All language subtitles for PBS.Native.America..Part.2.Nature.to.Nations.1080p.HDTV.x264.AAC.MVGroup.org.eng

(man chanting, drumming)

NARRATOR:
Native America is alive.

♪

Its roots stretch back more than
13,000 years...

(conch horn trumpets)

...to America's original
explorers.

(flute music playing)

New people who create
a new world.

(flute music continues,
birds chirping)

From North to South America,

distant peoples share
one common belief--

a deep connection to Earth, sky,
water, and all living things.

TERESA RYAN:
We are a part of this forest

as much as the forest
is a part of us.

(hammering)

BEAU DICK:
All of our ceremonies illustrate
that one notion

of connectedness, not only
with our fellow beings,

the animals and other creatures,

but with all of creation.

NARRATOR:
From this deep respect
for nature,

people create great nations.

ALAN HUNT:
There is a certain pressure

in knowing that you're going
to become chief.

(fires crackling)

NARRATOR:
They grapple with war
and peace...

(creature howling)

KEN MARACLE:
We were covered in darkness,

so the Peacemaker was sent
by the Creator to stop this.

(birds chirping)

NARRATOR:
...and develop governments

from dictatorships
to a democracy

that will inspire
the United States Constitution.

This is the birthplace
of democracy.

♪

NARRATOR:
How do Native Americans go
from ancient explorers

to the founders of America's
first democracy?

♪

(birds chirping)

(flute playing)

At the intersection of modern
scholarship and Native knowledge

is a new vision of America
and the people who built it.

This is "Native America."

(birds chirping)

NARRATOR:
This is the birthplace
of American democracy.

(man speaking Native language)

Not Boston, Philadelphia,
or Washington, DC,

but here, at Onondaga Lake
in Syracuse, New York.

(man continues speaking)

♪

On these shores,

Native Americans build villages
of longhouses.

♪

In one great longhouse,
five tribes come together

to put an end to war.

♪

Around the year 1150,

600 years before the
Declaration of Independence,

they form America's first
democracy.

Their government will inspire

the revolutionaries
who create the United States.

Thomas Jefferson
and Benjamin Franklin

had no idea
of what democracy is

till they came here.

NARRATOR:
In the 1740s, Benjamin Franklin
prints speeches

from one of their leaders,
Canassatego,

who encourages democracy
for the colonists.

Their chiefs advise
the founding fathers

at one of their first meetings.

And the newly independent
United States

adopts a 13-arrow bundle
into its official seal,

echoing the Native Americans'
five arrows

that symbolize
strength through unity.

(men chanting)

Their descendants still live
in upstate New York

as a sovereign nation,

with their own passports
and government.

♪

They are the world's oldest
continuous democracy.

SID HILL:
So we try to educate people
who we are.

NARRATOR:
Sid Hill is their chief
of chiefs.

His people are commonly known
as the Iroquois,

but that's a French name.

HILL:
The name that we call ourselves
is the Haudenosaunee,

people of the longhouse.

NARRATOR:
The Haudenosaunee story

of creating
the first American democracy

is encoded in this,

a tapestry of sacred shell beads
called a wampum belt.

HILL:
If you look at the structure
of it, it's very basic,

it's very plain.

It represents our way
of keeping records.

It's our history book.

NARRATOR:
This one is known
as the Hiawatha Belt.

Since 1900, it has been in the
hands of the State of New York.

The tribe fought to get it back,

and today, for the first time
in over a hundred years,

it returns to Onondaga Lake.

♪

PORTER:
If you hold it like this,
you see how heavy.

See? Oh, heavy.

♪

Whenever you touch
this belt,

you're greeting your ancestors.

NARRATOR:
Tom Porter is
a Mohawk spiritual leader.

Our great-great-grandfather
and great-great-grandmother

made this belt,

and they made it so that
we won't never forget

what they did,
the law they made.

