Lily of the Mohawks, or Saint Kateri Tekakwitha was the first Native American to be acknowledged as a saint. Kateri was born near the town of Auriesville, New York, in the year 1656, she was the daughter of a Mohawk warrior. She was most likely to be born into the Turtle Clan, the Mohawk and other First Nations tribes have a matrilineal affinity system, where children are born into the mother's clan and take their status from her (Some First Nation communities still do this. Since I am First Nation, my Clan happens to be the Bear Clan). However, since her mother was an Algonquin woman captured and brought into the Mohawk community, Kateri was born into her father's clan. When Kateri was four she witnessed a small pox epidemic, which scarred her face, almost leaving her completely blind, none of her immediate family survived. …show more content…
After the smallpox epidemic had finally came to a rest, the survivors moved at the top of a hill. They called their new village Caughnawaga ("at the wild water" in the Mohawk language). Kateri was a bit left out, as the orphan child walked around with a blanket over her head to cover her smallpox scars. As Kateri got a bit older, she became quite good at traditional native women arts, such as making clothing made of animal skin, weaving mats, baskets and boxes from stalks and grasses; and preparing food from what the game, crops and gathered produce. When she was 19, they arranged for her to get married, but she