The Peacemaker by Joseph Bruchac

Okwaho and his best friend Tawis live in a small village called Kanata, which is nestled in the hills near Long Creek.  Their little community made up of only fourteen families, a total of fifty people, had left the big village of Onondaga five months earlier. The decision to leave had been the idea of the women who are the heads of the families. They were tired of constant war and waters to live in peace. The leader, the great war chief of Onondaga was Atatarho, also called the Entangled One, whose thoughts were only of making war.

Okwaho's father, Holds the Door Open, and Tawis's uncle, Burnt Hair told Atatarho of their decision to leave. He was angry but allowed them to leave. When their families left, no one came to wish them a safe journey. Except for a young woman, Clouds Forming, who Okwaho and Tawis's best friend. Although the three friends were inseparable, she belonged to Atatarho's Bear Clan and so her family had to stay.

On this warm autumn day, Okwaho and Tawis went to the small stream where they knew there were big trout. They were careful, listening and watching before approaching the open meadow near the stream. While they were watching the stream, they both saw a large brook trout, big enough to provide for both of their families.

To catch the fish, Okwaho slips into the stream and captures the trout with his hands. But while underwater, Okwaho hears the thud of feet on the bank and a shout. Hidden by the tree roots on the bank, Okwaho hears the voices of three men who have captured Tawis and are questioning him. Tawis tells them he is alone but they do not believe him. The warriors also tellTawis that they plan to attack his small village with a large war party and they will then capture his friend.

Okwaho's presence is revealed when a root snaps. Tawis yells for Okwaho to run and he flees with two of the men in pursuit. He quickly realizes that these men are Standing Stone (Oneida) warriors. This does not surprise him because a Standing Stone Village had been raided by Atatarho recently. Okwaho's community knew of it, although none had been involved. Warriors from Onondaga involved in the raid had visited his community and bragged about killing two Oneida warriors as well as the capture of women and boys.

Okwaho escapes and returns to Kanata. Waiting at the entrance into the village stockade were Tawis's uncle, Burnt Hair and Okwaho's father, Holds the Door Open, and his mother, Wolf Woman. Okwaho relates what happened and Wolf Woman sends four men in pursuit of the Oneida men and Tawis. Meanwhile, Okwaho tells Tawis's mother, Bird Flying what happened and how her son saved him from capture.

As the days pass, Okwaho struggles to cope with the loss of his best friend, and his growing anger. Although he tries to distract himself by keeping busy his thoughts are in turmoil. The arrival of a stranger, called Carries, brings a message and more importantly hope to Okwaho and his people.

Discussion

The Peacemaker is a vivid and engaging retelling of the story of the peacemaker that is so important to the culture of the People of the Longhouse. This novel was written by author Joseph Bruchac, who has claimed to be of Abenaki heritage. 

The novel tells the story of how peace came to five Indigenous nations, the Cayuga, the Oneida, the Onondaga, the Seneca and the Mohawk, who resided in the area around the Great Lakes. These five nations were always at war with one another, and there was not only much bloodshed, but torture and kidnapping of women and children. This constant state of war had a profound effect on the peoples of these nations and made the Creator sad. So he sent a man called the Peacemaker to unite these nations in peace. 

Born on the northern shores of Lake Ontario, the Peacemaker was raised by his mother and grandmother and received a message of peace from the Creator in a dream. He began to tell this message, travelling in what appeared to be a stone canoe, starting in the east with the Mohawks. The Mohawks were wary of his message of peace, and they tested him by forcing him over Cohoes Falls. He survived the test and they accepted his message. 

The Peacemaker, while telling the story of how the five nations came to form a peaceful alliance, also focuses on how the constant state of war affected the First Nations people. This is best shown through the young Onondaga narrator, Okwaho who loses his best friend, Tawis in a raid. With the loss of his friend, Okwaho finds himself dreaming of vengeance. Okwaho is a boy who loves to make songs and so he tries to put these thoughts from his head with songs. When he seeks answers from his mother Wolf Woman she tells him how this time of constant warring has come to be. "The minds of our leaders have become twisted. They no longer think first of giving thanks, first of peace. They no longer turn to the clan mothers for guidance. Instead, they think only of power, of making war and striking back at those who strike us. And the Entangled One, Atatarho, is the worst of all." Okwaho tells his mother that "The One Who Grasps the Sky" needs to send another messenger. 

