Tribe: The Seneca. There are currently three Seneca tribes in the United States: the Tonawanda Band of Seneca in New York, the Seneca Nation, also in New York, and the Seneca-Cayuga, which is in Oklahoma. They are now the largest part of the "Six Nations," which also includes the Cayuga, the Onondaga, the Oneida, the Tuscarora and the Mohawk.
Meaning of Name: The name "Seneca" comes from the name of one of their larger villages: Osinika. They call themselves the "Onondowagah" which means "Great Hill People." Unfortunately, the Onondaga also call themselves the "Onondowagah," so the term "Seneca" is used for this particular tribe.
Location: Their domain extended from Niagara Falls to the Catskill and Allegheny Mountains and over to Pennsylvania. The Seneca currently live in New York, Oklahoma and Ontario, Canada, where they, with the other Iroquois tribes, were reserved land ("reserves," as compared to "reservations,") by the British in gratitude for their help during the Revolutionary War.
Original Language: Iroquoian.
Tribal Affiliations: The Mohawk, the Cayuga, the Oneida, the Onondaga, the Tuscarora and the British during the Revolutionary War.
Traditional Enemies: The Huron, the Conestoga, the Susquehannock, the Mohican, the Lenape, the French, the Dutch, the Munsee, the Minnisink, and originally, the British. Many Iroquois-speaking tribes, which were not part of the League, became part of the Seneca once those tribes had been defeated, which did much to extend Seneca hunting grounds.
Traditional Style of Housing: Like the other Iroquois tribes, the Seneca lived in longhouses with stone hearths. These longhouses, which were wholly owned by the Seneca women, were protected from wild animals and other tribes by thick palisade walls. Seneca villages tended to be large, as compared to Mohawk villages, and could have as many as one hundred to one hundred fifty longhouses in each village. They also included smokehouses, storehouses, a town hall, sweat-lodges, and menstrual lodges. The largest village in the 1600's was Ganondagan, which had hundred fifty homes. Unlike other Native American tribes, in which the women carted around and erected their own teepees, wigwams and wickiups, Iroquois men cleared the heavily-wooded land for homes and farmland, constructed the wood-framed longhouses and other buildings, and built the palisades. Each village lasted about ten to thirty years before the Seneca move to let Mother Earth heal herself from where they had trod and depleted her natural resources. Over time, many of the Seneca quit living in longhouses in favor of smaller log cabins, but others remains in longhouses.
Traditional Attire: The Seneca men dressed the same way that the other members of the Iroquois did, in breechcloths and moccasins during warm weather, and in breechcloths, leggings, tunics and moccasins when it was cold. However, the headwear was a bit different: The Seneca wore one long eagle feather that stood straight up from the patch of braided hair on the back of his head, a roach, or a feather-covered skull-cap, a "gustoweh," with one long eagle feather sticking out on top. The Seneca women dressed like the other Iroquois women, in shin-length deerskin dresses, longer wraparound deerskin skirts, leggings and moccasins. They wore beaded tiaras on festive occasions.
Traditional Foods: Like the other Iroquois tribes, the Seneca were a settled agrarian people. The women grew corn, beans and squash, and gathered fruits, nuts, berries, greens, roots and seeds from the surrounding area, and tended to the domesticated deer, turkeys and dogs. The men fished for catfish, salmon, pike, sunfish, perch, bass, herring and whitefish, and hunted deer, moose, bear, turtles, beaver, turkey, rabbit, geese and other migratory birds. Their diet also included maple syrup, corn soup, cornbread, "ghost bread" (Seneca fry bread), morel mushrooms, and medicinal herbs for poultices, wraps and teas. (For a more complete list, see "Mohawk.")
Position of Women: Very high. As with the other Iroquois tribes, the eight Clan Mothers had the final say regarding trade agreements and going to war for the purpose of avenging a death or finding a suitable person to adopt. They were responsible for nominating and installing the eight chiefs, the "sachem," who would represent the tribe before the Grand Council of the Iroquois Nations. If a chief proved to be dishonest or unworthy and did not have the best interests of the tribe at heart, the Clan mothers were responsible for warning them of their errant ways, and then removing them from office by removing his antler-crown. If the chief died, the Clan Mothers had to find his replacement within three days. The Clan Mothers were the tribal judges, and also responsible for approving marriages, and claimed naming rights of the children. They were responsible for their entire tribe and clan. As such, they had to have proven their abilities as mothers and grandmothers, to know the Great Law of Peace, to know all Grand Council protocol and structure, and to be honest, truthful and modest. No Seneca treaty would be considered valid without the consent of three-fourths of the women in the Seneca tribe, even if the consent of all of the Seneca men had been obtained.
