374 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 191 



Despite the fact that the Indians have taken over the material 

 culture and subsistence patterns of the Whites, traditional Iroquois 

 customs persist in some aspects of their lives. Insofar as the reserva- 

 tion is allowed autonomous government, it is controlled by a council 

 of 26 chiefs who are chosen according to the ancient precepts of the 

 League; women nominate their sons if they are worthy. Although 

 somewhat disorganized and subject to internal dissension, the council 

 constitutes a strong conservative block, holding tenaciously to the 

 old ways and opposing innovations of any kind. Christians are 

 not allowed to hold office even if they are eligible for chieftainships 

 in the maternal line. Other evident retentions are: the native lan- 

 guage, which is spoken by a segment of the population; the clan and 

 moiety systems, which function in the seating of the chiefs in the 

 Council House; and the religion, most evident when one moiety gives 

 a ceremony for the other. Some of the aboriginal games have sur- 

 vived — gambling with dice made of peach stones or deer buttons, 

 and "snow snake" in which a long slender rod of wood is thrown in 

 a trough of snow. Lacrosse, the national sport of the Iroquois, still 

 arouses enthusiasm; the Onondaga have their own team which plays 

 at other reservations and occasionally at neighboring universities. 



Although the Christian missions are strongly entrenched at Onon- 

 daga, the Episcopalians having the majority of converts, approxi- 

 mately one-third of the community adheres to the old forms of worship 

 as modified by the teachings of Handsome Lake.^* Known as the 

 Long House or Council House religion, it includes the recitation of 

 moral precepts from the Code, the confession of sins, and the cele- 

 bration of the traditional festivals. The False Faces are an integral 

 part of Council House creed and ritual, as they continue to appear 

 at the New Year's Festival when they dance and cure with ashes, to 

 make their rounds of the reservation in the spring and fall, and to hold 

 private ceremonies for those who request their services. Theoretically 

 aU members have at one time undergone treatment by the society, 

 but many who have not been initiated in this manner participate in 

 the curative rites and so have come to be regarded as part of the band. 

 Possibly it is the relaxation of the original requirements for mem- 

 bership that is responsible for the uncertainty in the minds of the 

 Onondaga as to the present size of the society. Estimates range 

 between 13 and 100, the former probably being the number who have 

 been formally initiated. In recent years a Wliite man from Syracuse 

 has been admitted. He visits the reservation frequently, takes an 

 active part in the rituals, and is considered by his associates in the 



>* This number is not an actual count but an estimate given to me by the woman who has charge of the 

 Episcopalian mission. She considers the Onondaga to be one-third Christians, one-third pagans, and one- 

 third nothing In particular. 



