378 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 191 



are a fraction of the total population and few even in relation to that 

 segment which identifies with the aboriginal culture. There are not 

 more than 12 living on the reservation today who are known to be 

 maskmakers, and of this number it is only the younger men — those 

 between the ages of 25 and 45 — who have done much carving within 

 the last few years (see table 1, p. 381) . I was told that in the past more 

 of the older generation made masks but that now the work is hard 

 on their eyes and in general too arduous. 



The amount of time devoted to carving is not great, although it 

 varies from one carver to another. No one works at it regularly 

 throughout the year, and some seem to regard it almost as a hobby or 

 recreation to occupy their spare time. While several of the men have 

 made as many as a dozen masks, others have turned out only one or 

 two. Eddie Schenandoah, who is at present employed in Syracuse, is 

 one of the most productive of the carvers whereas Allison Thomas, 

 whose job as caretaker of the community center leaves him free for 

 most of the day, has done comparatively little. Thus, differences in 

 creativity do not seem to be related to the amount of leisure time a 

 man has at his disposal. More probably such differences are de- 

 pendent on the individual's interest and success in carving, and on 

 whether he finds the work easy or difficult. 



At only one period of the year does maskmaking approximate a 

 full-time occupation. This is in the winter, a couple of months before 

 the New Year's Festival. Several informants remarked that although 

 they have no particular desire to carve during the rest of the year, they 

 "begin to get a feeling for it" at about this season and then work 

 steadily in order to be ready for the annual appearance of the False 

 Faces in the Council House. 



With few exceptions those who carve the masks are those who use 

 them. They are adherents to the native religious system who have 

 never been Christians, are apostates from the church, or attend the 

 Council House as well as the church. Most seem to be active partici- 

 pants in the False Face rituals and members of the medicine society. 

 They are also central to the old culture through tribal affiliation, 

 language, and association with native politics. Two are chiefs and 

 three are the sons of the present head of the council and themselves 

 eligible for office. The carvers who are marginal to the old culture are 

 those who do little or no mask carving today. Floyd Doctor is a 

 Seneca and, as far as I know, is not a member of the Council House. 

 He picked up the art on the Tonawanda Reservation "because there 

 was nothing else to do during the depression," but has done very little 

 with it since he came to Onondaga. Two other men caU themselves 

 carvers although they are avowed Christians and belong to the more 

 acculturated portion of the population. Of these, however, Stanley 



