Iroquois

By Gerald Reid

Five Nations, League of the Iroquois, Six Nations.

The League of the Iroquois was originally a confederacy of 5 North American Indian tribes: the Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga, Cayuga, and Seneca. A sixth tribe, the Tuscarora, joined the League in 1722 after migrating north from the region of the Roanoke River in response to hostilities with White colonists. In the 1980s members of the 6 Iroquoian tribes lived in Quebec and Ontario, Canada and New York, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, and Oklahoma in the United States.

On the eve of European contact the Iroquois territory extended from Lake Champlain and Lake George west to the Genesee River and Lake Ontario and from the St. Lawrence River south to the Susquehanna River. Within these boundaries each of the original 5 tribes occupied an north-south oblong strip of territory; from east to west, they were the Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga, Cayuga, and Seneca. The region was primarily lake and hill country dissected by numerous rivers. Deciduous forests of birch, beech, maple and elm dominated the region, giving way to fir and spruce forests in the north and in the higher elevations of the Adirondack Mountains. In aboriginal times fish and animal species were diverse and abundant.

In 1600 the population of the Five Nations is estimated to have been about 5,500 and that of the Tuscarora about 5,000. By 1904 the 6 Iroquois tribes numbered at least 16,000, not including several thousand persons of mixed blood. In the 1980s the total population of the 6 tribes was estimated to be over 20,000.

The languages of the 6 tribes are classified in the Northern Iroquoian branch of the Iroquoian language family. The languages of all 6 tribes are still spoken.

The Iroquoian confederacy was organized sometime between 1400 and A.D. 1600 for the purpose of maintaining peaceful relations between the 5 constituent tribes. Subsequent to European contact relations within the confederacy were sometimes strained as each of the 5 tribes sought to expand and maintain its own interests in the developing fur trade. For the most part, however, the fur trade served to strengthen the confederacy because tribal interests often complemented one another and all gained from acting in concert. The League was skillful at playing French and English interests off against one another to its advantage and thereby was able to play a major role in the economic and political events of northeastern North America during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. The Iroquois aggressively maintained and expanded their role in the fur trade and as a result periodically found themselves at war with their neighbors, such as the Huron, Petun, and the Neutral to the West and the Susquehannock to the south. Much of the fighting was done by the Seneca, the most powerful of the Iroquoian tribes. From 1667 to the 1680s the Iroquois maintained friendly relations with the French and during this time Jesuit missions were established among each of the 5 tribes.

However, Iroquois aggression and expansion eventually brought them into conflict with the French and, at the same time, into closer alliance with the English. In 1687, 1693 and 1696 French military expeditions raided and burned Iroquois villages and fields. During Queen Anne's War (1702-1713) the Iroquois allied with the English and at the War's end were acknowledged to be British subjects, though they continued to aggressively maintain and extend their middleman role between English traders at Fort Orange (Albany) and native groups farther west. The victory of the English over the French in North America in 1763 weakened the power of the confederacy by undermining the strategic economic and political position of the tribes and by promoting the rapid expansion of White settlement. When the American Revolution broke out in 1775 neither the League as a whole nor even the tribes individually were able to agree on a common course of action. Most of the Iroquois allied with the British and as a result during and after the Revolution were forced from their homelands. In the period following the American Revolution the members of the Iroquois tribes settled on reservations in western New York state, southern Quebec and southern Ontario, where many of their descendants remain today.

Villages were built on elevated terraces in close proximity to streams or lakes and were secured by log palisades. Village populations ranged between 300 and 600 persons. Typically, an enclosed village included numerous longhouses and several acres of fields for growing crops; surrounding the village were several hundred more acres of fields for growing crops. Longhouses were constructed of log posts and poles and covered with a sheathing of elm bark; they averaged 25 feet in width and 80 feet in length, though some exceeded 200 feet in length. Villages were semi-permanent and in use year round. When soil fertility in the fields declined and firewood in the vicinity of the village became scarce the village was moved to a new site. This was a gradual process, with the new village being built as the old one was gradually abandoned. The settlements of the 5 tribes lay along an east-west axis were connected by a system of trails.

