The Iroquois

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The Iroquois

• The People of the Longhouse

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Where Would You Live?

• Village surrounded by oval shaped stockade (20
  ft. tall fence)
• Farm fields surrounds village
• Inside stockade, rows of buildings-LONGHOUSES

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THE LONGHOUSE

• 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

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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

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Who is in your family?

• Fireside Family your parents, brothers and
  sisters
• 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 mothers longhouse
  family
• Clan Family
• two or more longhouse families make up a clan
• You belong to your mothers clan
• Clans named after animals (wolf, bear, turtle)
• Head of clan was the oldest most respected woman

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• 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.

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What would you eat?

• 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 are skilled fishermen
• Youd eat breakfast together with your family,
  but other meals on your own-mother would have a
  pot cooking all day

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The Three Sisters
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What would you wear?

• 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

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Corn Husk Dolls
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Clothing
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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

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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

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Woven baskets
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Would you go to school?

• 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

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Would you play sports and 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

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Lacrosse
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Would you play games of chance?

• The Iroquois loved games of chance
• They would often bet on the outcome of a contest
• In one game, they would toss beans and try to get
  them the same color
• Another game was played with peach pits that were
  black on one side shaken in a bowl

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Games of Chance
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What happened if you got sick?

• Iroquois believed that you could get sick from
  bad food or water or air or by catching someone
  elses 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

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False Face Masks
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What happened if you got sick?

• 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

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What were the traditional 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.

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Were there special 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.

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Were there special festivals?

• Festivals continued
• 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 Years 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.

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League of Five Nations

• 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

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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 worlds longest
  lasting unions

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League of Five Nations

• Seneca
• Cayuga
• Onondaga
• Oneida
• Mohawk

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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.

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HAUDENOSAUNEE FLAG
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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

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• Naho