Haudenosaunee TraditionWaterfall
Cohoes Falls
The great falls on the Mohawk River near its meeting with the Hudson, where, in the account the Onondaga Nation publishes, the Mohawk tested the Peacemaker by felling the tree he stood in over the water.
About Cohoes Falls
The test
When the Peacemaker brought his message to the Mohawk, the easternmost of the five nations, they tested him. In the account the Onondaga Nation shares publicly, they had him climb a tree that overhung a great waterfall, now called Cohoes Falls, and then cut the tree down, so that he fell into the water. The next morning he was found alive, sitting by a fire, and the Mohawk accepted the Great Peace, becoming the first nation to do so.
The place today
The falls, about 27 metres high, lie on the Mohawk River in the city of Cohoes, New York, just above its confluence with the Hudson. The site is honoured by Haudenosaunee people as the place where the message of peace was first accepted by a nation.
On the map
Cohoes Falls among other places of the Haudenosaunee Tradition.
Sources and further reading
Source notes
These references are recorded in the catalog. Their passage wording and translation have not been checked, so quotations are not displayed here.
- Onondaga Nation, "History" (onondaganation.org)
About this entry
By Elizabeth Stein for Mythos Atlas. About the author. Editorial notes are grounded in the site's cited sources and can be challenged through the contact page.
Coordinates mark where the myths place a site, or where the tradition locates it today. Mythic realms are left off the map or marked as symbolic placements.