Traditionally, the Iroquois were farmers and hunters who practiced a slash-and-burn form of horticulture. In addition, they fished and gathered berries, plants, and roots. Before the arrival of Europeans the primary weapons were bows and arrows, stone axes and knives and blowguns, however, by the late seventeenth century European trade goods had almost completely replaced the traditional weapons and tools. The principal crops were maize, beans, and squash which, in addition, were prominent in ceremonial activities. In good years surplus crops were dried and stored for future use. After the harvest of crops in the late summer, the seasonal round included fall hunting that lasted until the winter solstice, early spring fishing and hunting of passenger pigeons, and then spring and summer clearing and planting of fields. Farming has now been largely abandoned by the Iroquois, although the annual cycle of festivals and ceremonies associated with planting, harvesting and other traditional economic activities persist. In the 1980s most Iroquois who are employed work off the reservations because economic opportunities are so limited there. Some men, for example, work in high steel construction, which has been an important source of employment for the Iroquois since the late nineteenth century.

The Iroquois knew how to bend and shape wood when green or after steaming. House frames, pack frames, snowshoes, toboggans, basket rims, lacrosse sticks and other wood products were made using these techniques. Rope was made from the inner bark of hickory, basswood and slippery elm and burden straps and prisoner ties were made from the braided fibers of nettle, milkweed and hemp. Pipes of fired clay were among the many types of items manufactured by the Iroquois. The Iroquois are known for making ash and maple splint baskets, although this craft may be of European origin.

Long before European contact the Iroquois were involved in an intricate trade network with other native groups (see cultural relations above). Clay pipes were an important trade item that reached other native groups all along the east coast of North America. The aggressive behavior the Iroquois exhibited towards their neighbors during the fur trade period has been interpreted by some as the result of their aim to protect and expand their middleman role. Others have suggested that the aggressive behavior of the Iroquois tribes was related to the scarcity of furs in their own territory and the resulting difficulty in obtaining European trade goods. According to this theory, the Iroquois warred primarily to obtain the trade goods of their neighbors in closer contact with Europeans. After the center of fur trading activities had moved farther west, the Iroquois continued to play an important role as voyageurs and trappers.

Traditionally, men hunted and fished, built houses, cleared fields for planting, and were responsible for trade and warfare. In addition, men had the more visible roles in tribal and confederacy politics. Farming was the responsibility of women, whose work also included gathering wild foods, rearing children, preparing food, and making clothing and baskets and other utensils.

Matrilineages were the property holding unit in traditional Iroquoian society.

Matrilineages were organized into 15 matrisibs. Among the Cayuga, Onondaga, Seneca and Tuscarora the matrisibs were further organized into moieties. Among the Mohawk and the Oneida no moiety division was recognized. Descent was matrilineal. In modern times, the stress placed on patrilineal inheritance by Canadian authorities has undermined the traditional matrilineal system.

Traditional kinship terminology followed the Iroquoian pattern. In one's own and the first ascending and descending generations parallel relatives were classed with one's lineal relatives and cross relatives were referred to separately.

At one time marriages were a matter of individual choice, however, in the historic period the matrilineage and particularly the mother played an increasingly important role in the arrangement of marriages. Post-marital residence was matrilocal. Polygyny was practiced, but by the late eighteenth century had entirely disappeared. Divorce was possible and when it occurred the mother retained full control over her children.

The basic economic unit consisted of matrilineally extended family groups of women, their spouses, and their children. Each extended family group occupied a longhouse within which individual nuclear families occupied designated sections and shared common hearths. Each longhouse was under the control and direction of the elder women in the extended family group.

Traditionally, property was inherited matrilineally. In the 1980s matrilineal inheritance continued to be practiced among Iroquois on reservations in the United States, but not so for those in Canada, where the government has enforced a patrilineal system of inheritance.

The life cycle pattern of the Iroquois is not well understood. There was a clear dividing line between the activities of men and women and the ideals of male and female behavior and roles were communicated to children by elders through oral traditions. Except for those who achieved political office, no formalized rites of passage marked the transition to adulthood for boys or girls.

The members of matrisibs cooperated in economic activities and were obligated to avenge the death or injury of any other member. Moieties had reciprocal and complementary ceremonial functions and competed against one another in games. Matrisibs cut across tribal boundaries so that members were found in each tribe and village and often within each longhouse.

The Iroquois confederacy operated under a council of 50 sachems representing the five original tribes. When the Tuscarora joined the League in 1722, no new sachem positions were created for it. The council was a legislative, executive and judicial body that deliberated only on the external affairs of the confederacy, such as peace and war, and on matters common to the five constituent tribes. The council had no voice in the internal affairs of the separate tribes.

