Handsome Lake (Cayuga language: Sganyadái:yoˀ, Seneca language: Sganyodaiyoˀ) (Θkanyatararí•yau• in Tuscarora) (1735 – 10 August 1815) was a Seneca religious leader of the Iroquois people. He was a half-brother to Cornplanter, a Seneca war chief.
Handsome Lake, a great leader and prophet, played a major role in reviving traditional religion among the Haudenosaunee (People of the Longhouse), or Six Nations Iroquois Confederacy. He preached a message that combined traditional Haudenosaunee religious beliefs with a revised code meant to revive traditional consciousness to the Haudenosaunee after a long period of cultural disintegration following colonization. This message was eventually published as the "Code of Handsome Lake" and is still practiced today.
Read more about Handsome Lake: Early Life, Brings A Message of Gaiwiio ("Good Word")
Famous quotes containing the words handsome and/or lake:
“One night betimes he went to rest, for he had caught a fever.
Says he, ‘I am a handsome man, but I’m a gay deceiver.’”
—George Colman (1762–1836)
“Lenin on a bench beside a lake disturbed
The swans. He was not the man for swans.”
—Wallace Stevens (1879–1955)