(woman singing
in Native language)

NARRATOR:
The Hiawatha Belt tells
the story of a prophet of peace

who arrives
in a white stone canoe:

a grieving warrior
named Hiawatha,

who has to choose
between bloody vengeance

or a message of peace...

(woman singing
in Native language)

And a powerful clan mother

who must overcome
an evil warlord.

(fire crackling)

Together, they establish
America's first democracy.

♪

Haudenosaunee democracy grows
out of a long history

of people living on this land.

♪

More than 13,000 years ago,
small groups of hunter-gatherers

spread out quickly
across the virgin continent.

(wind whipping)

They develop both
a scientific understanding

of the cycles of the Earth,
sun, and stars

and a spiritual connection
to nature--

Earth, sky, water,
and all living things.

(birds chirping)

♪

By the time Europeans arrive
in 1492,

Native Americans number
a hundred million people.

They live
in diverse societies...

(chanting)

...from nomadic tribes
to monumental kingdoms,

from dictatorships
to democracies.

♪

How do Native Americans

draw inspiration
from the natural world

to create great nations?

♪

A continent away
from Onondaga Lake,

in the Andes Mountains
of northern Peru,

thousands of people take part

in a revolutionary
social experiment.

♪

This is Chavin de Huantar,

one of Native America's
very first nations.

JOHN RICK:
The temple constructions
of Chavin

is what I would call

the building
of a whole new world.

NARRATOR:
Chavin has one of America's
first monumental structures

built of stone,

dating back to 1300 BCE.

Chavin is only about the size
of two football fields,

but projects influence over
an area the size of California.

RICK:
Okay.

NARRATOR:
Archaeologist John Rick

sees this community as a tipping
point in America's history.

RICK:
They're using new technologies.

Cut stone is particularly
prominent at Chavin.

People are working granite

in ways that people haven't
before this time period.

♪

NARRATOR:
At the center of Chavin is
a flat-topped pyramid temple.

The rituals performed here
would draw in

tens of thousands of people
from across the Andes.

How can this temple lay
the foundation

of one of America's
first nations?

La vista es magnifico.

NARRATOR:
Part of the answer lies
beneath the temple

in a mysterious maze of tunnels.

♪

Down here,
priests would conduct rituals

evoking the supernatural.

RICK:
Chavin has this emphasis
on underground space.

The tunnels have multiple-level
staircases leading between them

and channels that lead
from the interior space

to the outside world.

NARRATOR:
Along the walls are channels
leading to the surface.

They bring air in,

but they also carry
something out.

(flute begins playing)

Music.

(flute continues)

Tito La Rossa is an indigenous
Andean musician

and master of ancient
instruments.

He's working with John to test
the acoustics in the tunnels.

Tito has brought instruments
similar

to those excavated
at Chavin--

flutes carved from bone.

(plays notes)

Whistles carved from stone.

(plays notes)

And a conch shell trumpet.

(trumpets loudly)

(conversing in Spanish)

(trumpeting)

LA ROSSA:

NARRATOR:
The sound of the conch shell
is central

to one of Chavin's
most important rituals.

At the heart of the underground
maze stands a carved statue

called the Lanzon.

It is a representation
of Chavin's supreme deity,

part human, part jaguar.

(trumpet plays loudly)

The sound of the conch shell
mimics its call.

RICK:
The Lanzon figure is
a transformed human being

or a deity.

It's human with power animals.

They're saying,
"We're built of this.

"We're descended from it.

"We're intrinsically
related to it,

and we're going to remind you
of it all the time."

NARRATOR:
Only a few privileged people
can fit

in the underground
Lanzon chamber to see the deity.

But above ground,

thousands of worshippers may
have been able to hear it

in a large circular plaza.

RICK:
Okay, so we probably want
to come up to this step.

Yeah, then get it
aimed right...

RICK:
The Lanzon is directly in line
with the circular plaza.

That's not arbitrary.