As the days Okwaho finds himself growing angrier and angrier. "Anger at himself as well as at those who took his best friend from him. And as the anger grew, the fact of Atatarho came into his mind. A man so filled with anger that it twisted his body. Was that how he would eventually look?" Okwaho's struggles have not gone unnoticed by Burnt Hair who he feels that "...now Okwaho walks about as if a dark cloud has come to rest around him..."

Okwaho finds himself feeling that no where is safe anymore. He also finds that "...the anger twisting inside made him impatient." especially towards the younger children in his village. Okwaho feels he "..will never be happy again," 

However things begin to change for Okwaho and his people with the arrival of a stranger named Carries, who comes with an important message of peace. Carries tells the village about the arrival five months earlier of a man dressed in white buckskin in a white birchbark canoe to his village which is about a four day walk. The man told them that his name is Skennerahowi, the Peacemaker and that he has come from the creator with a message of peace. Carries explains that even though this man was Wendat they could understand him. Skennerahowi proceeded to tell the village the story of his birth.

When Okwaho hears this story,  he felt "...something deep inside himself, something other than anger. What was it? Hope. That was it. That was what he felt, for the first time in a long time, hope like a small bird just beginning to flutter its wings." Carries also explains how the people of the Flint Stone village near the River of Rapids came to accept Skennerahowi's message of peace. He tells them that his own Flint Stone people as well as the Great Stone People and the Swampy Land People have all come to accept the message of peace and that he will come to this village too.

However, the message of peace that Carries brings, does not diminish the loss that Okwaho feels. "Even if a new dawn of peace did come, it would be too late for those who had been killed or taken away as captives. His uncle, At the Edge of the Sky, would still be dead. His best friend would remain far away, being taught to forget his old life, his former friends, even his name."

Carries sympathizes with Okwaho, telling him that the loss of his twin brother in war led him to take revenge by killing. But revenge did not make him feel better nor resolve his pain. He continues to tell Okwaho more stories about the arrival and message of Skennerahowi. When Skennerahowi first meets Carries and his fellow warriors, Caller and Beaver Tails, he tells them, "First though, let me put out your fire. A fire that is left burning and not properly put out is like anger or revenge. It may end up destroying everything." He is telling Okwaho that the fire of revenge can destroy everything. He goes on to tell the story of the frog and shake, who locked in mortal combat, ate one another. Okwaho realizes the story is not just about the effects of war but also for him. "He had been holding on to the frog. If he did not let go, that anger would eat him. He would either be destroyed or become as twisted as Atatarho." He knows that he has to let go of his anger. "To no longer look back and regret the past, but to look forward." Okwaho wants to follow the Peacemaker's way. Eventually Okwaho learns from the Peacemaker that his friend Tawis is safe and this helps him to aid the Peacemaker in his mission.

The Peacemaker also portrays the power stories have in the lives of Indigenous peoples. Okwaho in particular is enthralled by Carries stories. They bring him hope, quell his anger, and serve as a way to teach about the Creator and the right way to live.

The Peacemaker is an appealing retelling of the formation of the Great League that is marred by the questionable claims of Abenaki heritage by the author. While this claim might be unsubstantiated, the novel is well written and does offer readers a valid version of the peacemaker story. It's also evident that the author has done considerable research through the years, listening to Haudenosaunee elders. It's important to bring these stories to readers. However, artists, whether they be writers, musicians or others should endeavour to be truthful about claims of Indigenous heritage, as false claims diminish the power of these stories.

Book Details:

The Peacemaker by Joseph Bruchac

New York: Dial Books For Young Readers   2021
154 pp.

