Handsome Lake's cultural revival brings new life to the Iroquois.
As the mighty Iroquois Confederacy stood on the cusp of fading into the tapestry of history one figure would emerge to revitalize a sense of national pride. Handsome Lake (Ga-nyah-di-yoh), father of the Iroquois cultural renaissance, gained prominence late in life, but he came at the right moment to provide his people with a spiritual compass through which to live.
Seeing first hand the dangers of rampant alcoholizim and the effects that it had on the Iroquois in general, Handomse Lake brought a message from the Creator that provided a focus for the dissaffected Iroquois. In essence, Handomse Lake created a new religious movement; a new classification of religion in America. The Code of Handomse Lake was a combination of the fundamentals of Christianity and the religious concepts of the Iroquois. What resulted was the first, and arguably the only, truly American religion.
Seen by many of his contemporaries as a prophet, Handsome Lake provided the vital stability necessary to set the Iroquois back on track.
