Four Directions and the Turtle

Silver-tone turtle on the silver-tone chain, with yellow, white, red, and black bead fringe. 

4 Directions

The concept of the Four Directions is a framework of understanding that many Indigenous groups have within their cultural understanding and ways of knowing in some form or another. For the Haudenosaunee people, the concept of the four directions are representative of the four cardinal directions, four winds, four seasons, and four stages of life, and our ceremonial calendar goes by the seasons/moons/time of year, etc. The four directions also represent the four aspects of being: emotional, spiritual, physical, and mental. In how I’ve been taught by my Elders the emotional aspect of being is yellow and sits in the East direction, spirituality is red and is in the South, physical is Black and is in the West, and mental is White and in the North. We often talk about the 4 directions in our stories, cultural and ceremonial practices.