NARRATOR:
John wants to see
if the channels can carry

the sound of the conch shell

from deep below,
in the Lanzon chamber,

to the temple's exterior plaza.

Okay, Tito, let it blast.

(trumpets loudly)

RICK:
Wow.

That's coming through,
coming through.

Yeah, it's really...
it's real clear.

(trumpet continues)

WOMAN:
The way it spreads
all around the plaza

is incredible.

It's very strong.

NARRATOR:
The conch shell can be heard
clearly in the courtyard.

(trumpeting begins again)

And it comes through twice
as loud as any other sounds.

RICK:
We don't hear any
of the voices.

All we hear is
the sound of the trumpet.

NARRATOR:
This temple is a 3,000-year-old
noise-cancelling,

surround-sound amplifier.

It allows masses of people
to share in Chavin's rituals.

RICK:
It wasn't all or nothing--

you either got into the Lanzon
chamber or you didn't--

but rather there are these
different levels of distance

that people might have been at
from the Lanzon.

NARRATOR:
Distance from the Lanzon
creates a hierarchy of power.

The elite priests
are in the chamber.

Everyone else is outside.

♪

But through sound, they all
participate in shared rituals.

RICK:
Chavin is part of something
that's going on

throughout many areas
of the New World,

this development
of sociocultural complexity,

of leadership and authority.

People saying, "We are not
all created equal."

They are establishing
common ideas

about what differentiates
humans beings

and why some are more in a
position to command than others.

NARRATOR:
The priests of Chavin create
a shared experience centered

on powerful sounds and symbols
from the natural world.

♪

It transforms priests
into leaders

and people into citizens.

Chavin isn't just
the architecture of a temple,

it's the foundation
of a government.

♪

(grunting)

(chanting)

(exhales sharply)

Across the Americas,

rituals based on symbols
from the natural world

bind communities

and have the power to unite
people into nations.

(drumming and chanting)

For the Haudenosaunee
in northeast America,

that symbol is the shell
of the wampum belt.

MARACLE:
What you're going to do
is add three,

put on the other purple.

NARRATOR:
Ken Maracle, a Haudenosaunee
wampum belt maker,

is passing on the tradition.

Here you go.

(clears throat)

MARACLE:
We all have gifts.

We're not put here for nothing.

Some day you'll find that.

When you start growing,
you'll find things.

It's like the light turns on.

NARRATOR:
Ken and his protégés
are making a replica

of an ancient belt.

MARACLE:
Just keep on pulling it
right through.

Yeah, like that.

Wampum beads
are very delicate.

They'll break easy.

And you may get frustrated.

♪

But when you put them together,
they're strong.

They all support one and other.

Just like when we put
all our people

and all our nations together,
they're strong.

NARRATOR:
They're using glass beads,

but the original
is made from shells.

The word "wampum" means
"white shell beads."

They weave together rows
of the strung beads on a loom.

The patterns create meaning.

MARACLE:
Wampum is a way

of portraying words
that we put into the wampum.

There is a story behind that.

It's part of our history
is right in there.

NARRATOR:
The Hiawatha Belt
tells the story

of the Haudenosaunee's
legendary founding

and wampum's power to heal.

♪

Before the Haudenosaunee create
their democracy,

they were five warring tribes

living in an area of what is now
upstate New York--

the Seneca, Cayuga, Onondaga,
Oneida, and Mohawk.

MARACLE:
We were in turmoil.

We were covered in darkness,

so the Peacemaker was sent
by the Creator to stop this.

♪

NARRATOR:
The color of the wampum beads
in the Hiawatha Belt

represents this period of war.

G. PETER JEMISON:
The purple represents
the time period

of loss and of grief

when this warfare
was taking place constantly

within our confederacy.

NARRATOR:
The story recorded in this belt
begins in the midst

of these wars.

(woman singing
in Native language)

It tells of a warrior
named Hiawatha

who meets a prophet known
as the Peacemaker.

