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My original topic initially focused on Protestant Christianity among the Iroquois Confederacy during the colonial era. However, due to a slew of primary source material I have come across, I would like to refine this topic to include Iroquois peoples’ encounters with Christianity in general. Below are five primary sources including four works of art and a sacred religious text.
Ernest Smith, “Handsome Lake Preaching His Code at the Longhouse,” 1936, watercolor, Rochester Museum and Science Center.
This is Senecan preacher Handsome Lake granting a sermon. He is known for syncretizing indigenous Senecan beliefs and aspects of Quakerism. His teachings came to encompass an entire religion, Gaiwiio, whose sacred text is visible here. A full citation of the religious text is immediately below.
Parker, Arthur. The Code of Handsome Lake, the Seneca Prophet. Albany: University of the State of New York, 1913.
Handsome Lake’s religious code, the eponymous The Code of Handsome Lake, was compiled by anthropologist Arthur Parker, who vigorously studied Iroquois culture.
Father Chauchetiere, “Saint Kateri Tekakwitha,” c. 1682-1696, oil on canvas, 41 x 37 in., St. Francis Xavier Church, Kanawake Mohawk Reservation, Montreal, Quebec.
Kateri Tekakwitha is depicted in the portrait above. A survivor of smallpox, she converted to Catholicism at the age of 19. She is both beatified and canonized.
The Wendats were an Iroquois-speaking people who inhabited what is now the Canadian province of Ontario. They were the target of Jesuit missionary activity during the 17th century.
Joseph-Francois Lafitau, “Moeurs des Sauvages Americains Comparees aux Moeurs des Premier Temps,” 1724, detail, The Library Company of Philadelphia.
This is a depiction of a Jesuit missionary observing an Iroquois burial ceremony in the early 18th century.