What does bury the hatchet mean?
“Bury the hatchet” is an English idiom meaning to make peace, or to settle differences with an opponent. Its earliest recorded usage dates back to the 18th century, though 17th century texts make reference to the practice behind the phrase. The idiom “bury the hatchet” refers to a Native American practice of literally burying a tomahawk, or hatchet, in the ground as a symbol of a peace agreement between tribes. Many Native American tribes held the practice of burying, hiding, or destroying their weapons during peacetime, or as a symbol of a truce. According to tradition, it originated with the Iroquois. It is said that the truce between the Cayuga, Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga, and Seneca tribes, thereafter known as collectively as the Iroquois, was accompanied by the tribes burying their weapons under a white pine. An underground stream was believed to have miraculously washed them away.
