382 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 191 



realized that the carvings had a monetary value for the Whites, 

 their attitude began to shift in the direction of greater conformity 

 to western standards. This change may be responsible for the fact 

 that masks are now private rather than community property. 



Today at Onondaga the economic aspects of maskmaking are still 

 minimized by those who identify with the traditional Iroquois pat- 

 terns. In this respect the art differs from the beadwork and basket- 

 weaving of the women, which are openly acknowledged to be 

 commercial enterprises, as well as from carving on some other reser- 

 vations where masks are made specifically for the tourist trade and 

 it is possible to order "a genuine Iroquois false face" by mail. Some 

 Onondagas maintain that masks, being ceremonial properties, should 

 never be sold, although the more prevalent opinion holds that it is 

 use which makes the carvings sacred and that they may be sold if 

 they have never been "doctored" or worn in a ceremony. The 

 chiefs have forbidden sales at the State Fair and from the roadside 

 stands on the reservation and do all they can to prevent the old masks 

 from falling into the hands of the Whites. The position which the 

 carvers themselves have taken toward selling their work is somewhat 

 inconsistent. They assert quite positively that although it is per- 

 missible to sell and trade masks among the members of the False 

 Face Society and the other Council House people, it is wrong to deal 

 with outsiders, particularly as Pete Hest has told them to keep all 

 the carvings they make. Actually, however, most of them have on 

 occasion done business with the T\Tiites or with those Indians who 

 have no scruples about selling to the Whites; some have even parted 

 with their "doctored" masks when they were in need of money. 

 How this contradiction between their statements and their actions is 

 rationalized, I do not know. When questioned individually, each 

 carver intimated that although he had never sold a "doctored" mask, 

 he knew of others who had done so, but that these were cases in 

 which there were extenuating circumstances, usually of a financial 

 nature. It may be that they regard the traditional prohibitions as 

 ideal standards of conduct which they feel obliged to follow only 

 when they do not conflict with economic necessity. It is also possible 

 that the leniency which the individual carver displays, toward those 

 who accept the norms but occasionally fail to observe them, may 

 serve to assuage his own feelings of guilt when he finds himself in a 

 similar position. 



The attitude of the more acculturated Onondagas is far more ex- 

 plicit. The Christians and others who have no respect for the in- 

 junctions of the Council House look upon the false faces as Indian 

 curios which may have a monetary value. Of these people, however, 

 only Andrew Pierce has openly attempted to commercialize the art 



