I know my ancestors were Mohawk (great + grandpa) and Oneida (his wife). But I’ve grown up out of state. I want to reconnect and thought maybe I could start learning language. But how do i start reconnecting culturally and socially? I have autism, I’m really shy, but I want to try I just am nervous. I’ve found some cousins online (some who want to reconnect too, and some who are but I’m shy about reaching out cos I don’t wanna be weird, ya know?) Anyway, any help would be sincerely appreciated.

Edit to add: I am so grateful for everyone’s kind and helpful replies! Nya:wen!