The Iroquois

People of the Longhouse

Mr. Davison

Flag of the Iroquois

Confederacy
http://hometown.aol.com/Donh52
3/navapage/iroquois.htm
People of the Longhouse
People of Turtle Island
Early Inhabitants of Western New
York

Several cultures lived in Western NY

Clovis people (10,000 B.C.)
Lamokas (3,500 – 2,500 B.C.)
Hopewell Indians (300 A.D.) – mound
builders,
Wenros and Neutrals
Iroquoian people (next 1,000 years)
What’s in a Name

Iroquois means “real adder” – a kind of

snake. Name given as a backhanded
compliment by their rivals the
Algonquians
Iroquois – name given by the French
Six Nations – name given by the British
Hau de no sau nee – meaning people
building a long house – sometimes
translated as people of the long house
League of the Five Nations

 Seneca
 Cayuga
 Onondaga
 Oneida
 Mohawk
Remember the Tribes:
SCOOM
 S – Seneca – people of the Great Hill
(Onodowaga)
 C – Cayuga – people of the Great Swamp or
the Great Pipe
 O – Onondaga – people of the Hills
 O – Oneida – People of the Standing Stone
 M – Mohawk – People of the Flint
 T – Tuscarora – shirt wearing people – added
to the confederacy later
Iroquoian Life

Great Abundance
Survived on fish, game, cultivated food
Large population, perhaps greater than
present day population of WNY
Most natives lived south of present day
Routs 5 & 20 (Broadway) – offered
families protection away from warpaths
along the Great Lakes
The Five Nations & Their Position
in the Iroquois Confederacy
Seneca – the Elder Brother and Keepers
of the Western Door
Cayuga – Younger Brother
Onondaga – Fire Keepers – the council
fire
Oneida – Younger Brother
Mohawk – Elder Brother and Keepers
of the Eastern Door
Location In Western New York

Known Indian Villages existed at:

Oakfield
Elma
Buffalo
Big Tree
Two Villages in Akron – one at Falkirk
(upper East Ave.) and a second at
today’s Brooklyn St
Where Would You Live?

Village surrounded by oval

shaped stockade (20 ft. tall
fence)
Farm fields surrounds village
Inside stockade, rows of
buildings-LONGHOUSES
The Iroquois Village

Longhouse Village
Image From:
Bridgeman Art
Library,
London/New York,
http://encarta.msn.com/encnet/re
fpages/RefMedia.aspx?refid=70
1508371&artrefid=761552484&
sec=-1&pn=1
Iroquois Shelter

 Iroquois Homes were called

longhouses
 Longhouses were built in groups
or villages for protection.
 Made of logs- covered with elm
bark
 Curved roof made of saplings
 No windows
 Fire holes in roof to let out
smoke from cooking fires
 15 - 20 feet tall, 20 feet wide and
50 – 150 feet long
Picture of the Longhouse
Inside the Longhouse

Center aisle from one end to the other

Near doors- food storage barrels and stacks of
firewood
On the sides of the aisle, compartments 13 feet
by 16 feet (half of your classroom)
Wooden platforms for sleeping and storage
Fire shared with family across the aisle
Each family has their own clothing, blankets, tools
and cooking utensils
Inside the longhouse contd.
 Family Structure

 Fireside Family: your parents, brothers and

sisters – Matriarchal structure
 Longhouse Family:
– oldest woman in the longhouse is the head of family and
everyone in the longhouse is related to her
– You always belong to your mother’s longhouse family
 Clan Family:
– two or more longhouse families make up a clan
– You belong to your mother’s clan
– Clans named after animals (wolf, bear, turtle)
– Head of clan was the oldest most respected woman
Clans of the Iroquois
Clans

 Bear: taught us gentleness and strength.

It takes more strength not to raise your hand to strike
someone than it does to strike them.
 Turtle: taught us patience, never to give up.
Seen as strength and solidarity, old and wise, and well
respected.
 Wolf: taught us to use our ears and be watchful.
Strong sense of family.
 Deer:
 Hawk:
 Snipe”
Iroquoian Food

 Lots of vegetables, fruit, nuts and

different kinds of meat and fish
 Women grew corn, beans and
squash (The Three Sisters) in
fields surrounding village
 Hunters brought home deer, bear,
beaver, rabbit, and wild turkey
 Iroquois men and boys were
skilled fishermen
 You’d eat breakfast together with
your family, but other meals on
your own-mother would have a
pot cooking all day
The three Sisters
Iroquoian Economy

