'^°No'!°74r''^" IROQUOIS MASKS AT ONONDAGA — ^HENDRY 363 



stationary faces carved on posts, and the northern Iroquois and the 

 Cherokee had only portable masks, the Delaware and related Algon- 

 quian peoples who lived adjacent to the Iroquois had both types of 

 images. Therefore, Speck (1945, pp. 74-76) concludes that in early 

 times: the tribes in the central sector of the eastern Algonquian 

 territory from the Hudson River to the Carolina Sound area 

 practiced certain rites connected with graven post images; the early 

 Iroquois performed rites with masks distinct from the usages of the 

 Algonquians; and the mask complex gradually spread to the nearby 

 Algonquian tribes who adopted it in addition to their own stationary 

 icons. Masks, then, were presumably an indigenous trait which the 

 Iroquois brought with them when they migrated into the northeast. 



Historic depth, like origin, has been a subject of controversy, 

 and again two opinions prevail. Some believe that false faces were 

 used by the Iroquois before the contact period, while others date 

 their introduction late in the 17th century. The first historic record of 

 masks of the Iroquois type comes from the French Jesuits who observed 

 them among the Canadian Hurons in 1637, where they were worn in 

 dances to drive away pestilence and were hung on poles at the top of 

 each cabin when not in use. However, Jesuit accounts of similar 

 ceremonies at Onondaga at approximately the same time make no 

 mention of masks of any kind, and although the Onondaga were 

 apparently holding masked dances by 1676, there is no assurance that 

 the masks were of wood. The first positive evidence of false faces 

 among the New York Iroquois comes from De Nonville in 1687. 

 Writing about the Seneca he says, "They make some very hideous 

 masks with pieces of wood which they carve according to their 

 fancy . . . one foot and a half wide in proportion. Two pieces of 

 kettle very neatly fitted to it and pierced with small holes represent 

 the eyes. . ." (Beauchamp, 1905 a, p. 184). In 1743, this type 

 was seen at Onondaga and false faces were recorded after the 

 Revolutionary War as being numerous among all the Iroquois tribes. 



The fact that the first travelers and missionaries found no public 

 use of masks, and for a long time knew of none among the Iroquois, 

 led Fenton (1941, pp. 412-416) and Beauchamp (1905 a, pp. 184-185) 

 to the conclusion that false faces and their rituals made their appear- 

 ance among the Seneca in western New York not earlier than the 

 middle of the 1600's and from there spread slowly eastward to the 

 other four tribes. Those students who take issue with this theory 

 find support for the antiquity of masks in archeological materials. 

 Parker (1909, pp. 181-182) cites the small stone masks and the 

 faces on pots and pipes, some of which he takes to represent masked 

 figures. In his opinion, this evidence and some accounts of idols 

 in the early 1600's that may refer to masks are proof that the Iroquois 