When a Clan Mother died, her position as Clan Mother was inherited by her sister who was, presumably, just a few years younger than she was. If the sister had already passed, the title of Clan Mother was inherited by the next surviving sister. If there were no more sisters, then the title was inherited by the Clan Mother's eldest daughter, and if she was unavailable or deemed unsuitable for the position, the position of Clan Mother would be open to any of the older women in the tribe.
Since descent was matrilineal, and a child was born into his or her mother's clan, all members of a clan were connected by an ancestral mother. This was why it was so important to not marry someone of the same clan because then you were marrying a near or distant relative, which would lend itself to genetic complications. In the Seneca tribe, there were eight clans lead by eight Clan Mothers which also corresponded with the eight tribal chiefs: the Deer Clan, the Turtle Clan, the Hawk Clan, the Beaver Clan, the Heron Clan, the Wolf Clan, the Sandpiper Clan, and the Bear Clan. However, the species of clans were subdivided, so that there were at least three kinds of Deer Clans, three kinds of Turtle Clans, three kinds of Hawk Clans, and so on, just in case two distant relatives of the same clan did happen to fall in love. The other real-life implications of the clan system was that it was beneficial when you need help, and when you needed lodging, safety and food while traveling. (See Mohawk entry.)
Seneca Courtship: As with the other Iroquois tribes, if a young Seneca man was interested in courting a young Seneca woman, provided that they were not members of the same clan, he would play sweet flute music outside of her grandmother's longhouse. If she accepted his suit, she invited him in, at which point, he would be mercilessly grilled by her mother, her aunts, her sisters and her grandmother regarding his suitability. A potential suitor could be rejected on the basis of his character, as well as lack of material success, lack of hunting skill, and/or because he had not taken scalps in war. However, if a match were made, there was a big fancy wedding, and (at least in theory) if the happy couple wanted to go on a honeymoon, they could lodge for free with one of their clans-members at Niagara Falls, which was on Seneca land.
Interesting Tidbits: Like most of the Iroquois tribes, the Seneca grew tobacco in their fields....
The Seneca (and the other Iroquoian tribes) had six festivals a year: the Corn Planting Festival, the Green Corn Festival, the Harvest Festival of Thanksgiving, the Maple Festival, the New Years Festival and the Strawberry Festival. Each festival lasted for several days.
Traditional Religion: Longhouse religion, Handsome Lake religion and Christianity.
Slavery and the Seneca: Since the Seneca were and are the legislative branch of the Iroquois League, and The Great Law of Peace does not allow for slavery, when the Civil War broke out, those Seneca-Cayuga who had been living in Oklahoma since 1831 moved across the border to Kansas, which had allied itself with the Union. This was because Oklahoma was a slave-state and things were getting difficult there, especially with the slave-owning Cherokee, who shared their land with the Seneca-Cayuga and Shawnee. Unfortunately, this move did not result in a complete cessation of hostilities.
Current Population: There are roughly 8,000 registered Seneca living in New York, and 5,000 registered Seneca-Cayuga living again in Oklahoma.
Current Sources of Tribal Revenue: The Seneca in New York are the most prosperous of the Native American tribes, partly because Niagara Falls lands is on Seneca land and partly because of investments and diversification. They are actively involved in tourism, and own casinos, resorts, hotels, convenience stores, smoke shops, craft shops, clothing stores, a radio station, an energy company, a (now closed) campground, a golf course, and investment firms. Individually, many Seneca are in the construction business and are represented in all kinds of professions. The Seneca-Cayuga in Oklahoma, on the other hand, rely on tourism, gaming, casinos and cigarette manufacturing.
Famous Seneca: Unfortunately, no one that I have heard of.
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