Haudenosaunee Essay

The Haudenosaunee, “people of the longhouse,” are a group of six American Indian nations located in New York State. These nations, the Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga, Cayuga, Tuscarora, and Seneca, face many challenges in maintaining their culture and traditional ways. However, they have been able to preserve many aspects and traditions through music and dance, arts and crafts, and sport.
Music and dance are an important aspect of modern Haudenosaunee life. The Haudenosaunee have preserved their traditional music and dances well throughout the years. For example, the flute is a traditional instrument that remains prevalent in Haudenosaunee society today. The traditional Haudenosaunee flute is played vertically compared to the concert flute,

Ronnie-Leigh Goeman is a basket weaver from Onondaga who makes fancy baskets. Each basket takes about a month to make. She uses only natural materials like black ash wood, sweet grass, moose hair, porcupine quills, and moose antler. The materials used are an example of how the Haudenosaunee continue to use the environment to create goods. First, she pounds and splits the black ash wood until it is thin and flexible enough to be weaved. Next, she weaves the black ash while braiding in the sweet grass. Then, she adds the porcupine quills and moose hair as embellishments. To finish the basket, she carves a figurine out of the moose antler and attaches it to the top of the lid. The Haudenosaunee have been making black ash baskets for many years. They only began crafting these fancier baskets in the late 1800’s, but now the baskets are considered traditional and valuable to current Haudenosaunee culture (Goeman,

The Haudenosaunee created lacrosse many centuries ago. Alfred Jacques is a lacrosse stick maker from the Onondaga Nation. According the Jacques, lacrosse is viewed as a man’s game in Haudenosaunee society. They believe that the Creator gave them the game of lacrosse. Because of this, they take lacrosse very seriously since not playing hard is dishonorable to the Creator. The Haudenosaunee play games within their communities. These games are played the same way that lacrosse was traditionally played. The game is played on an open field without any out of bounds and without pads. They game is also played without any stoppage of play. Usually, the teams are split up by age with the younger men facing the older men. Moreover, the creation of the sticks holds a special place with the Haudenosaunee. For Alfred Jacques, it takes about ten months to make a stick. First, he hand carves the stick out of a tree and steams the wood. After two months of drying, he begins to bend the head of the stick. After six more months of drying, the head of the stick is bent further. Now that the stick has its shape, he trims the stick down to the right thickness. Afterwards, he drills the holes in the head for the netting and sand the stick down. Lastly, he shellacs the stick and put on the netting. Alfred Jacques showed the ways in which sticks have changed