Called the Iroquois Confederacy by the French, and the League of Five Nations by the English, the confederacy is properly called the Haudenosaunee Confederacy meaning People of the long house. The confederacy was founded by the prophet known as the Peacemaker with the help of Aionwatha, more commonly known as Hiawatha. The exact date of the joining of the nations is unknown and said to be time immemorial making it one of the first and longest lasting participatory democracies in the world.

The confederacy, made up of the Mohawks, Oneidas, Onondagas, Cayugas, and Senecas was intended as a way to unite the nations and create a peaceful means of decision making. Through the confederacy, each of the nations of the Haudenosaunee are united by a common goal to live in harmony. Each nation maintains it own council with Chiefs chosen by the Clan Mother and deals with its own internal affairs but allows the Grand Council to deal with issues affecting the nations within the confederacy.

The Haudenosaunee symbol of the long house, provided by the Peacemaker, is recognized in traditional geographic locations. Upon confederation each nation took on a role within the metaphorical longhouse with the Onondaga being the Keepers of the Fire. The Mohawk, Seneca and Onondaga acted as the Elder Brothers of the confederacy while the Cayuga and Oneida were the Younger Brothers within Grand Council. The main meeting place was and still exists today on Onondaga territory.

the Haudenosaunee Confederacy’s constitution is believed to be the oldest, participatory democracy on Earth. What makes it stand out as unique to other systems around the world is its blending of law and values. For the Haudenosaunee, law, society and nature are equal partners and each plays an important role.

Haudenosaunee’s Legendary Founding

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  • RION [she/her]
    ·
    1 year ago

    ¯\_༼ •́ ͜ʖ •̀ ༽_/¯ for me, if someone's chronically late without working to mitigate it somehow it comes across as disrespect—that they value their time so far above mine (or whoever else is involved in the scheduled event) that they're not going to bother making an effort

    • ClimateChangeAnxiety [he/him, they/them]
      ·
      edit-2
      1 year ago

      I do make an effort to be on time, I set a thousand alarms and wake up far earlier than I should need to and still end up consistently 10-15 minutes later than I expect. I do this solely because I know it annoys people and I don’t want to make people unhappy.

      But calling it disrespectful seems like a far stretch when it doesn’t go the other way. I would never feel disrespected by someone being late. In fact if anything I find it pretty annoying when people are super on time, because I’m usually not and it makes me feel rushed.

      In a pre-clock society, no one would be expected to be on time within 15 minutes, and things got on fine. It’s only disrespectful because our cultural norms value being on time to things, and my point is I don’t like that cultural norm.

      • RION [she/her]
        ·
        1 year ago

        But calling it disrespectful seems like a far stretch when it doesn’t go the other way. I would never feel disrespected by someone being late.

        That's definitely not how it's works. Just because you wouldn't feel disrespected doesn't mean it's not disrespectful to others

        • ClimateChangeAnxiety [he/him, they/them]
          ·
          1 year ago

          If two people agree to meet, one person is annoyed by lateness, one person is annoyed by strict time restraints, why is only the first person allowed to be bothered?

          It’s a difference in preference and importance of timing, but only one side is allowed to be annoyed while the other is expected to work really hard to conform to the first, and told it’s a moral failing.