Condolence Ceremony

The Condolence Ceremony is the central ritual of the Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) Confederacy, held to mourn a dead chief and to raise up his successor. Set down in the Great Law of Peace, it includes words of comfort that wipe away grief, a recital of the founding chiefs' titles and the installation of the new chief. Its forms also opened treaty councils with the Dutch, French and English, and it is still performed today.