The history and use of false face masks among the Seneca

Fake face masks are considered to be living, breathing “faces” that carry with them the presence of a spirit. The masks are typically used in healing ceremonies to alleviate health conditions. A Society of False Faces exists among the Iroquois tribes and those who are cured with the help of False Faces automatically become members. Believers in traditional Iroquois thought do not believe or call these false faces “masks”, as they believe the faces are inhabited by living representations of spirits. The fake faces are even “fed” a cornmeal “porridge” and accept gifts of tobacco to cure illnesses.

Iroquois legend says that the beginning of the false face mask tradition came about because the “Creator”, “God”, “Supreme Divine Being”, whatever name he chooses to use, once met a stranger, known in the Onondaga language as “grandpa.” The Creator challenged Grandfather on his ability to move a mountain. Grandpa made the mountain shake and rumble, but he couldn’t move it. The Creator said that the grandfather had some power, but not enough to move the mountain. The Creator then moved the mountain to demonstrate his ability to Grandfather. The Creator told Grandpa not to look back when the mountain moved, but Grandpa was curious and when he turned to look, the mountain hit Grandpa in the face, leaving his face broken and shattered.

The Creator then employed Grandfather to protect his children, but he knew that seeing Grandfather’s broken face would scare the children, so Grandfather was exiled to the forests and underground caves. To this day, he reports sightings of a lone figure, dressed in royal Iroquois garb, peering from behind the forest trees. She is said to have long hair and a red or black face. She only comes out of the confines of the forest when asked to heal or interpret dreams. He is now known as “Old Broken Nose”.

To make a fake face, an Iroquois man walks among the trees in the forest until he is inspired to carve the face of a particular spirit from a particular tree. The spirit that desires the carving of the face stirs the soul of the Iroquois man and moves him with what to carve. He carves the representative face mask directly into and on the tree. The mask is only removed from the tree when it is finished. Linden is the most widely used type of tree. If the carving of the mask began in the morning, the Iroquois paint the face red. If you start in the afternoon, the color chosen by the Iroquois is black.

The masks receive long, flowing hair from the horses: black, brown, reddish-brown, white, or gray. Before European settlers brought horses to Native American lands and introduced them to the Iroquois, the Iroquois used buffalo hair and corn husks to adorn masks. The eyes are sunken into the face and emphasized with metal pieces. Noses are always made bent and crooked in honor of “Old Broken Nose”. The masks are built to carry bags of tobacco on the forehead to receive payment for services rendered.

At False Face ceremonies, a special language is spoken that only the members can understand. Participants dress in worn rags and lean on a cane to represent the “old self” of the grandfather. Members of the False Face Society roam the city, going in and out of every home, looking for illnesses or ailments so they can cure them. They also carry tortoise bells, which harkens back to the Iroquois belief that the world we live in actually rests on the back of a tortoise.

Fake face masks are considered sacred by the Iroquois. Over the years, some Iroquois have sold the masks to tourists. The leaders of the Iroquois people, however, issued a strong statement against this practice and asked that all the masks be returned to their native origin. Many museums and private collections have returned the False Masks to the Iroquois out of respect for their culture. Some are also afraid to own them, as they may have special properties that belong only to the Iroquois to use.