Tribal representation on the council was unequally distributed among the 5 tribes although abuse of power was limited by the requirement of unanimity in all council decisions. Below the level of the League council were separate tribal councils concerned with the internal affairs of each tribe and each tribe's relations with external groups. The tribal council was composed of the sachems who represented the tribe on the League council. Sachem positions were hereditary within each tribe and belonged to particular matrisibs. The women of the matrisib nominated each new sachem, who was always a male, and had the power to recall or "dehorn" a chief who failed to represent the interests of his people. Theoretically, each sachem was equal to the others in power, but in practice those with better oratorial skills wielded greater influence. After the confederacy had been functioning for a period of time a new, nonhereditary office of Pine Tree Chief was created to provide local leadership and to act as advisors to the council sachems, although later they actually sat on the League council and equaled the sachems in power. Pine Tree Chiefs held their position for life and were chosen by the women of a matrisib on the basis of skill in warfare.

Iroquois involvement in the fur trade and war with the French increased the importance and solidarity of the League council and thereby strengthened the confederacy. The strength of the confederacy continued to grow until the time of the American Revolution when Iroquois interests divided between alliances to the British and the American colonists.

Part time religious specialists known as Keepers of the Faith served in part to censure anti-social behavior. Unconfessed witches detected through council proceedings were punished with death, while those who confessed might be allowed to reform.

Witchcraft was the most serious type of anti-social behavior. The Iroquois believed that witches, in concert with the Evil Spirit, could cause disease, accident, death, or other misfortune. Because witches were thought to be able to transform themselves into other objects, they were difficult to catch and punish.

The supernatural world of the Iroquois included numerous deities, the most important of which was Great Spirit, who was responsible for the creation of men, the plants and, animals and the forces of good in nature. The Iroquois believed that Great Spirit indirectly guided the lives of ordinary men. Other important deities were Thunderer and the Three Sisters, the spirits of Maize, Beans and Squash. Opposing the Great Spirit and the other forces of good were Evil Spirit and other lesser spirits responsible for disease and other misfortune. In the Iroquois view ordinary humans could not communicate directly with Great Spirit, but could do so indirectly by burning tobacco, which carried their prayers to the lesser spirits of good. The Iroquois regarded dreams as important supernatural signs and serious attention was given to interpreting dreams. It was believed that dreams expressed the desire of the soul and as a result the fulfillment of a dream was of paramount importance to the individual.

Around 1800 a Seneca sachem named Handsome Lake received a series of visions which he believed showed the way for the Iroquois to regain their lost cultural integrity and promised supernatural aid to all those who followed him. The Handsome Lake religion emphasized many traditional elements of Iroquoian culture, but also incorporated Quaker beliefs and aspects of White culture. In the 1960s at least half of the Iroquoian people accepted the Handsome Lake religion.

Full time religious specialists were absent, however, there were part-time male and female specialists known as Keepers of the Faith whose primary responsibilities were to arrange and conduct the main religious ceremonies. Keepers of the Faith were appointed by matrisib elders and were accorded considerable prestige.

Religious ceremonies were tribal affairs concerned primarily with farming, curing illness and thanksgiving. In the sequence of occurrence, the 6 major ceremonies were the Maple, Planting, Strawberry, Green Maize, Harvest and Mid-Winter or New Year's festivals. The first 5 festivals in this sequence involved public confessions followed by group ceremonies which included speeches by the Keepers of the Faith, tobacco offerings and prayer. The New Year's festival was usually held in early February and was marked by dream interpretations and the sacrifice of a white dog offered to purge the people of evil.

One of the most interesting Iroquoian art forms is the False Face Mask. Used in the curing ceremonies of the False Face Societies, the masks are made of maple, white pine, basswood and poplar. False Face Masks are first carved in a living tree, then cut free and painted and decorated. The masks represent spirits who reveal themselves to the mask maker in a prayer and tobacco burning ritual performed before the mask is carved.

Illness and disease were attributed to supernatural causes. Curing ceremonies consisted of group shamanistic practices directed towards propitiating the responsible supernatural agents. One of the curing groups was the False Face Society. False Face Societies were found in each village and, except for a female Keeper of the False Faces who protected the ritual paraphernalia, consisted only of male members who had dreamed of participation in False Face ceremonies.

