^'^iK'^T^r^^" IROQUOIS MASKS AT ONONDAGA — HENDRY 365 



THE FALSE FACE SOCIETY 



Although one of many religious organizations concerned with the 

 preservation of health, the False Face Society has always enjoyed 

 preeminence among the Iroquois, and on some reservations it is the 

 only medicine society which has persisted up to the present day. 

 Its particular function is the propitiation of the gods of Wind and 

 Disease, a class of evil spirits greatly feared for their power to send 

 plagues and pestilence among men. These supernatural beings are 

 not named individually but are simply called False Faces; the Onon- 

 daga word is Hodo'wi, a term also used for those masks which repre- 

 sent the spirits. They are usually described as elusive creatures 

 who have neither bodies nor limbs, only hideous faces which paralyze 

 all who behold them. In ancient times they were occasionally 

 glimpsed by hunters in retired parts of the forest where they darted 

 from tree to tree, their long hair snapping in the wind. At Onondaga 

 they were said to live in a great cave where there were stone images 

 carved in their likeness and an atmosphere so charged with malign 

 influences that anyone who dared to enter was immediately stricken 

 with sickness (Smith, 1888, p. 187). 



Of the several legends recounting the origin of the False Face 

 Society, that most generally known among the Iroquois concerns a 

 test of magical power between the Great Creator and the first Hodo'wi.^ 

 Boasting that it was he who ruled the world, the Hodo'wi attempted 

 to prove his superior strength by summoning a distant mountain. 

 When he failed to accomplish this feat, the Creator caused the moun- 

 tain to stand directly behind the Hodo'wi and then commanded him 

 to turn around. Angrily doing so, the Hodo'wi struck his face 

 violently against a rocky ledge, breaking his nose and twisting his 

 mouth with pain. In punishment for his boastfulness he was forced 

 to suffer this distorted visage, and to help human beings combat 

 sickness and other evil influences. It was he who first instructed 

 men in the art of carving masks reminiscent of his own features and 

 taught them the ceremonies in which they are used. The Seneca 

 say he stUl lives on the rim of the world where he walks with great 

 strides, following the path of the sun. He carries a long staff and 

 a giant mud turtle rattle, and his face is red in the morning, black 

 in the afternoon (Fenton, 1941, p. 420). 



Originally the False Faces were a true secret society. When the 

 members appeared in character they were always masked and their 

 names were known only to their leader, a woman who had charge of 

 the regalia. Initiation and exodus were by dreams. To fall sick and 



8 This legend has been recorded by Parker, Keppler, and Fenton, and was repeated to me several times 

 at Onondaga. 



682-611— '64 29 