(wind blows, woman singing)

MAN (speaking Native language):

(fires crackling)

(distant echoing)

(waves crashing, birds calling)

♪

JEMISON:
The story goes that he came up
with a way

of helping a person
who is in grief

by using this wampum
to clear their eyes,

open their ears,
clear their throat

so they could speak clearly.

♪

NARRATOR:
Using the purity of shells

to bring a person
to a clear state of mind

is called
the condolence ceremony.

♪

It was invented by Hiawatha,

and the Haudenosaunee
still practice it today.

HILL:
Those wampum beads are
very sacred, very spiritual.

They're alive,
and you treat them as such.

And that's what gives them
that power of importance

to our people.

♪

NARRATOR:
That power also comes from
the origin of the beads,

how they are collected
and shaped by human hands.

♪

Marcus Hendricks
makes wampum beads.

He is a member
of the Mashpee Wampanoag.

♪

The Haudenosaunee acquired
wampum beads from his people

and other Atlantic coastal
communities.

Wampanoag means
"people of the first light"

or "people of the dawn."

They witness the first horizon
of the sun coming up.

♪

NARRATOR:
The first step to making wampum
is gathering shellfish

in his ancestral waters
off Cape Cod.

HENDRICKS:
When I come out onto the water,

there's a connection
to my ancestors...

A relationship that goes
through my blood and my veins.

NARRATOR:
The shells of quahog are
the raw material for wampum.

♪

HENDRICKS:
You want to look for
a good thickness in a quahog.

♪

NARRATOR:
The fire is both the first step
in a gratitude offering

and prepares the quahog
to be opened.

HENDRICKS:
I was taught really young
to take the time to give thanks

and say a few prayers
to the Creator.

We do that any time
we're harvesting anything

from Mother Earth.

NARRATOR:
Marcus uses traditional methods

to transform the shell
into wampum beads,

refining raw shell
until it can be strung together

into a wampum belt.

(tapping)

HENDRICKS:
Each bead took a lot of hours
and a lot of manpower.

Each strand probably would have
taken a year to make.

NARRATOR:
When strung into a belt, wampum
empowers the person holding it

as a representative
of their people.

(woman singing
in Native language)

HENDRICKS:
They were made for ceremonies
to depict stories

and treaties between tribes.

(woman singing
in Native language)

So if I was to go visit another
nation, I would bring the belt

to show that there's
a close bond between...

between the nations.

♪

NARRATOR:
The wampum belt
acts as a treaty.

The Wampanoag, Haudenosaunee,

and other Native peoples
of the Northeast

use wampum to hold memories

and create bonds
between nations.

♪

In the Pacific Northwest,

memories and ties that bind
are embodied

in one of Native America's
most iconic structures:

totem poles.

(distant humming)

Like wampum belts, totem poles
record the history

of war, kinship, and leaders.

(man singing in Native language)

But totem poles are
often misunderstood.

ALAN HUNT:
You know, the saying "low man
on the totem pole"

doesn't really equate at all.

They're just about all
as equally as important

as the next guy,
and, you know,

the guy on the bottom
is supporting

everything else above him,

so it actually seems
a little backwards.

♪

NARRATOR:
The power of the pole
comes from the cedar tree.

Cedar is central to the lives
of the Native peoples

of the Northwest.

It is used to make clothing,
storage chests,

and ceremonial masks.

♪

For Kwakwaka'wakw carvers
Alan Hunt and Beau Dick,

cedar is a portal to the past.

DICK:
There is a certain relationship

that our people have
with the cedar tree.

(hammering)

It reconnects us with our
ancestors, with our story,

with our identity,

and it's just
really sacred to us.

(scraping wood)

Each grain is a year,

and you become sensitized to it
the more you work it.

You feel it cutting
through each year in time.

My grandfather did that.

My great-grandfather did that.

My great-great-great-grandfather
did that.

They all did it.

