CANNIBALISM IN KANADA

In the early 18th century, Jesuit missionaries bore witness to a savage Aboriginal death ritual. The tribe that was conducting the ritual were the Hurons. Their victim? An Iroquois Aboriginal man who was kidnapped while he and his fellow tribesmen were fishing along the shores of Lake Ontario. The Huron chief claimed that his God Of War and The Sun would be pleased with the ritual they were about to proceed with.

Being a scared ritual, there were a set of rules that must be followed. One of these rules was that they were not allowed to massacre their victims before daybreak. Since they had captured the men at night, they could not execute their plans, so instead they just burned his legs. Also, they should not have sex during the night, but for what reason is unknown.

The tied and bound prisoner, screaming in immense pain started to sing a song that he had learned just for the occasion. The song was one of defiance, meant to invoke bravery in the soul while in the face of death. The Iroquois man was then brought inside of the primitive building they had constructed which was full of savages ready to brand him with burning bark. As the man resisted his upcoming fate, the Huronsbroke the bones of the man to restrain him and then pierced his ears with sticks from the ground, which they left inside of the ears.

Every time the Iroquois victim seems as if he were about to crossover to the realm of the dead, the Huron chief would make the brutal tribesmen cease their torturing because he was supposed to see the daylight. As dawn approached, he was taken outside. Then, he was forced climb onto a primitive wooden platform, enabling the entire village to see what was happening to him. These platforms built upon wooden scaffold replaced the ziggurats and pyramids that were common in Mesoamerica.

Once upon the death alter, four men took the task of torturing their prisoner. First they scorched out his eyes, placed red hot hatchets on his shoulders and forced burning rods down his throat and into his anus. As soon as they realized that their subject of sacrifice was about to die, they cut off his arms, legs and his head - all at the same time. They then threw the Iroquois man's head into the onlooking crowd. One of the barbaric Hurons in the crowd caught the head and carried it to the chief.

The chief made a meal out of the head.

Thank you for reading,
The Ontaryan

References:
Marvin Harris, Cannibals and Kings: The Origin of Cultures, Glasgow, 1978, p. 115