Haudenosaunee medicine masks, sometimes called false face masks, are sacred objects made and used within Haudenosaunee medicine societies. The Haudenosaunee Confederacy has asked that they not be displayed, photographed, reproduced, or sold outside those societies, so this page does not show one or explain how to make one.
This page replaces an older page that included mask-making instructions and images. Those instructions are gone because Haudenosaunee people who hold this knowledge have asked outsiders not to reproduce it. This page explains why, and points you to the Haudenosaunee Confederacy and its arts that are meant to be shared instead.
What are Haudenosaunee medicine masks?
Haudenosaunee medicine masks are sacred carved masks used by members of Haudenosaunee medicine societies, historically associated with healing. The U.S. National Park Service’s federal repatriation record for these masks states they are “sacred objects” and “objects of cultural patrimony” with “ongoing historical, traditional, and cultural significance” to Haudenosaunee nations (Federal Register, NAGPRA notice).
This section states only that the masks are sacred and belong to specific medicine societies. It does not describe their ceremonial use, which is knowledge held within those societies, not something outsiders are meant to explain or repeat.
What has the Haudenosaunee Confederacy asked?
The Haudenosaunee Confederacy issued a formal policy stating that these masks carry power and a purpose reserved for members of the medicine societies that use them, and that it works against unauthorized manufacture and sale of the masks by anyone outside those societies. A summary of the 1995 policy notes it treats such use as “a violation of the freedom of the Haudenosaunee” that “does great harm to the welfare of the Haudenosaunee communities” (Simon Fraser University, IPinCH project).
This section covers the Confederacy’s own stated position. It does not cover every individual Haudenosaunee person’s view, since Haudenosaunee people, like any community, do not all agree on every question.
Have museums returned these masks?
Yes. Museums holding Haudenosaunee medicine masks have repatriated them to Haudenosaunee nations under the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA). A 2010 federal notice describes the Peabody Museum at Harvard University returning corn husk face masks and false face masks to the Cayuga, Oneida, Onondaga, and Seneca Nations, among others, with the Onondaga Nation coordinating the process as “keeper of the central hearth and fire” (Federal Register, NAGPRA notice).
This describes one documented repatriation. It does not list every museum or every mask returned, which would require reviewing NAGPRA notices case by case.
Why do people still make “Iroquois mask” crafts in classrooms?
Classroom mask-making crafts have circulated for decades in general Native American history units, often copied from older worksheets and craft sites without anyone checking whether the practice was appropriate. Once a lesson or craft becomes common in teaching materials, it tends to get reused and passed along without a fresh look at its source or its effect on the community it borrows from.
This explains why the practice persists. It is not a defense of the practice, and it does not apply to masks or crafts from other cultures that have not asked people not to reproduce them.
What should students and teachers do instead?
Do not make replica Haudenosaunee medicine masks, display images of them, or buy or sell them, because the Confederacy has asked that this knowledge and these objects stay within its medicine societies. Instead, teach the Haudenosaunee Confederacy through its own government structure, its Six Nations, and the art forms Haudenosaunee people make and share publicly, such as beadwork, basketry, and wampum. If a lesson plan or worksheet includes mask-making instructions, it is worth setting aside, since sources this page found treat that as a defect, not a feature, of a classroom activity.
This is guidance for a general classroom setting. It is not guidance for members of Haudenosaunee medicine societies themselves, who make and use these masks according to their own traditions and authority, not outside advice.
Sources
- Federal Register / National Park Service. Notice of Intent to Repatriate Cultural Items: Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, Harvard University
- Simon Fraser University, IPinCH project. Appropriation of the Month: False Face Masks