Burying the Hatchet

by Allison Pang

I'm writing this a day early because forecasters are predicting a major snowstorm for the East Coast - so it's entirely possible by the time you're reading this I'll be without power and buried under a whole heap of the white stuff. (For whatever reason, my house loses power on a fairly regular basis - when anything falls out of the sky for an extended period of time, all bets are off.)

At any rate, I want to focus on the phrase "bury the hatchet."  I think most people would recognize that it means to let bygones be bygones - usually in conjunction with another party. (Unless, you're a bit like me at times aka  "I'll bury the hatchet, all right. In your thick skull!")

But I was curious as to its origins - and as it turns out, burying the hatchet is a Native American phrase - specifically that of the Iroquois. Burying the hatchet was just that - a literal ceremony in which burying one's weapons in the ground symbolized peace.

Straight Dope has a good piece written up about it here - but here's a bit of the article directly:

Though the practice was familiar early on, the exact phrase "bury the hatchet" didn't crop up until 1753. On September 18th of that year, the Lord Commissioners of Trade and the Plantations in London wrote a letter to the Governor of Maryland that reads, "His Majesty having been pleased to order a Sum of Money to be Issued for Presents to the Six Nations of Indians [the Iroquois] and to direct his Governour of New York to hold an Interview with them for Delivering those presents [and] for Burying the Hatchet ..."

Non-Iroquois tribes were practicing the ceremony by the end of the French and Indian War. In 1761, after the French surrendered Canada, their traditional allies the Micmac (an Algonquian people) buried the hatchet with the British. In the decades after American independence, Congress buried the hatchet with several tribes, many of which (like the Chickasaw) were not Iroquoian.

The opposite of burying the hatchet is taking it up, which occurs in English as early as 1694. Variants include "dig up," "raise," etc. But these war-making phrases are now much more rare than "bury the hatchet."

I don't think I've ever heard of "raising the hatchet"  - doesn't quite have the same ring to it, I guess - though the connotation is interesting to me, because it sort of lends itself to the idea that peace doesn't have to be permanent. From a story perspective, it makes for some really great imagery.

Buried Treasure

Has anyone else been watching The Curse of Oak Island on the History Channel?

Maybe you've heard of the Money Pit?

There's an island covered in oak trees...in an area where there are no oak trees. The same island where in the late 1700's a young boy saw lights, investigated and ended up digging. He and friends found wooden platforms every ten feet down. Following that legendary story, another group later was able to dig deeper and found at the ninety foot level a stone centered on the platform. A stone with strange markings. A stone which has since disappeared...

A second pit was then found, and it was booby trapped.

So far, six have died looking for treasure there. The legend says seven must die before the treasure can be found.

So what's the treasure supposed to be there that's worth such risk?

Well, it's rumored to be the loot of Spanish pirates. And it's rumored to be the treasures and ancient religious artifacts hidden by the Knights Templar.


Sounds like an awesome story, right?

This is real.

Enter two brothers--two incredibly likable, reasonable, methodical brothers--their sons, some friends, a professional diver, researchers, and metal detectors.

The season was only a few episodes long. (I think six or seven.) But watching these men and the camaraderie building as they plunge deeper on their modern day quest was fun and fascinating. I am eager for more, and hopeful that they do find treasure. They seem like genuine, personable folk. Check out the link below: I think the History Channel has all the episodes up and ready to watch.

HERE

We Will Bury You

 "Whether you like it or not, history is on our side. 

We will bury you."

That poorly translated threat from Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev was made in 1960 while in the throes of the Cold War. His impassioned and deliberately provocative speech at the UN went down in history partly due to the way the Western press had translated Khrushchev's decolonization speech ... and partly because he banged on the podium with his shoe to make his point. There are some who say he regretted his zeal the moment he finished speaking and there are others who say he was unrepentant. Either way, it's an infamous moment in history.

That moment is pure story fodder. 

The words are timeless as is the sentiment. Regardless of one's political stance, when it comes to writing a scene of self-righteous (and ultimately self-defeating) fervor this snapshot of real-world events begs to be retooled into a fictitious climatic moment. Protagonist or antagonist, either of them could succumb to the flaw for the right reasons.  Talk about a great action to demonstrate precise emotion... I mean...wow.  I live for these blips of "too crazy to be anything but true." I have rough outlines that reference "Khrushchev moment" or "Bush at Japan Dinner" or "Clinton's Depends on 'Is' is." Politics isn't my only source, naturally. News of the Weird and Clumsy Crooks also offer creative fuel.

Shoe banging head-of-humongous-nation ...

Sounds like a creative writing prompt.

What infamous moment in history has made it into your stories, dear readers?

On Not Burying Your Light

Agent Pam has been visiting me this weekend. She flew out to New Mexico to speak at my local chapter, LERA, today. Thursday night we had a little reception for her with the chapter's unagented authors, where she also took pitches. Yesterday was mostly for sightseeing, along with Santa Fe writer friend and LERA member, Anna Philpott.

It's been great for me to spend this extended time with Pam. We message and talk on the phone sometimes, and we've been at a conference together, but having longer conversations about the industry and my writing career brings out different ideas. Long-term ideas. We are surprisingly sympatico on how we feel about books, writing and publishing.

I say surprisingly, because I never really expected to have a close relationship with my agent. All that advice saying "don't expect your agent to be your best friend" made perfect sense to me. Why would he or she be? But Pam is rapidly becoming an excellent friend, too.

Best of all, she's ballsy in a way I'm not. Now, those of you who've met me personally know I'm far from a shy flower. I'm a reasonably confident person and not a pushover. However, especially when it comes to my writing, I don't like to be pushy. I'm not sure I can explain why. While I believe my books are good, I don't like to shout about it. Maybe it's a female thing. Maybe it's an artist thing.

It's just my thing.

I tend to bury my light under the proverbial bushel. Even my day job boss, the lovely Laurie, said the other day that I was too modest in describing my published author status to a new higher-up in the company.

Who knew I'd be too-modest person?

Yeah - I hear some of you snickering out there.

Pam, however, is not shy about talking up my work. In fact, she marched into our local indie bookseller, who'd stonewalled me about setting up events, and within minutes had the guy practically begging to host my book launch for The Mark of the Tala.

She's also really good about bragging on her own accomplishments - perfectly willing to tell everyone that she's sold 50 books in her first two years of agenting. When I mentioned that I think it's funny she just comes out and says that, she replied that she read that women tend not to announce their accomplishments and she's working against that.

No burying the light for her.

Something for me to learn from.