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Tuesday, January 27, 2015

Burying The Hatchet


There are times I come across a well-used phrase and I just have to satisfy my curiosity and learn its origin. Back when I was researching my novel  Twist of Fate which is set on the western frontier,I came across the expression "bury the hatchet" in my study of American Indian tribes.

Well, I knew that expression is often used in reference to a problem being resolved and the forgetting of past hurts.

What surprised me was to learn that many tribes would actually bury a tomahawk as a symbolic gesture of peace. Not all Native American practiced this ritual, but those that did took it seriously. In fact, if for some reason hostilities were renewed, the tomahawk just might be dug up as a declaration of war. Among the Indian Nations, burying a tomahawk  proved to be a more binding peace ceremony than those "peace" treaties the white man continually made and broke.

I've not taken the time to seek out a tomahawk...don't have a running battle with anyone at the moment that needs resolving. Not sure if any toy store stocks guns and tomahawks these days. I'm suspect our 'politically correct police' have outlawed them long ago.

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