 The Iroquois – money is

called wampum when
trading with white men.
 They have very little
money – barter economy.
 They go great distances to
trade with other tribes.
 The wampum was made
of beads and clamshells.
 Iroquois Economy

Wampum belts were used

as a form of
communication between
Indian tribes. Wampum
belts would be made into
pictures showing the
reason it was made. All
Indian messengers carry
wampum when going to
other tribes.
Hiawatha Wampum Belt
Iroquoian Clothing

 Deerskins that the women tanned, cut and

sewed by hand
 Women: long skirts decorated with beads,
porcupine quills dyed red, blue or yellow
(sometimes leggings under their skirts), vest or
blouse on top
 Men: kilt-like skirts over leggings and vests or
blouses made of decorated deerskins
 Everyone wore moccasins-made of one piece
of deerskin sewn together with a deer-bone
needle and using sinew from the deer for
thread
Iroquois Clothing

 Women prepared the hides by

removing the hair and flesh with
stone scrapers. Men in the winter
wore robes or cloaks made from
bear, deer, buffalos, or beaver
skins.
 Women soaked the hides in
dilution of boiled deer brain to
soften them.
 Men's summer clothing were
made from buckskin and men's
winter outfits were leggings,
breechclouts, kilts, and moccasins.

Image of Traditional Dress from: http://www.u.arizona.edu/ic/kmartin/School/iroqcloth.htm

Clothing
 What about work?

 Work was a part of everyday life

 Every job was respected
 Work depended on the season:
– Spring: peel bark for longhouses and canoes, tap trees for
syrup, pick strawberries, and fish
– When the ground was ready, you would plant seeds for all
the vegetables
– Late summer and fall: harvest crops and prepare them for
storage
– Fall: begin hunting
– Winter: make and repair clothing, tools, bowls, baskets and
instruments
 Who did which jobs?

 Men:
– made tools for hunting, sports equipment and
musical instruments
– Made wampum and carved bowls, cups, pipes
– Cleared farmland
– Hunted for animals
 Women
– Made clay pots, baskets, cradleboards, clothing and
moccasins
– Farmed the fields
– Cooked the food
Woven Baskets
Education

You would not go any formal school

You learned by watching adults do their
jobs
You learned history when the elders told
stories at the festivals and during the long
winter months
You also learned from your own
experiences
 Iroquoian Games

 Everyone loved sports and games

 Games were played at festivals and
celebrations
 Sometimes one village or clan
challenged another
 Lacrosse (called “the ball game”) was
the most popular
 Running was also an important sport
 Snow-snake was popular in the winter
Iroquois Games

The Bowl Game is played by putting peach pits in a bowl

and two teams take turns thumping the bowl to make the
object fly upward.
The Snow Snake game is played by throwing a spear into
the snow. The of the game is to see how far the spears
could be thrown across the snow.
The Double Ball Game is played with buckskin bags filled
with sand, then connecting the buckskin bags with a cord
you try to throw it three feet in the air.
Shinny is played with a flattened buckskin ball, then each
player had a long stick and tried to hit the flattened
buckskin ball.
 Iroquoian Games contd.

 Running games and mock

battles were enjoyed as well.
 Survival lessons were often
taught through the games.
 Men played against men and
women played against
women. Children were left to
amuse themselves with their
running and jumping
contests.The children often
copied adult games.
Lacrosse
What if you got sick?

Iroquois believed that you could get sick

from bad food or water or air or by
catching someone else’s disease
They also believed that you could become
sick because of witchcraft of bad people or
by the work of evil spirits
There were different kinds of healers to
treat you depending on your illness
False Face Society

 A medicine society like the False Face Society would try to

heal you by performing special rituals.
– You never paid the healers. You just gave them sacred
tobacco or kinds of food they liked
– If you were cured, you became a member of the society
and helped to treat others
 If you broke an arm or leg, then you were treated by a
surgeon.
– The Iroquois were excellent surgeons who not only set
broken bones, but also understood the importance of
cleanliness
 If you had a cold or snakebite, you were probably treated by
an herbalist who would use plants to heal you
False Face Masks
Some Religious Beliefs

The Iroquois believed the Creator, or Great

Spirit made the world
Almost all natural things were under the care of
spirits (there were spirits of the wind, rain,
trees)
Keepers of the Faith were in charge of religious
festivals (these were ordinary people with
special responsibilities- they would organize
the festivals and perform some of the rituals)
Religious ceremonies could last for hours and
some festivals lasted for days.
Festivals

 At all ceremonies, sacred tobacco was burned. There were day-

long ceremonies of speeches, prayer, music, dances, games and
always a feast.
 Six main festivals held throughout the year
– Maple Festival-(early spring) gave thanks for the return of
spring and to the maple tree for its “sweet waters” There
would be maple syrup and candies
– Planting Festival- (later in spring) gave thanks for the return
of the planting season and ask for blessings on the seeds
– Strawberry Festival- (late may or early June) celebrated the
return of the first fruits of the earth. After the long winter, it
was a sweet beginning to a new year.
Festivals contd.

