The prophecy of the Seventh Generation is common to
many American Indian nations. Young native people, especially young
Mohawk people, should pay attention to and consider.
According to the prophecy, after seven generations of living in close
contact with the Europeans, the Onkwehonwe would see the day when the
elm trees would die. The prophecy said that animals would be born
strange and deformed, their limbs twisted out of shape. Huge stone
monsters would tear open the face of the earth. The rivers would burn
aflame. The air would burn the eyes of man. According to the prophecy
of the Seventh Generation the Onkwehonwe would see the day when birds
would fall from the sky, the fish would die in the water, and man
would grow ashamed of the way that he had treated his mother and
provider, the Earth.
Finally, according to this prophecy, after seven generations of living
in close contact with the Europeans, the Onkwehonwe would rise up and
demand that their rights and stewardship over the Earth be respected
and restored.
According to the wisdom of this prophecy, men and women would one day
turn to the Onkwehonwe, and particularly to the eastern door of the
Confederacy, for both guidance and direction. It is up to the present
generation of youth of the Kanien'kehake to provide leadership and
example to all who have failed. The children of the Kanien'kehake are
the seventh generation.
