Onoñda’géga’ Ohnéganos; Onondaga Water, the Sacred Lake

The Creekwalk ends at Onondaga Lake, long a sacred place for the Onondagas, as it should have been for all of us. It ended up being the most heavily polluted lake in the United States. Efforts to return it to its natural state are slow coming, minuscule and half-hearted. Still, this sign is welcome, situated at the beginning of the lake where bald eagles have been seen during especially cold winters. Today it was raw and cold down there. Still, it is a wonderful place to be.

I could not find the true Onondaga word or words to put a name to the lake here. The best I could locate were the word for the Onondaga people, and the word for water.