I'm following their footsteps.

And that's really personal.

And we share that.

We're following what was
provided by our ancestors

and the relationship
that they had with the Creator.

(sanding)

NARRATOR:
Alan and Beau are carving
a moon mask.

It's one of the many important
figures

in the Kwakwaka'wakw
origin story.

DICK:
Our history goes back

to the beginning of time

when Raven first brought light
to the world.

(scraping wood)

NARRATOR:
Cedar also immortalizes
the legacy of leaders.

And, one day, artists may carve
images that represent Alan Hunt,

for he is about to become
a chief.

(drumming)

Final preparations
are being made

in the Fort Rupert Big House
on Vancouver Island.

Kwakwaka'wakw chiefs are named

through either the mother
or the father's line.

Alan will replace
his grandfather as chief

in a ceremony called a potlatch.

(men singing in Native language)

ALAN HUNT:
All of my mentor chiefs
kept telling me,

you know, "Take a deep breath,
we've all been through it.

It's going to come together."

And now here it is,
it's coming together,

and it's going to be all right
and I'm breathing deeply here.

(drumming, singing)

NARRATOR:
Terena Hunt is Alan's mother.

It's just a wonderful moment
for us as a family to witness.

(drumming, singing)

NARRATOR:
For centuries,
potlatches have honored births,

deaths, weddings,
and new chiefs.

♪

ALAN HUNT:
This is the way
that we kept history, you know,

is the passing of names and
dances and all the stories

from the beginning of time.

NARRATOR:
The potlatch ceremony
is like a living totem pole,

illustrating
the nation's heritage.

(drumming, singing)

It starts with a series
of sacred dances

depicting ancestral stories.

(drumming, singing)

(drumming, singing)

♪

Everyone in the room
receives a cedar crown.

(people talking quietly)

RYAN:
The reason that we wear them

at the feast

is to protect us as guests
and also the host

from evil spirits

so that everything goes well.

(people talking quietly)

(fire crackling)

♪

♪

(man speaking Native language)

NARRATOR:
Alan's uncle places
a cedar headpiece on him,

anointing Alan a new chief.

(man speaking Native language)

ALAN HUNT:
There's a certain pressure
in knowing

that you're going
to become chief.

I am taking on
the responsibility

of holding up my tribe
and to provide for them,

and make sure
that our culture doesn't die.

♪

TERENA HUNT:
I'm honored--

(crying):
sorry--

to be his mom.

And I'm proud.

(man speaking
in Native language)

(drumming and chanting)

♪

DICK:
There's something really magical

that comes into play
when the host is humble

and not pinned to this idea of
chieftainship as being prestige.

And it's not an easy thing.

It's a heavy load.

(drumming and chanting)

ALAN HUNT:
From the moment that they put
the cedar ring on me,

it was an electric moment,

to feel so connected
with such an old history.

You know, the baton's
been passed to me

and now it's my job
to carry it well

and pass it on to my children.

(drumming and chanting)

♪

NARRATOR:
Cedar-- in ceremonies
and carvings--

documents the past,
celebrates leadership,

and provides a path to the
future by passing on

ancient traditions
to a new generation.

♪

DICK:
Without the ability
to create masks,

to perform in our ceremonies...

Without that,
our people can't survive.

So much of our survival came
from this tree

and our connection
to the forest.

(birds calling)

Through that one tree.

♪

NARRATOR:
Kwakwaka'wakw history is rooted
in the majestic cedar.

(corn stalks rustling)

For the Haudenosaunee,
ideals of government

are embodied in a tiny plant:

corn.

(husk cracking)

Today, the Haudenosaunee
are beginning their harvest.

The crew is led
by Angie Ferguson.

She's on a mission to keep
the food of her ancestors alive

and the health
of her nation strong.

FERGUSON:
Through colonization,
we grew away from eating

what our bodies
were accustomed to,

and not only are those foods

part of our health
and nutrition,

but those are part
of our spiritual entities

that keep us who we are.

