Iroquois Masks

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The LegendThe Creator encountered

a stranger one day and challenged him to a competition of moving mountains. In the contest, the stranger could only move the mountain a small amount. The Creator then started moving the mountain with ease, telling the stranger not to look behind him.

The LegendThe stranger tried to

rake a peek out of curiosity and the mountain struck him in the face, leaving it disfigured. The stranger was then banished to the undercaves and forests, only to appear when healing was needed.

Iroquois masks are made to be used in healing rituals designed to invoke spirits.

Impact of the Legend

The Iroquois have a “False Face Society” of people who use ritual-like methods in medicine and healing. Those who are cured by the society become members.

In recent years, people began making the masks just for profit, ignoring their cultural value and calling them artifacts.

The Iroquois didn’t like the masks to be sold for profit so they banned all sales and took all of the masks back.

They refused to call the masks “artifacts” since the represent the spirit directly in their culture.

Iroquois masks often have deep set eyes, bent and crooked noses, and hair and tobacco attached to the top.

Masks are carved directly onto trees and are only removed once they are completed. They are painted red if finished in the daytime and black if finished at night.

Because the masks are carved directly into living trees, they are considered by the Iroquois to be living and breathing.