When a sachem died and his successor was nominated and confirmed, the other tribes of the League were informed and the League council met to perform a condolence ceremony in which the deceased sachem was mourned and the new sachem was installed. The sachem's condolence ceremony was still held on Iroquois reservations in the 1970s. Condolence ceremonies were also practiced for common people. In early historic times the dead were buried in a sitting position facing east. After burial, a captured bird was released in the belief that it carried away the spirit of the deceased. In earlier times the dead were left exposed on a wooden scaffolding and after a time their bones were deposited in a special house of the deceased. The Iroquois believed, as some Iroquois continue to believe today, that after death the soul embarked on a journey and series of ordeals that ended in the land of the dead in the sky world. Mourning for the dead lasted for a year, at the end of which time soul's journey was believed to be complete and a feast was held to signify the soul's arrival in the land of the dead.

This summary was originally prepared by Gerald Reid for the Encyclopedia of World Cultures.

• AKATONE -- lineages -- category 613

• American Indian Federation -- a political activist group -- category 668

• Association of Iroquois and Allied Indians (AIAI) -- categories 665, 571

• AWERIASA -- the power in man; his soul -- category 774

• burden straps, manufacture of -- category 286

• chiefs -- hereditary chiefs (sachem, peace chief, lord of the League, federal chief) -- category 646; at local or village level -- category 622

• councils, of the League -- category 646; village -- category 623; tribal or elected -- category 635

• deacons (modern) -- category 794

• dehorners or warrior associations -- categories 571, 668, sometimes 701

• dream guessing -- categories 828, 787, 524

• evaluation of freedom -- categories 641, 181, 157

• faithkeepers -- categories 791 and also 756

• GAIWIIO -- the "Good Word"; the Code of Handsome Lake -- category 779

• giving thanks to all nature -- category 782

• grand council -- category 646

• Green Corn Festival -- categories 241, 796

• hatbands and beads on hats -- category 301

• hominy stirrer -- category 413

• Indian Reorganization Act of 1934 -- categories 671, 657

• Iroquois-State relationships -- categories 563, 657

• Kinzua Dam Project -- categories 653, 312

• knee rattles -- categories 534, 301

• lack of social intercourse between sexes prior to marriage -- category 883

• law giver, the first -- category 173

• League of the Iroquois -- category 642

• longhouse, as a structure -- categories 342, 344, 346; social organization of -- categories 592, 596; as a community -- category 621; as a religious congregation -- category 794

• medals -- given by whites as a symbol of prestige -- categories 648, 554

• medicine societies -- category 756

• military chiefs -- category 701

• North American Indian Travelling College -- categories 217, 543

• 'OHKI:WE:H -- Feast of the Dead, held once or twice a year -- category 769

• peacemakers, tribal -- category 692

• Pine Tree Chiefs -- category 622, sometimes with 554 or 555

• sachems -- category 646

• Seneca Arts Project -- category 658 (sometimes with 657)

• speakers -- category 537, sometimes with 554

• St. Lawrence Seaway Project -- category 653

• sub-sachems -- assistants to the sachems -- category 646

• tenets of approved and desirable behavior -- category 577

• tenth day feast -- category 765

• thieving party, comparable to Halloween -- categories 685, 883

• TJINHGE'DA -- an animal bone used in hunting magic -- categories 224, 789

• trenches and palisades -- category 712

• wampum -- categories 211, 436; making of wampum belt -- category 286, 237

• war whoops -- category 533

• white beliefs about the Iroquois -- category 181

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Fenton, William N. (1971). "The Iroquois in History." In North American Indians in Historical Perspective, edited by Eleanor B. Leacock and Nancy O.Lurie, 129-168. New York: Random House.

Morgan, Lewis H. (1901) League of the Ho-de-no-sau-nee or Iroquois edited by Herbert M. Lloyd. 2 vols. New York: Dodd, Mead. Originally published 1851.

Oswalt, Wendell H. (1966) "The Iroquois." In This Land Was Theirs: A Study of North American Indians, edited by Wendell H. Oswalt, 397-461. New York: John Wiley & Sons.

Tooker, Elizabeth (1978) The League of the Iroquois: Its History, Politics, and Ritual. In Handbook of North American Indians. Vol. 15. Northeast, edited by Bruce

Trigger, 418-441. Washington D.C.: Smithsonian Institution.