The public ceremonies involving the whole community were held in great structures, similar to the ancient buildings that were the usual habitation of the Iroquois, called “long houses”. In more recent times, the ordinary houses have gradually become similar to standard pattern of the Anglo-American homes, while the longhouses have continued to be the places where the cult and community celebrations are performed.
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Reconstruction of an old Iroquois village, made with the typical long houses, inside of which several related families were accomodated (Museum of Ontario Archaeology, London, Ontario, Canada) |
In the Iroquoian communities, the year was marked by a series of seasonal ceremonies, which followed the succession of the seasons and of the main socio-economic activities, according to a predetermined order and a sequence variable from one community to the other, each one being an independent unit.
The beginning of the year coincided with the Midwinter Ceremony, which was also called New Year Ceremony. Anciently, the period was determined through astronomical observations: it was celebrated five days after the new moon following the zenith culmination of the Pleiades. Later, with the reformulation of the traditional religion operated by the prophet Handsome Lake (1735-1815), the ceremony was established five days after the new moon following the Christian New Year.
It was followed by the Bush Dance, the Maple Festival, the Seed Planting Ceremony, the Sun and Moon Ceremony, the After Planting Ceremony, the Strawberry Festival, the Raspberry Ceremony, the Blackberry Ceremony, the Bean Ceremony, the Thunder Dance, the Little Corn Ceremony, the Green Corn Ceremony, Our Life Supporters Dances (celebrating the Three Sisters: maize, beans and squash), the Harvest Festival and the End of Summer Ceremony. Each of these festivities was calculated according to some seasonal mark, such as the maturation of berries or agricultural activities.
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Drawing of an Iroquois Eagle Dance realized by Seneca artist Jesse Cornplanter (1889-1957) |
The ceremonies were thanksgiving rituals to the divinities and the spirits of Nature and had the purpose of promoting and stimulating the productivity and abundance of the crops. The ceremonial year was divided in two periods: one from the end of the Midwinter Ceremony to the celebration of the Green Corn Ceremony (held around late August) was regarded as under the control of women, while the other one, from this moment until the end of the next Midwinter Ceremony was under the control of men (Hirschfelder-Molin 1992: p. 130).
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Reconstruction of a "long house", the typical dwelling of the Iroquoian peoples (Crawford Lake Conservation Area, Milton, Ontario, Canada) |
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