^"no!*'?^]^^^' IROQUOIS MASKS AT ONONDAGA — ^HENDRY 403 



some quality in common apart from their meaning and their function 

 in the culture. 



CONCLUDING REMAKKS 



An examination of mask carving as it exists today on the Onondaga 

 Reservation has led to the conclusion that the retention of this ancient 

 art is a nativistic reaction to the pressures of acculturation. Nativism 

 need not imply a large-scale, organized movement involving the whole 

 society; rather it may be defined as a self-conscious attempt on the 

 part of some individuals to identify with the aboriginal way of life. 

 Linton (1943, pp. 230-231) has pointed out that nativism is the 

 perpetuation or revival not of whole cultures but of certain current or 

 remembered elements of them which are selected for emphasis and 

 given symbolic value. "The more distinctive such elements are with 

 respect to other cultures with which the society is in contact, the 

 greater their potential value as symbols of the society's unique charac- 

 ter." Mask carving satisfies the requirement of distinctiveness, for 

 False Faces have been a prominent feature of Iroquois society for at 

 least 400 years, and quite possibly longer. 



Since masks are still looked upon as ceremonial properties and 

 continue to be an integral part of the rituals of the False Face Society, 

 it may be argued that the perpetuation of the medicine society ade- 

 quately accounts for the retention of carving. Aside from the fact 

 that this explanation solves one problem only to raise another, it is 

 equally plausible to assume that masks have been the crucial factor 

 in the survival of the Society because they have served as striking and 

 concrete reminders of its mythological concepts and its rituals. 

 Moreover, it is precisely in this religious aspect of maskmaking that 

 change seems to have occurred. Although the data do not permit 

 a final judgment, it was my impression that while the religious forms 

 have been preserved, the religious beliefs of many of the individuals 

 who carry out these forms have faded and, in some cases, disappeared 

 completely. 



There are, on the other hand, fairly substantial data to support the 

 hypothesis that a conscious desire to perpetuate the aboriginal pat- 

 terns is the primary reason why masks are made and used today. 

 Briefly restated, the evidence is as follows: 



(1) The dependence upon the ethnographic literature as a source of 

 information about masks and their rituals and as a source of design. 



(2) The deference accorded Pete Hest who, although a White man, 

 has been accepted into the False Face Society and is respected as 

 an authority on the old customs. 



(3) The class in Indian lore which encourages carving, and which is 

 under the guidance of Hest and was apparently initiated by him. 



