False Face Society Figures and Masks
These masks are inspired by the traditional wooden masks of the False Face Society of the Iroquois. This secret society’s members used the masks in spiritual healing ceremonies. Invoking the help of the spirits by burning tobacco and chanting curing songs, they danced carrying rattles. If all was done properly, they believed, supernatural powers to cure disease would be conferred upon the masked men of the False Face Society. They would be able to pick up hot coals without being burned and "blow” the hot ashes upon the patient’s head, rubbing them into their hair, the laying of hands upon them would make them well. The ceremonies took place inside the longhouse, its entrance guarded by the “Doorkeeper” who’s mask is carved with protruding spoon lips. The mask of the “Great World Rim Being” is carved with a broken nose and a grimace of pain as reminders of his prideful struggle with the creator.
When our Creator was finishing this earth, he went walking around inspecting it and banishing all evil spirits from his premises. As he went on his way westward, to the rim of the world, he met a huge fellow – the head man of all the Faces. The Creator asked the stranger, as he had asked others, whence he came. The stranger replied that he came from the rocky mountains to the west and that he had been living on this earth since he made it. They argued as to whose earth they traversed and agreed to settle the title by contest. The Creator agreed to call the stranger “Headman”, should he demonstrate sufficient magic strength to summon a distant mountain toward them. They sat down facing east with their backs to the west and held their breaths. The stranger, the great False Face, shook his giant turtle rattle and the uproar frightened the game animals. He summoned the mountain toward them, but it moved only part way. Now it was the Creator’s turn, he summoned the mountain, his rival could hear the rumbling behind him, becoming impatient, he suddenly looked around, and struck his face on the mountain. The impact broke his nose bridge, and pain distorted his mouth.
Now the Creator realized that this fellow had great power. He assigned him the task of driving disease from the earth thus assisting the people and their crops . The loser agreed that if humans made portrait masks of him, called him grandfather, made tobacco offerings, and set down a kettle of mush, that they too shall have the power to cure disease by blowing hot ashes. The Creator gave him a place to dwell in the rocky hills to the west near the rim of the earth, and he agreed to come in whichever direction the people summoned him.
These masks are inspired by the traditional wooden masks of the False Face Society of the Iroquois. This secret society’s members used the masks in spiritual healing ceremonies. Invoking the help of the spirits by burning tobacco and chanting curing songs, they danced carrying rattles. If all was done properly, they believed, supernatural powers to cure disease would be conferred upon the masked men of the False Face Society. They would be able to pick up hot coals without being burned and "blow” the hot ashes upon the patient’s head, rubbing them into their hair, the laying of hands upon them would make them well. The ceremonies took place inside the longhouse, its entrance guarded by the “Doorkeeper” who’s mask is carved with protruding spoon lips. The mask of the “Great World Rim Being” is carved with a broken nose and a grimace of pain as reminders of his prideful struggle with the creator.
When our Creator was finishing this earth, he went walking around inspecting it and banishing all evil spirits from his premises. As he went on his way westward, to the rim of the world, he met a huge fellow – the head man of all the Faces. The Creator asked the stranger, as he had asked others, whence he came. The stranger replied that he came from the rocky mountains to the west and that he had been living on this earth since he made it. They argued as to whose earth they traversed and agreed to settle the title by contest. The Creator agreed to call the stranger “Headman”, should he demonstrate sufficient magic strength to summon a distant mountain toward them. They sat down facing east with their backs to the west and held their breaths. The stranger, the great False Face, shook his giant turtle rattle and the uproar frightened the game animals. He summoned the mountain toward them, but it moved only part way. Now it was the Creator’s turn, he summoned the mountain, his rival could hear the rumbling behind him, becoming impatient, he suddenly looked around, and struck his face on the mountain. The impact broke his nose bridge, and pain distorted his mouth.
Now the Creator realized that this fellow had great power. He assigned him the task of driving disease from the earth thus assisting the people and their crops . The loser agreed that if humans made portrait masks of him, called him grandfather, made tobacco offerings, and set down a kettle of mush, that they too shall have the power to cure disease by blowing hot ashes. The Creator gave him a place to dwell in the rocky hills to the west near the rim of the earth, and he agreed to come in whichever direction the people summoned him.