Haudenosaunee Garden & Pond Plantings.

Haudenosaunee Garden and Pond Plantings.. Plants not only provide food, they also hold spiritual significance.. , The sweet grass growing along the pond is easily identifiable by its sweet aroma that intensifies when dried. Haudenosaunee basket makers often weave sweet grass into their ash splint baskets to keep the baskets strong., The Haudenosaunee refer to corn, beans, and squash as the Three Sisters, which were given as gifts by the Creator. These three crops benefit each other when planted side by side; the corn provides the pole for the beans to climb, and the squash's broad leaves prevent weed growth. In return the beans replenish the soil with nitrogen which the corn and squash use to grow. The success of the Three Sisters is essential to Haudenosaunee life., The strawberry, the first berry of summer, is also important as food and medicine. It is greeted and thanked each day and the earliest berries are celebrated with a special ceremony in mid-June., The white pine symbolizes peace and unity in the Haudenosaunee Confederacy, and the green pine needles represent the Confederacy's watchfulness and alertness. The needles also grow in bundles of five, a reminder of the original Five Nations: Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga, Cayuga, and Seneca., [Illustration caption reads] , Hoeing Corn, 1940 , Ernest Smith, Tonawanda Reservation , Watercolor