The Field of Plenty
Origin Story
Grade level: K-5
Idaho Social Studies Standards: Goal 4.2, Objective 1
Explain important customs, symbols, and celebrations that represent the development of American beliefs and principles.
To Teachers: Origin stories not only tell where groups of people explain where they came from but in the case of the Iroquois, explain the order that the Universe is in and the cultural beliefs that result because of their Origin stories. The Lesson provided from Iroquois Origin Stories lay out a blue print of the culture and belief system developed by these people. Many of the principles taught in the Origin Stories are recurring themes through out the Oral History of the People.
Concepts:
2) Sharing with others promotes abundance for all.
Goals:
Students will understand that sincere gratitude for what is provided encourages the providers to continue.
Students will understand that if one believes that his/her needs will be met if they have a grateful heart, then greed is unnecessary.
Students will learn that positive action (like sharing with others) promotes abundance for all.
Objectives: SWBAT (Students Will Be Able To)
Read about the field of plenty and the Iroquois ideas of the importance of giving thanks.
Identify the sources of good things in their lives.
Openly express gratitude to those who provide good things.
Compare/contrast the actions and reactions of those providers who are given genuine thanks with those providers who are not.
Draw conclusions about the significance of thanks giving in personal lives and society as a whole.
Discussion: Involve the students in a discussion of what and why we want to be thankful. A suggest dialog is as follows:
Opening Question: What are some things that you are thankful for?
Class can list individually on notebook paper, work in small groups to list ideas on strips of paper that may be placed on the walls around the room, or work as an entire class and list as many ideas as they can on the board.
Focus Question: Where do these good things come from?
These "sources" should be identified and listed along with the "good things".
Interpretive Questions:
What happens when we openly say thank you to those who give or do nice things for us? (They are encouraged to continue doing nice things.)
What happens when we do not say thank you to those who give or do nice things for us? (They are not encouraged to continue doing nice things.)
Conclusion: Why is it important to give thanks for the good things in our lives?
(So those who provide good things will be encouraged to continue and so they know that we recognize their efforts and we appreciate them. )
Lesson:
Distribute the poster entitled "The Field of Plenty" (Handout #1) and read the story utilizing the reading glossary. Ask class to study the picture on the poster and respond to the following questions:
1) What do you see in the picture? Some of the things they may answer are:
a) Great Mystery which would equate for Creator, God, or even Goddess.
c) The Great White Pine, Tree of Peace where the hatchets of war were buried, more
about that in lesson_________.
d) The Red Road with the fire representing the spiritual Path of Goodness and
Harmony for Native American. The fire represents the eternal spirit of mankind or the sacred fire of life itself.
e) A paved black road representing The Black Road of Greed and Disharmony.
f) A modern city.
2) What things represent olden times?
a) Two men dressed in old style Native American clothes
b) One man is being thankful for water and things of the earth from old times.
c) One man holds a "treaty belt" which is the way the Iroquois recorded treaties.
d) Two men standing in Nature.
e) A man holding a sacred pipe, a sacred way of praying for Native Americans
3) What things represent today?
a). Two men dressed in today’s clothing.
b). One man holding today’s treaties on paper.
c) There is a city in the background
d) Today’s thoughts are in the Field of Plenty, like chairs houses, cars, computers.
g) The two men are standing on a black road of today a symbol of our fast paced
society which gets lost from the Natural World.
Why do you think that both the old and the new are shown in the picture?
Students are being asked to come to their own conclusions so there is no right or wrong answer.
Possible answers could include:
To show ways things have changed.
To show that the old ways were respectful of the earth, and today we don’t know how to do that.
Today we live in a concrete forest instead of a wooded one.
Today people forget to be thankful.
Today people are greedy.
Culminating Activity:
Ask students to think back to the good things and providers that they listed at the beginning of the lesson.
Assignment: Choose two good things that someone else does for you that you have not really said thanks for. Go to those and sincerely tell them thank you. See how they act when you do this. Be ready to report what happens when you come back to class tomorrow. (Allow all to tell about their experiences with giving thanks.)
Concluding Discussion Questions: Why is it important to always be thankful for the good things we have? Why is it important to share what we have with others?