NARRATOR:
Angie is returning

to traditional seeds
and farming methods

developed over thousands
of years.

FERGUSON:
In a lot of our teachings,
food is at the basis

of the entire
Haudenosaunee community.

♪

NARRATOR:
For the Haudenosaunee,
corn is more than a crop.

It's a teacher.

Roger Cook was taught one
of its most important lessons

by his grandfather:

When making decisions, always
look to the seventh generation.

COOK:
All the things that we do
in the garden,

we're always thinking
about that seventh generation.

It's a lot of hard work
to put into the corn

so that our children
that we don't even know yet,

our grandchildren,
will have this.

That's how far ahead
we have to look.

NARRATOR:
Haudenosaunee ancestors
didn't simply focus

on feeding themselves
and their children.

They planned centuries ahead.

♪

It's a strategy
that changed the world.

10,000 years ago,
there was no corn--

only a tiny weed
called teosinte.

Over hundreds of generations

of careful observation
and seed selection,

it was developed into corn.

And that's only the beginning.

Native Americans feed
a population

of 100 million people

by developing new foods
from wild plants.

(digging)

The potato, the tomato,

peanuts, chocolate,

and dozens of varieties
of beans and squash.

Today, these crops provide

60 percent
of the world's grown food.

But for Native America,
corn is king.

♪

It's the power behind
one of the ancient world's

most advanced societies:

the Maya.

From 250 to 900,
Maya city-states thrive

across what is now
Southern Mexico,

Guatemala, and Honduras.

♪

The Maya invent
their own system of writing,

which records the emergence
of a new kind of leader:

a divine king.

One Maya king ranks among
the longest-reigning monarchs

in the world:

King Pakal,
who ruled for 68 years.

♪

Art historian Mary Miller
has come to his capital city

in search of the key
to his success.

This is Palenque,
in what is now Chiapas, Mexico.

MILLER:
Architects and artists came here
and made things

of extraordinary wonder
and imagination,

and we wonder at them today,
as well.

(crickets chirping)

It was a kind of magical place.

NARRATOR:
Palenque is surrounded
by some of the best soil

in the region.

The corn, or maize,
that grows here

brings prosperity to the city.

But to King Pakal,
maize brings much more:

immortality.

Pakal uses his riches
to construct

the Temple of the Inscriptions,
a monumental tomb.

MILLER:
Pakal created

the most remarkable
funerary monument to himself

that any Maya king ever built.

♪

When he died, he was placed
into a sarcophagus

and royally dressed in jades.

NARRATOR:
Steps within the temple
lead down

to Pakal's final resting place.

Perfectly intact
for over a thousand years,

inside is the largest Maya
sarcophagus ever found.

The lid is carved with images
connecting King Pakal

to the Maize God.

MILLER:
We see the great king depicted
as the Maize God being reborn.

In his death, maize will
eternally return to Palenque.

NARRATOR:
Pakal associates
his own birth and death

to corn's cycles
of planting and harvesting.

He assures his people
that as the Maize God,

he will return
in a never-ending cycle

of birth, death,
and resurrection,

and with each cycle, provide
sustenance for his nation.

Pakal takes a simple crop
and elevates it to a religion.

MILLER:
At the heart of Maya religion,

the most fundamental notion
is that man is maize,

and as the maize plant
flourishes each year,

so too does humanity.

(insects and birds chirping)

NARRATOR:
Corn has the power to build
a kingdom for the Maya.

For the Haudenosaunee,
corn will build a democracy.

♪

The inspiration is an ancient
farming method called Dioheka,

or the Three Sisters.

FERGUSON:
Our Three Sisters,
the corn, beans, and the squash,

are all meant
to grow together

to help each other out.

NARRATOR:
Planted together,

the Three Sisters
are a farming miracle.

Corn strips soil of nitrogen,

but bean roots balance this
by replenishing nitrogen.

