Ganö:nyök

Meaning and Origins

One can translate Ganö:nyök as the “continuing acknowledgment,” a regular expression of thanks and gratitude to nature. There is no single Ganö:nyök; instead, it comprises a system of general guidelines for an expression of thanks that can be offered before significant events, or simply when a person feels that this gratitude is appropriate.

The present form of the Ganö:nyök developed out of the Gaihwi:io (Good Words) teachings of Ganioda’yo (a hereditary sachem title), also known as Handsome Lake, which were delivered to him in a series of visions around 1799. The story of its origin is part of the Gaihwi:io. Before its appearance, Handsome Lake suffered from alcoholism and illness which left him largely bedbound and on the verge of death. One day he collapsed and showed only the faintest signs of life, but made a remarkable recovery, at which time he relayed a vision sent by the Creator via three of the four messengers.

The Gaihwi:io contains both guidelines and rules for living a good life, with warnings to those who stray — the danger of alcohol is stressed — and prophecies.

Handsome Lake does not directly describe the Ganö:nyök or prescribe its modern uses, which developed largely after his death, but some of his teachings anticipate it:

“ ‘Now another message.’
‘It is said that all your relatives and friends must be told.’
‘It is said that when these rites are performed one person is to be selected to offer thanks to the Creator. Now when thanks are rendered begin with the things upon the ground and thank upward to the things in the new world above. Afterward, any one so inclined may arise and thank the Creator in the manner he thinks best.’ So it is said.”

Eniaiehuk in Section 55 (Parker, page 51)

The order of thanks, from the ground up, is precisely the structure of the Ganö:nyök.

One of the primary functions of the Gaihwi:io was to provide a cultural kernel around which the Haudenosaunee, scattered and battered and betrayed by the newly formed United States, could regain community, and strengthen and preserve their culture in the face of anti-Indigenous sentiment and legislation. The modern Ganö:nyök helps accomplish this as well. Industrialization has deprived the Haudenosaunee of frequent direct contact with nature, and the Ganö:nyök serves as a reminder of nature and the thanks we owe to nature.