SACRIFICE AT NIAGARA

[Okwes]

SACRIFICE AT NIAGARA
(Iroquois)

The Niagara Falls, or Nee-ah-gah-rah (Thundering Waters) are the most
sacred waters of the Iroquois people, and a focus of many of their
legends and myths. For centuries, the Iroquois believed that the
sound of the waterfall was the voice of the mighty spirit of the
waters. Until the mid 18th century, they sought the favor of the
Water Spirit by sacrificing a maiden to the Falls each year - sending
her in a white canoe decorated with fruits and flowers over the brink
of the falls. To be sacrificed was the greatest honor, and insured
special gifts and happy hunting grounds in the afterlife.
In 1679, when LaSalle visited the Iroquois, he condemned their
practice of yearly sacrifice, but then attempted to convert the
Iroquois to Christianity, and to convince them of the value of the
sacrifice that Christ made for humanity. The Iroquois, of course,
could not understand how their form of sacrifice could be viewed as
bad, but Christ's sacrifice as good.
At this time, in1679, Chief Eagle Eye's daughter Lela-wala was chosen
for the sacrifice, even though his wife was dead, and she was his
only child. Not until the time of the sacrifice did he reveal the
extent of his grief. He disappeared into the woods, then darted out
in his own canoe following her through the rapids and over the Falls.
The Iroquois believe that "After their death, they were changed into
pure spirits of strength and goodness. They live so far beneath the
falls that the roaring is music to them." He is the ruler of the
cataract; she is the maiden of the mist."