Lost At Windy River. A True Story of Survival by Trina Rathgeber

Lost at Windy River is the reclaimed survival story of Ilse Schweder. Ilse was thirteen-years-old and living at Windy River, a northern trading post with her father Fred, her older brothers Charles and Freddy, her sister Mary, and her younger brothers Norman and Mike. Her father Fred had come to Canada from Germany and was a fur trader. Charles was a respected northern guide who was also a fur trapper and sled dog trainer. Freddy was also a skilled trapper and an expert dog-team driver. Mary was skilled in animal skinning and food preserving. Ilse was an accomplished outdoorswoman. 

Four years earlier, Ilse's mother had passed away and then two years ago Ilse and her two sisters had been taken to a residential school. It was after her older sister died at the school and selling their farm near Winnipeg,  that Ilse's father brought them north to live at the Windy River Trading Post. 

One winter the Schweder family began a trip around their trapline. It would take them three days to complete the eighty mile loop. Accompanying Freddy and Charles were the two younger boys Mike and Norman, and Ilse who was along to train the small dogs. Mary would stay behind with their father. They set out on a sunny, cold winter day passing "George", a pile of stones that resembled a human man. This was also called a caribou boundary, "...used to direct herds of caribou where hunters want them to go." Animals would pause to look at the stone man, allowing hunters the chance to aim and shoot. 

At the first stop, Freddy, Charles and the two younger boys went to check the first set of traps while Ilse rested and reminisced about the time they moved to the far north. Her brothers returned, telling Ilse a three-toed wolverine ate one of the foxes. Then they set off for the Sandy Hill Camp, one of eight stops along the trapline. After a night there, Ilse and her brothers prepared to continue on. However, Charles noticed the heavy clouds low on the horizon, the strong winds that indicated a storm was brewing. Because of this, Charles decided to continue on to the trapline camp at Kazan River while Ilse, Freddy and the two younger boys are to finish their tasks and then head home. Before leaving they make Charles extra dog food and mend parts of the shelter. Although the younger boys begged Freddy to leave earlier for home, they don't start their journey until a few hours later. To make Ilse's sled lighter and easier for the smaller dogs to pull, Freddy placed all the supplies and Mike into his sled. He felt if they travelled quickly, they would make home before the storm hit. 

However, the storm came on fast and fierce, with whiteout conditions. Ilse's smaller, unexperienced dogs couldn't keep up with Freddy's sled. Her dogs pulled one way and then the other and she fell behind. To help keep Ilse in sight, Freddy attached a rope to the two sleds. It worked for a time but then broke and then broke a second time. Soon Ilse was on her own. Freddy arrived back at Windy Post without Ilse, deeply distraught knowing that Ilse was out in the storm alone. Fred decided they will go look for her in the morning. But for Ilse, soon without her dogs and any food, the struggle to survive on the barrens was just beginning. 

Discussion

Lost at Windy River is the story of author Trina Rathgeber's grandmother, Ilse Schweder who survived for nine days, lost in the barrens, in northern Canada. Ilse's Cree name was "iskwew pethasew" which means "Woman of the Thunderbird".  Ilse's remarkable survival story had been told by various authors, including Canadian author, Farley Mowat in his book, People of the Deer. In her Author's Note, Trina writes "It had always bothered Ilse that the writer Farley Mowat, who her father met on the train to Churchill, wrote an account of her story in the book People of the Deer and made mention of her family in others. He spent time camping outside their trading post too, always scribbling in his notebook. Today Ilse would be happy to know that her story has been reclaimed in a way that was true to her experience."  Her family also knew bits and pieces of this remarkable story: Trina first heard the story when she was about seven years old, with family members often stating that her story should be written down. Trina was able to interview her elderly grandmother, looking at past articles and photographs and even the blanket she used to protect her eyes while out on the snow. Ilse who was born in 1931, passed away in 2018 at the age of eighty-seven.

