Huron-Wendat Circle of Nations

Artist: Tyler Fauvelle

The core members of the Huron-Wendat confederacy were: Attignawantan (people of the bear), Attigneenongnahac (people of the cord), Arendahronon (people of the rock) and Tahontaenrat (people of the deer). The Bear and the Cord nations were the largest and oldest of the confederacy, forming their alliance in the 15^th century. An Iroquoian-speaking people, the Huron-Wendat farmed the land, growing mainly corn, beans, and squash. They fished using nets and weirs, and their most important game was deer. In the mid-17^th century, with their population decimated by epidemics and war, they were dispersed by the Haudenosaunee (Iroquois), and most merged with other nations. In Canada, members of the Huron-Wendat First Nation live in Quebec. Others, who became the Wyandot, now live in the United States. Sculpted in clay, cast in bronze, and mounted on local granite, the Bear, Cord, Deer and Rock reliefs were created by Tyler Fauvelle, a Canadian sculptor inspired by Canada’s natural and cultural heritage. The reliefs are arranged in a circle, an important cultural symbol. The circle resembles the shape of the earth, the sun and the moon, and many cycles in the natural world. The number four appears in many aboriginal spiritual traditions, and the artist expresses the four elements in the reliefs – wind, water, earth and fire. Elements of the artwork embrace symbols from the Huron-Wendat creation stories – the full moon, the Great Turtle.