– Green Corn Festival- usually held in August(lasted

four days) gave thanks to the spirits of the Three
Sisters when the corn, beans and squash were ready to
eat. Children born since the Midwinter festival would
be given names
– Harvest Festival-(early October) crops are all picked,
cooked and stored for winter eating (lasted four days)
– Midwinter or New Year’s Festival (early February)
The longest festival (seven days) Two elders visited
every house to announce the new year. Children born
since the Green Corn festival would be given names.
The Thanksgiving address lasted for hours.
European Wars Cause Problems

 Trade wars of France & England (so called

French & Indian War in North America)
 Revolutionary War – American War for
Independence (1776 – 1783)
 Both wars caused the various tribes to choose
sides.
 1797 Big Tree Treaty -11 reservations created
and Canandaigua Lake and Genesee River
regions vacated
 Iroquois Government: The Oldest
Living Participatory Government
on Earth

Before the League existed the Five nations were always at war
with one another. Village fought village Nation fought nation
It was called the time of “great sorrow and terror”
Deganawidah (the Peacemaker) brought the message that by
ending war among themselves, the nations would be strong and
the people would be safe.
The story tells that the people uprooted the tallest pine tree and
threw all their weapons of war into the hole and then replanted
this Great Tree of Peace. Now the Five Nations live in a Great
Longhouse, keeping its own fire, but living in peace under one
roof
League of Five Nations

The longhouse and the Great Pine Tree are

the symbols of the Iroquois League
The Peacemaker took one arrow from each
tribe and tied them together. You can break
one arrow, but the bundle of five is too
strong to destroy, he said.
The Iroquois League is one of the world’s
longest lasting unions
The Great Law of Peace

 The unwritten Iroquois Constitution

 Some ideas of the Great Law:
– All Iroquois land was open to members of Five
nations. It was safe to travel and hunt that land
– Women as well as men participated in government.
Women appointed the chiefs and removed them if
necessary
– Freedom of religion was guaranteed to all
– No such thing as slavery- if you were taken
prisoner by the Iroquois your were either killed or
adopted an if adopted, you had all the freedoms as
everyone else
The Iroquois Government

 Each nation had its own government

 Each nation sent chiefs to League council meetings
(chiefs could not be warriors)
 Council met once a year to discuss anything that
concerned all the nations
 Everyone had to agree to all decisions (votes must be
unanimous)
 If they did all agree then the chief conducting the
meeting cloud say the League could now “speak with
one voice” If someone disagreed, they would discuss it
again until they came to an agreement
Great Tree of Peace
Iroquois Impact on American
Government – The Albany Plan of
Union
We Learn from the Iroquois
Iroquois Art

“False-face” mask, made from wood

carved from a tree. Photo from:
Charles Gatewood/Art Resource, NY
http://encarta.msn.com/encnet/refpages/RefMedia.aspx?refid=461530384&
artrefid=761552484&sec=-1&pn=1

Dream catchers made of willow

and sinew are for children and
there not meant to last.
Eventually the willow dries out
and the tension of the sinew
collapses the dream catcher. http://www.rootsweb.com/~nwa/dreamcatcher.jpg
 Iroquois Transportation

Most movement by the Iroquois

was done on foot. Messages were
sent by runners.
Iroquois used canoes, dogs carts,
and cradle boards to carry infants.
They built their transportation
with wood, birch bark, elm bark,
shag bark, hickory,white ash, and
cedar.
Tyandaneega – Joseph Brandt
Cornplanter - seneca
Chief Red Jacket (Sagoyewatha)
1757- 1830
Ely Parker - Seneca
Chief Oren Lyons
Naho
Native American Internet
Resources:
An excellent resource with many links can
be found at:

http://www.dist126.k12.il.us/powwow/resources.htm
Instructor’s Notes

•The Wenro
Instructor’s Notes contd.

• The Seneca
Instructor’s Notes contd.

The Mohawk
Instructor’s notes contd.

• The Cayuga