98 NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



in a wooden bowl and with as much juice as the mass would hold 

 placed on basswood leaves on slabs of slate or other flat rocks. The 

 juice that remained in the bowl was given to the children who even 

 in those days loved to '' lick out the bowl." 



For winter's use the dried berries were soaked in cold water and 

 then heated slowly, maple sugar being thrown in as a seasoning. The 

 berries were then either eaten as a sauce or mixed with bread meal 

 or onon'da', hominy. 



The gathering of the autumn berries was regarded more of a 

 pastime than work. In fact, work with these people in many lines 

 was made easier by its social character, and seemed more like a game 

 where the thrill of it all kept the thought of fatigue away. 



The work of berrying was left of course to the women and girls. 

 They would go in groups to the places where patches of the vines 

 and bushes grew and sing their folksongs as they gathered the fruit. 

 Every one laughed or sang and picked as fast as their two hands 

 could touch the berries. The picking baskets yiondasste^nondakwa' 

 held about 5 quarts. They were suspended from the back of the 

 neck and the chest, one fore, the other aft. The forward basket lay 

 against the abdomen so that it was within easy reach. This being 

 filled the berries were covered with sumac or basswood leaves- held 

 in place by two sticks, slung to the rear, the rear basket brought 

 forward and filled. The two baskets were then carried to a larger 

 basket holding about -J bushel. One large basket and the two pick- 

 ing baskets full of berries constituted a load for a woman to carry. 



Huckleberries were raked from the bushes with the fingers. 

 Swamp huckleberries, bushes that grew along streams running 

 through marshes, were bent over into a canoe and stripped of their 

 berries which fell into large containing baskets. In picking mountain 

 huckleberries or those which grew in snake infested places the 

 moccasins were smeared with lard to frighten away the rattlers. 

 The snakes, scenting the hog fat, would think that pigs were scout- 

 ing for them. 



This description of the berry-picking industry applies to a large 

 extent to the Iroquois of the present day, especially the Seneca along 

 the Cattaraugus, Allegany and Tonawanda. 



The first fruit of the year is the wild strawberry and this the 

 Iroquois takes as a symbol of the Creator's renewed promise of 

 beneficence. Quantities are gathered and brought to the f^ast- 

 makers at the Long House for the Strawberry Thanksgiving. his 

 is an annual ceremony of importance though it lasts but a day. 