And the broad prickly leaves
of the squash plant

reduce weeds and deter pests.

When consumed together,
corn, beans, and squash

provide all the essential
nutrients for a healthy diet.

♪

The Three Sisters is a model
for community organizing.

(corn rustling)

FERGUSON:
In our communities,

you need people that
can stand tall like the corn,

and they need people to assist

and hold them up,
like the beans.

And you have your squash
that's laying down

to protect everything.

♪

It's something
that's opening our eyes

to see what our ancestor
was trying to show us.

NARRATOR:
The Haudenosaunee adopt

the Three Sisters' cooperative
approach in nature

to a cooperative approach
in governance.

(birds calling)

This principle is expressed
in the structure

that defines
their very identity:

the longhouse.

Pete Jemison is an elder
from the Seneca People.

JEMISON:
The Haudenosaunee,
what that translates to

is that our people built
an extended house,

and when we're talking about
this house that they built,

it's not just the longhouse
that we actually live in.

It is the idea that each of
the nations take up the issues

that are confronting
the community,

and they try to come up
with solutions.

♪

NARRATOR:
Leaders from the warring tribes
come together in a longhouse

and form the Grand Council
of Chiefs.

♪

It is America's first
democratic legislature.

Inspired by Hiawatha
and the Peacemaker,

the Council votes to end war
among their nations.

MAN (speaking Native language):

(waterfall churning)

(men fighting and yelling)

♪

(fire crackling)

(moaning and roaring)

♪

PORTER:
He was a sorcerer.

He had supernatural powers.

He could communicate
with the birds and rattlesnakes

and wolves and the animal world,

and they would help him.

He was a mean, mean man.

His name was Tadodaho.

♪

NARRATOR:
To convince Tadodaho
to join the new confederacy,

Hiawatha and the Peacemaker seek
a powerful ally.

A woman named Jigonhsasee.

VIRGINIA ABRAMS:
Jigonhsasee was the first
clan mother.

She helped bring peace to the
Iroquois, to the Haudenosaunee.

NARRATOR:
Virginia Abrams
is a clan mother,

a title first established
by Jigonhsasee.

(corn rustling)

Like Palenque's King Pakal,

Jigonhsasee's influence
comes from corn.

ABRAMS:
When the nations were warring
against each other,

she would take them in
and feed them.

And she kind of kept the war
going on,

so the Peacemaker came to her
and asked her

to refrain from keeping
this warring going on

between our people.

NARRATOR:
Jigonhsasee's stockpile of corn
perpetuates the bloodshed

by feeding the warriors.

The Peacemaker strikes
a deal with her.

(roaring)

If she can stop the war,
she can choose the chiefs.

(fire crackling)

MAN (speaking Native language):

♪

♪

♪

NARRATOR:
Jigonhsasee transforms
Tadodaho's mind

and he abandons war.

Because of Jigonhsasee,
clan mothers hold the power

to appoint or dismiss chiefs.

JEMISON:
She earned for our women

the rights,
the responsibilities,

and the privileges
that they have until this day.

(fire crackling)

NARRATOR:
And Tadodaho, in exchange
for accepting peace,

is appointed the keeper
of the central fire

and chief of chiefs,
the most powerful leader.

♪

His name becomes a title
that is handed down to this day.

When our longhouses
come together,

these are the fires
he's talking about.

NARRATOR:
Sid Hill is now Tadodaho.

He sees an important lesson
in memorializing the name

of this once-vicious warlord.

HILL:
People can change with help

if they're going
down the wrong path.

There's always hope

through people helping them
and showing them

there's better things
you can do with your life

than being destructive
and evil and negative.

NARRATOR:
With the final obstacle
overcome,

the Peacemaker assembles
representatives of each nation.

MAN (speaking Native language):

(fire crackling)

NARRATOR:
From the time of the Peacemaker
to today,

the tradition of making
wampum belts lives on.