Although Rathgeber initially wrote her grandmother's story as a novel, she was convinced to use the graphic novel format as a way of engaging younger readers in this reclaimed Indigenous story. Lost at Windy River is that graphic novel, well written and delightfully crafted: the illustrations by Alina Pete and the coloring by Jullian Dolan are beautiful and appealing. Rathgeber presents her grandmother's experience as a story she reclaims by telling it to young students at a school. At the end of her telling, Ilse has some wise words for these students, explaining how every experience makes us who we are and how the north, "the land of the little sticks" is a piece of heaven 

Lost At Windy River highlights the inner strength, resourcefulness, determination and courage Ilse Schweder showed while lost on the barrens. She remained calm and used the wealth of Indigenous knowledge she had learned over the years to survive. For example, Ilse built a snow cave out of hard packed snow to keep her warm during the nights. She knew she had to keep her caribou clothing, which kept her warm, dry. However, when she fell through the ice, Ilse pressed the fur into the snow, which absorbed the water and dried it. She ate spruce sap that she found, which was a source of Vitamin C. When she began to realize she was suffering from snow blindness, she made makeshift snow goggles from a blanket.

Ilse was eventually saved when she wandered close to Ragnar Jonsson's camp. The Swedish born trapper had a reputation for being very honest and was well respected in the north. He came to Canada in 1923 and spent sixty years as a trapper. When he found Ilse, she was near death and suffering from frostbite. He immediately recognized the seriousness of her condition and did what he could to help her and get her back to her family. Ilse eventually reunited with Ragnar many years later. He passed away in 1988. 

Lost At Windy River will appeal to young readers between the ages of 9 to 12. While there is an Author's Note and a page devoted to small photographs of Ilse and a newspaper article, a more detailed biography section in the back matter would have added much context to Ilse's story. It is hoped that Author Trina Rathgeber will consider publishing a more detailed biography of her grandparents and great-grandparents, with a focus on life in Canada's Far North and the Indigenous peoples who live there. Lost At Windy River feels like just a taste of what could be a very interesting account of Indigenous life and culture. 

Book Details:
Lost At Windy River. A True Story of Survival by Trina Rathgeber

Toronto: Orca Book Publishers      2024

90 pp.

Eagle Drums by Nasugrao Rainey Hopson

Pina lives with his mother and father in the harsh Arctic tundra, where winter lasts eight months, leaving them only four months to stock food. They are Inupiaq.

Out on a hunting trip, Pina catches twelve caribou. For each of the fallen animals, Pina honours their lives, placing a pinch of lichen on each of the animal's tongues and severing the third vertebra. He butchers the caribou, wrapping the meat in their skins and burying the bundles to keep them cool until he can return. Eventually, the caribou meat is stored in the family's siglauq, an underground chamber carved into the ice that never melted, deep within the ground.

Pina had two brothers, the elder Atau and a middle brother, Maligu. When Atau had disappeared long ago in the mountains, his beautifully carved bow, found by their parents, passed on to Maligu. He carved many images into the bow, of mountains and land animals, and where they can be found. But Maligu also disappeared in the mountains, leaving behind the bow. Neither Pina nor his parents knew what happened to either boy. Pina's father's grief was intense so he focused on being the best son.

Pina and his parents live alone, rarely encountering any other people. Their life is good, and they always seem to have enough to eat. They shun people and Pina doesn't really know how his parents met.

One night during dinner, Pina's mother indicates they need more obsidian and because his father will be fishing down the coast to bring in one last catch, Pina will have to travel to the mountains where it can be found. Pina senses his mother's worry but he is not concerned as he has made many trips to the mountains since the disappearance of his brothers without any problem.

Taking his pack and his bow, Pina heads out with the blessing of his parents. When he stops to eat and rest at the base of the mountains, Pina hears the cry of a golden eagle. Suddenly he finds himself under attack by the eagle. Barely escaping, Pina confronts the great bird, waiting to see what it does. When Pina does not attack, the eagle settles and then begins violently shaking its head, causing the feathers to peel off.  Pina sees before him a tall man, wearing a parka of golden feathers. He remembers his mother telling him that "Animals are like us, Pina...They choose to be animals, but when they need to be human, they take off their parkas. And then they are human for a while...Respect them as you would any strong spirit, and never challenge them; you will always lose..."

