SENECA

#9 The Code of Handsome Lake
     (Edward Cornplanter, Arthur C. Parker, 1850, 1913)

“‘Now it is said that your people must change certain customs. It has been the custom to mourn at each recurring anniversary of the death of a friend or relative. It is said that while you are upon the earth you do not realize the harm that this works upon the departed.

 “‘Now moreover it is said that when an infant is born upon the earth with which the parents are dissatisfied, it knows and says, “I will return to my home above the earth.’”

[#9]   “The Code of Handsome Lake,” section 67, from Parker on the Iroquois, ed. William N. Fenton (Syracuse: Syracuse University Press, 1968, pp. 56-57).

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