A new generation
is being entrusted

with the story of democracy
encoded in the Hiawatha Belt.

MARACLE:
Your thoughts and energy,

that's the strength
of that belt.

PORTER:
One day, you're going to get old

and then you're the one
that's going to have to transmit

all of this knowledge,
what it means,

to your grandkids.

MARACLE:
At the beginning
of the confederacy,

the Peacemaker made the symbol.

It's our connection
to each other.

When I hold this Hiawatha belt,

what it means to me
is that we're a united nation.

♪

NARRATOR:
Under a total eclipse
of the sun,

the Peacemaker holds
the newly woven Hiawatha belt,

and with the nations gathered
beneath the Tree of Peace,

he speaks the Law of Peace
for the first time.

MAN (speaking native language):

(roots pulling loose)

♪

♪

♪

NARRATOR:
The reading of the Great Law

and the weaving
of the Hiawatha Belt

establish the Haudenosaunee
Confederacy.

It's a form of government
that doesn't rule people,

but rather serves people.

It's this principle
that inspires Benjamin Franklin

and other framers
of the Constitution

to create their own government

of the people, by the people,
and for the people.

In 1988, the U.S. Senate passed
a special resolution

recognizing the influence
of the Haudenosaunee democracy

on the U.S. Constitution.

The Council of Chiefs meeting
in the longhouse

is similar to Congress.

Tadodaho parallels
the presidency.

And the clan mothers are like
justices on the Supreme Court.

They, too, serve for life,
but have an additional power.

Clan mothers can choose
and impeach the chiefs.

It is a three-branch system
of government

that looks strikingly familiar.

600 years before
the United States,

the Haudenosaunee independently
establish

the first democracy in America.

♪

WOMAN:
Hi!

Good to see you.

(people talking indistinctly)

NARRATOR:
Today, the Haudenosaunee gather
on the shore of Lake Onondaga,

the place where their journey
from war to peace began.

All the leaders
would work together

to come up with a solution.

NARRATOR:
They build their confederacy

based on profound lessons
and symbols from nature.

Mother Earth
never lacked nothing.

They had a perfect world.

NARRATOR:
But like a treaty
between nations,

they believe they owe nature
something in return,

to take care
of all living things.

PORTER:
Water and air
and all the natural things

that make the world
that we live in

is held sacred
by all indigenous people,

and every human being comes
from an indigenous people.

(man speaking Native language)

NARRATOR:
This ceremony is an appeal

to honor that responsibility
to nature.

For Onondaga Lake,

the birthplace of democracy
in America,

is among the world's
most polluted.

HILL:
Everybody's concerned
these days

about the condition
of the waters,

the condition of Mother Earth.

It's a concern
throughout the world.

That was put there
for everybody to use

and nobody has the right
to take that away from anybody.

PORTER:
It's not just the water.

It's not just made
out of chemical elements.

It's real.

It's our lifeblood.

NARRATOR:
Over 200 years ago, the framers
of the U.S. Constitution

learn lessons of governance
from the Haudenosaunee.

But the founding fathers
leave out a core principle:

people have a responsibility
to take care of the Earth.

(quacking)

Native America's profound
respect for nature

is relevant now
as much as ever.

PORTER:
Creator,

we who are your children

says thank you
for this miraculous gathering

and this beautiful day
that you gave us today.

Creator, with love,
we say thank you.

And our mind is agreed.

♪

NARRATOR:
The First Nations
of the Americas

have their foundation
in sacred natural symbols.

(conch horn trumpets)

In Chavin, priests use
the jaguar to gather people

into a nation.

♪

In Central America,
corn builds vast kingdoms.

♪

In the Atlantic Northeast,
shell wampum unites nations.

And in the Pacific Northwest,

cedar establishes and maintains
a national identity.

(drums and chanting)

Building on lessons from nature,

Native Americans create some of
the greatest nations on Earth.

♪