Religion

Haudenosaunee Longhouse Religion

Polytheistic (Animist)

Origin from 1799

The Longhouse Religion, or Gaiwiio (the Good Message), is the traditional religion of the Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) Confederacy, reformed in the early nineteenth century by the Seneca prophet Handsome Lake and carried forward through the longhouse, the ceremonial house of each Haudenosaunee nation. Its ceremonial cycle follows the agricultural year, from the Midwinter Ceremony through Maple, Planting and Green Corn to the Harvest Ceremony, giving thanks to the Creator through set forms of speech, song and dance. Among its offices are the medicine societies that hold the False Face masks, carved wooden masks used in healing rites; the Confederacy, through the Central Fire at Onondaga, asks that these masks not be reproduced, displayed or sold, and museums have withdrawn images of them on that basis.

Facts

Practice

Practice Status

Closed ceremonial knowledge, described but not reproduced 3

the subject's own accountThe Longhouse Religion, followed within the Haudenosaunee Confederacy, holds its core ceremonies closed to outsiders, and Haudenosaunee communities have publicly and repeatedly asked that their ceremonies not be observed, recorded or reproduced by non-members. Its ethical teaching, associated with the Code of Handsome Lake, is more widely discussed in outside scholarship than the ceremonies themselves.

Origins

Origin Period

from 1799 1

Place of Origin

Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) territory in present day New York State and Ontario. 2

Founder

Reformed by the Seneca prophet Handsome Lake in the early nineteenth century. 2

Belief

Theology

Henotheistic: a supreme being above served lesser divinities 2

Its own record names a Creator addressed in its ceremonial cycle alongside the spirit beings represented by the medicine societies' masks.

Status

Status Today

Living tradition, practised today 2

Learn More

A Prophet's Reform and a Request Museums Have Honored

The Longhouse Religion, Gaiwiio or the Good Message, is the traditional religion of the Haudenosaunee Confederacy, and its medicine societies hold ceremonial knowledge, including the False Face healing masks, that this article does not reproduce or describe in appearance. Its public history is well documented. In the early nineteenth century, after decades of upheaval scholars including Daniel K. Richter have traced through the colonial era, the Seneca prophet Handsome Lake reformed Haudenosaunee religious practice around a code of moral teaching that spread through the Six Nations and remains the basis of Longhouse worship today. The religion's ceremonial year, from the Midwinter Ceremony through Maple, Planting and Green Corn to the Harvest Ceremony, gives thanks to the Creator through set forms of speech, song and dance held at the longhouse of each Haudenosaunee nation.

The False Face masks are a separate matter of public record: the Confederacy, through the Central Fire at Onondaga, has formally asked that they not be reproduced, displayed or sold, and major museums have withdrawn images of them from public view on that basis. That is a request the outside world can be seen honoring, and this article honors it too, recording that the masks exist and what kind of institution holds them without showing one.

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