Handout #1– Poster with following story:
Field of Plenty
TRADITIONAL STORY
The Iroquois believe that in the beginning everything was created that would ever be needed by man. In the Seneca story, the Field of Plenty is seen as a spiral that has its smallest revolution out in space and its largest revolution near the Earth. This shape is like an upside-down tornado called a Cornucopia. It is a space of ideas and thoughts and creations placed there by Creator for mankind to draw upon .
The Seneca believe that their ancestors knew that the way to manifest this abundance was a thankful heart; to give thanks for all that we have. They would pray, "Thank you for our good food", Thank you for my wonderful children and their good health", "Thank you for whatever they wanted". They would pray every day as though they already had what they wanted, believing that it was already created, and they only had to be really thankful to get it. This belief of always giving thanks and blessings is called "The Red Road of Goodness and Balance".
Today, many have come a long ways from these practices. Today, many say "I need, I need, I want, I want". We often forget to be really grateful for all those good things we do have. Indians believe that our Creator is very generous, wanting us, his children, to have what we want. It is as though he always says, "Yes". So, if we say, "I need" or "I want"… and he answers "Yes", then we continue to need and want. But, if we say "Thank you, Thank you" and he says "Yes", we get more of what we are thankful for. Today, this "I need, I need", "I want, I want" is called "The Black Road of Greed and Disharmony".
Indians believe that we will once again be able to manifest the abundance that already is there, when we once again remember to be really thankful for what we have every day. A long time ago, Iroquoian Ancestors assisted the Pilgrims in planting Corn and raising crops so they would not starve. They attempted to teach the pilgrims the understanding of the Field of Plenty by bringing cornucopia baskets full of fruits and vegetables. The Iroquois women wove these baskets as a physical reminder that Great Mystery provides through the Field of Plenty. When the cornucopia was brought to the Pilgrims, the Iroquois People sought to assist these Boat People in removing their fear of scarcity. The Native understanding is that there is always enough for everyone when abundance is shared and when gratitude is given back to the Original Source. The trick was to explain the concept of the Field of Plenty with few mutually understood words or signs. The misunderstanding that sprang from this lack of common language robbed those who came to Turtle Island of a beautiful teaching.
These new boat people were taught that giving prayers of gratitude was not just a Christian concept as the Red Race understood thanksgiving on a daily basis. The Field of Plenty is seen by many of our elders, as a spiral that has its smallest revolution out in space and its' largest revolution near the Earth. This shape is very much like an upside-down tornado. The Field of Plenty is always full of abundance. The gratitude we show as Children of Earth allows the ideas within the Field of Plenty to manifest on the Good Red Road so we may enjoy these creations in a physical manner.
Reading Glossary:
Native Americans – Indians, those who lived here first
Iroquois- a group of Indians who lived around the Great Lakes in what is now New York State
Created – made
Seneca – Native American group or tribe that was part of the larger Iroquois group
Out in space – up in the sky
Cornucopia - any upside down tornado shape usually a basket.
Earth – World, Planet
Manifest this abundance – see and get the good things
Grateful – thankful
Greed – selfishness
Creations- completed ideas. Some of these ideas could be cars, trains, planes, computers, cell phones, buildings and every day things.
Artist Interpretation: Great Mystery, who is undefined by Native Americans manifests out of the Cosmos creating everything that would ever be needed on the earth plane. This pours out on the earth from a funnel shaped cornucopia. In the center is the Red Road of Harmony and Balance with the Eternal Sacred Fire representing the soul of man. One side represents the Old Ways, with the White Pine Tree of Peace whose roots go to the Four Directions, establishing love, peace, reason, and justice. The Eagle at the top watchful of danger, and the instruments of war, buried under the roots, from where the phrase "bury the hatchet" comes from. Two Iroquoian men stand beside the Red Road, one kneeling in the Earth’s purity , giving thanks to the water, the other holding a wampum or treaty belt representing those who practiced daily giving thanks to Great Mystery. On the other side, in the distance is a modern city, with two modern Native men on a Black Road of Selfishness.. Today most pray, give me give me, I want I want, and forget to be thankful and bless all that they have. One holds a modern treaty where there is no respect for the Earth, or justice between humans and the other a sacred pipe representing returning to the Old Ways of Balance.