Chief Oren Lyons: Importance of Feathers & the Next Generation

you know but but I understood what I understood from by certain torque was that he saw somewhere along his travels he saw a meeting where a feather was used as an Indian meeting Indian being American Indians and he saw that it had Authority and also there was great decorum that goes with it and protocol and there's varieties of a protocol for Indian nations but almost all Indian nations and indigenous people for that matter do not interrupt a speaker that's a very bad form to interrupt a speaker and so in certain occasions where it's important to hear everyone and they will use sometimes that what they call a talking stick which is could be any any kind of an instrument that's been designed to be used at a meeting like that and great care or simply a feather and the feathers with Indian people as you know is very very important for us and the reason why is that that birds are have important role in the in the discussion of everyday life I tell you a lot of things and if you if you learned their language you know what they're saying and they're always busy they're always around they have beautiful songs and that's their first their first work is to wake everybody up and they move as soon as daylight moves and they are moving and that they're the first thing that you hear in the new dawn the new day you hear the birds you hear their message and you get to you get to appreciate that and to recognize them as friends and as partners in life and you greet them as well as you greet the new dawn or the Thanksgiving as we do with everything birds have different different work different birds have different work of course and they're all important and there's two very special birds there are many I guess they're all special when you come to that but to that we depend on a lot one is the very tiniest of birds the hummingbird this bird really is what we call a messenger it's always good news when a hummingbird comes around oh it's nice to see them and they they're around when when things are blooming and you see them very very active in their their search for food and you know they're synonymous hummingbirds synonymous with flowers and so it's very important and always a very good sign when a hummingbird comes through and it's around and and then on the other side of that spectrum is a eagle and the eagle in indigenous peoples recognized as a leader of birds and the reason why they they revered eagle at least from the hoodie nashoni site are the Iroquois sides and pretty much the way I understand it around the rest of Indian country is that the Eagle is the most powerful and flies the closest to the Creator and therefore your words carries your words on these wings and he carries them as the messenger who reaches closest to the Creator and so we've revalue a value his feathers and revalue his presence and along in that direction and this is eagle feather this is an eagle feather comes from the wing this is a winged feather and this you will find almost all the Indian nations somewhere a headdress or somewhere you'll find that eagle feather and then another very large bird and the east is Turkey as a turkey feather and they of course serve a great great purpose they serve a great purpose and in terms of keeping keeping the grounds healthy and keeping the kind of keeping watch on on lands and and territories and they're very watchful Birds and nerds also very very good to eat they share themselves with us and people are very grateful for the turkey this is a winged feather and this a tail feather of a red-tailed hawk and a red-tailed hawk is that's the same work as the eagle they're up there very high and their feathers and the eagle feathers and the turkey feathers as well are used you'll find them always somewhere on headdresses and so forth of our people because they they tie us together with the creation and so when someone is standing and that's one of the protocols where we come from when one speaks to a group they stand and they stand because they are respectful and humble in the presence of all the people there so they stand in respect when they speak and as long as someone is standing and speaking and carrying a feather is very bad forms who interrupts him and so they symbol and the respect that he's speaking when he's speaking and he's carrying this feather he's also announcing and everything he's saying is the truth and this is what the what the Eagle represents it's a messenger to the Creator and he's not afraid to speak the truth and to speak what he feels and and so when the person is standing and he's often see this as a leader he'll be carrying a feather or no feather and people listen in respect there's a protocol to the person then to the to the eagle and the feather that it represents now somewhere my very old and dear friend rabbi Sol de tour saw this and he thought that this would be a very good idea to in its simplicity because it's not complicated at all you have to have as a feather and so and as simplicity to to hear the youth and in particularly wanted to speak about the youth and and it is in these times very troubled very troubled times and and in particular the youths are are troubled and they're they're worried and they have a variety of feelings but speaking to some of them they feel abandoned by by society and sometimes by their own family they feel as though nobody is looking out for their interests and their welfare and nobody is caring for them and they feel as though they're not prepared and not they're not secure and that's a very bad feeling for a child to have or a young person because you know our word worked as as adults as of course to to teach and to translate them to prepare the youth for the work that they have to face and for the life that they will they will be leading when they become adults and carry those responsibilities which are very heavy [Music] [Music] [Music]

Channel: featherproject

Views: 128,881

Rating: 4.9495401 out of 5

Keywords: Chief Oren Lyons, Onondaga, Iroquois, Earth Charter, Feather Project, Soetendorp

Id: uEJUkaHapuc

Length: 10min 37sec (637 seconds)

Published: Sun Sep 19 2010