Pina is certain that this being must have a purpose for revealing himself. The man tells Pina that he is responsible for the deaths of his brothers, bringing out the pain of their loss in him again. He swiftly approaches Pina, telling him he may call him Savik. The eagle-man offers Pina a choice, he can come with him or die like his brothers chose to. Knowing his parents would want him to live, Pina agrees to go with Savik and so picking up his gear follows him. For the next fourteen months, Pina will live with the eagles, learning the lessons they wish to teach him and bringing home this knowledge to his people.

Discussion

Eagle Drums tells the story of how the Messenger Feast came to be in the Inupiat culture. The Inupiat live in the Arctic Circle and they were hunter-gatherers, relying on hunting and fishing as well as foraging. They hunted seals, whale, polar bears, caribou and fish, and also foraged for berries, roots and shoots. With such a life-style, every part of the animal was used. Hopson portrays this throughout her novel, through her main characters, Pina and his parents. Pina's mother was especially skilled at turning caribou skins into beautiful parkas with exquisite borders. And Pina, while living with the eagles, knows what plants and roots he needs to search for in the deep of winter, saving himself from starving.

Hopson, in her Author's Note, explains the Messenger Feast came about because long ago, their people were very isolated from one another. So men ran for miles to find other Inupiat and invite them to the feast. With the arrival of Christian missionaries, the Inupiaq songs and dances, their stories  and their festivals were banned. It was only recently that the the Messenger Feast was reclaimed, after listening to the Elders' accounts of experiencing the festival when they were children.

The origin story of the festival, related in Eagle Drums is that of a boy kidnapped by golden eagles who teach him lessons on how to make drums, compose songs, dance and how to build a qalgi, a large hall where all could come together to feast, dance and tell stories. The hero of the story, Pina is then tasked to bring together his community for the first feast when he returns home. His parents, thrilled to see their son whom they thought was lost, are happy to help plan for the feast, by storing food, making gifts for those who attend, and building a qalgi. 

Pina is taught much more than just the skills to hold a festival. From the eagles he learns that he does not have to do everything alone. When he and Savik begin to plan work on the large qalgi, Pina wishes that he had ten people to help him. To his surprise, the eagles help by bringing supplies for the building. Savik tells him that work goes much faster if you ask for help and work with others. This new idea makes Pina feel uncomfortable. "He had never owed strangers anything before. With his family there was just this understanding."

The first festival has a profound effect on Pina. He had been raised by his parents to be wary of strangers. When he was a ten-years old, he remembered his family, while on their way to their wintering grounds, encountering a family on the tundra. Pina remembered being filled with fear as he had never been so close to strangers before. The strangers believed that Pina's family were rich because of their clothing. Pina saw that they were hungry and tired. At home that night Pina questions his father who tells him that because they do not know strangers, they cannot trust them. Pina wants to help the family and attempts to take food to them in the middle of the night but is prevented from doing so by his oldest brother. Atau tells Pina that when he did this, the people did not trust him and thought he would try to steal from them. 

After the feast, Pina experiences new feelings. "He felt as if his very soul had grown and found roots in the people around him. He felt more connected than he had ever before, connected to the world, connected to the life around him, and connected to his parents. The celebrations filled him with such inspiration, such wonder, and and enduring strength. He felt his humanity blossom with new insight and a deeper sense of stability."  For Pina, the feast showed him that living more fully is to experience connections with others and the natural world. 

Eagle Drums was written and illustrated by Nasurgrao Rainey Hopson, a tribally enrolled Inupiaq author and illustrator who loves celebrating and helping to reclaim her Indigenous culture. Hopson is a gifted story-teller and her account of the origin of the Messenger Festival is both engaging and rich in details about life and survival in the high Arctic. 

Book Details: 

Eagle Drums by Nasugrao Rainey Hopson
New York: Roaring Brook Press      2023
245 pp.