Mid-Winter

[H2O Man]

Last edited Sun Jan 25, 2026, 08:34 PM - Edit history (1)

An old friend from the Binghamton area, tired from shoveling, asked me if my driveway was in “snowed-in” condition? Surely it is, with the driveway following the pattern of seeming longer in the winter. Plus I am where I want to be, and there is no where else I need to be.

Instead I only venture out to re-fill the bird-feeder, which is the ground on the other side of the driveway. There are plenty of birds out there that I watch from a window inside. A group of eight deer also stop in more frequently for a bite in this weather.

I think of the families that lived here long ago, before electricity. Likely they were gathered around the fire places and wood stoves after doing outdoor chores, or busy preparing meals. The ancient human tradition of sitting around the fire at night, going back tens of thousands of years. As “the Preacher” taught, “The thing that has been, it is what shall be; and that which is done is that which shall be done; and there is no new thing under the sun.” (Ecclesiastes 1: 9)

More, I think of the Haudenosaunee (Six Nations Iroquois Confederacy. Chief Waterman taught me the names that actually match up with the general divisions in NYS archaeology that traditional Iroquois use: the ancestor, the ancestor's ancestor, and the ancient ones. While I have no idea when the Midwinter Ceremony was first practiced, it is very old.

When the new moon appeared, either in late January or early February our time, it marked the spiritual new year's beginning. For five days, one focuses on family and clan, and the needs of the very young and very old in the upcoming year. Then came nine days of fun and feasting, and numerous traditional ceremonies.

There are two ancient dances that are performed. The bear dance is for those in poor health. (It is interesting to note that archaeological, oral history, and contact-era written accounts tell of bear cubs being raised in Iroquois communities.) Bear dances were largely private events. The feather dance is an upbeat community event to ring in the new year.

There were games to play, too. One of I'm thinking of is the peach game, with peach pits ground smooth. One side is darkened, one left light. Paul said it recognizes the struggle the Creator and his evil brother engaged in when the Creator brought humans forth on earth. The ideas involve getting one's self closer thanking the Creator for all good things, and away from being influenced by the evil brother.

There is no new thing under the sun.

[H2O Man]

1. More:

“The original instructions direct that we who walk about the earth are to express a great respect and affection and a gratitude toward all the spirits that create and support life. We give a greeting and a thanksgiving to the many supporters of our own lives – the plants, animals, the water, air, and the sun. When people cease to respect and express gratitude for these many things, then all life will be destroyed, and human life on planet earth will come to an end.” – Iroquois Message to the United Nations.

[True Dough]

2. Powerful imagery, H2O Man!

"Treat the earth well: it was not given to you by your parents, it was lent to you by your children."

[H2O Man]

3. Thanks!

I've been told that the bear dancers move in a manner just like a real bear.

[cachukis]

4. Folklore is a guide. Thanks.

[H2O Man]

5. It is.

Oral traditions are important. If they weren't important, they be long forgotten.

[erronis]

6. A wonderful way to end a cold snowy western Massachusetts winter night.

Where the names of the original peoples are still used, and sometime remembered.

Have you read "North Woods" by Daniel Mason? A haunting tale of life/survival in these woods.

I grew up in the Adirondacks where it is said even the Iroquois would not venture during the deep winter.

[H2O Man]

7. I haven't.

I'm somewhat familiar with it, from friends who have read it. I haven't read any fiction, including historical fiction, in over half a century. I realize that by others' standards, I'm a strange person, rigid about only reading non-fiction and watching news shows and documentaries.

The Adirondacks can be brutal in the winter. That would be even more so in the contact/colonial era, when the "Eastern Door" to the longhouse (Mohawk) did not have good relations to their neighbors to the east, who they called "Adirondacks," meaning "bark eaters," also known as Algonquins.

On my in-laws' large rural farm, there was a site where a very steep bank at the edfge of a field dropped off to a creek. The artifacts found there suggest that the Iroquois chased deer down it, as it would get huge snow drifts that slowed the deer, making them easier targets. It wasn't a settlement so much as a kill site. My in-laws used the same hunting strategy on that land for generations after the Revolutionary War opened it for settlement. (It was a site just off a sixty mile map of former Iroquois & Lenapi sites along the woodland trail that became the Kingston Turnpike.)

[erronis]

11. You may have recommended this NPS article on the Native Americans in the Adirondacks

I don't remember where I found it. And I'm glad the regime hasn't pulled it down yet.

https://www.nps.gov/articles/adirondacks-native-americans.htm

[H2O Man]

13. Good article!

[Easterncedar]

8. Good post

I am reading the Dalia Lama’s book “The Universe in an Atom,” which discusses developments in quantum physics and demonstrates points of convergence with Buddhist philosophy. Nothing new under the sun indeed.

[H2O Man]

9. Nice!

There was a time years ago when the Dalia Lama came through this area. And I remember Muhammad Ali telling his daughter while they were writing "Soul of a Butterfly" that meeting the Dalia Lama was very important to him.

[Easterncedar]

10. He requested my sister, a NY State Trooper, to be part of his security detail on one visit

She was impressed by and liked him.

[H2O Man]

12. Your sister

might have known two of my uncles who were BCI Senior Investigators. Or perhaps saw me "visiting" Troop C HQ as a teenager!

[Easterncedar]

16. Hmm.

Maybe yes to knowing your uncles, but likely not to seeing you as a teen at HQ. She's younger than you, I think, although not by as much as I always imagine from your wise elder writing persona.

[Easterncedar]

17. Update, yes, she knew your uncles

Respected them.

[Uncle Joe]

14. I thought of those people who lived long ago before electricity for most of yesterday beginning early in the morning

up until early evening when suddenly I thought of and felt like Sally Field at the Oscars toward Nashville Electric Service workers when my electricity, and heat came back on.

Thanks for the thread H2O Man

[H2O Man]

15. Thanks, Uncle Joe!

I'm glad that you got electricity back on! (My sister a few miles away was worried about that possibility here. I said that if the power went out, I'd just plug a couple electric heaters in! She thought I was seriously stupid for a moment.)

I prefer, when it is summer, to think about "the old days" without cell phones, Wal-Mart, etc, when my house was a stage coach station.