IROQUOIS — FENTON 423 



THE MASK AND RATTLE 



Men belonging to the Society of Faces usually own a bundle con- 

 taining a turtle rattle and one or more masks decorated with bags 

 of sacred tobacco. When not being used, the mask is laid away, face 

 down with its hair wreathed around the face and the turtle shell 

 placed in the hollow at the back of the mask ; and the whole is wrapped 

 in the cloth head cover. Sometimes unwrapped masks are hung up- 

 stairs, but facing the wall. A mask hung facing out should be covered, 

 lest some frightened persons become possessed and join the society. 

 One must be careful of them. If a mask falls, the owner burns a 

 tobacco offering and ties a little bundle of sacred tobacco at the ear 

 or forehead. Whenever he dreams about the Face, he will rise and 

 repeat the ritual. Every man has a package of tobacco on his mask 

 which he removes when he sells it to white people. He burns tobacco, 

 telling the mask that it is going away. He asks it not to return and 

 haiTO him or the new owner (pi. 21, fig. 2). Everyone belonging 

 to the society may use anyone else's face. A new owner will add a 

 package of tobacco to a mask, and if he purchases one already having 

 several attached medicine bundles, he adds his own; but a maker 

 does not tie tobacco on a mask unless he intends to keep and use it. 

 Sometimes the masks become hungry and the owners rub their lips 

 with mush and anoint their faces with sunflower oil, which after many 

 years imparts a rich luster. A man, having no children, may request 

 that a mask be buried with him. 



Unless the new member inherits an old mask, he must carve one 

 or enlist the services of a carver. They say at Tonawanda that softer 

 woods are best for carving masks. Basswood has the prestige of 

 tradition, but other soft woods like willow and cucumber are also 

 used. Anciently, a man went into the forest to carve his masks. He 

 carried native tobacco and sought a living basswood tree. Now he 

 committed the tobacco to the burning embers, a pinch at a time, 

 addressing his prayer to the tree and the beings w^hom the False-faces 

 represent. Then he carved the face on the living tree (pi. 21, fig. 1), 

 and having roughed it out, he notched the tree with an ax above the 

 forehead and below the chin and cleaved away his sculpture in a 

 solid block. It is said that the carving never broke because one had 

 put tobacco and asked the tree for its life. Nor did the tree die. 

 Within 4 years, the scar healed over. He took home his block, cov- 

 ered it and worked on it at his leisure. Wlien the features were fin- 

 ished, he hollowed out the inside (with a bent farrier's knife), and 

 perforated the eyes, nose, and mouth (pi. 22). He encircled the eyes 

 with metal, for the Great False-face's eyes are bright. Then he 

 painted it. If he had sought his tree in the morning, he painted the 



