The Onondaga Nation is a Native American tribe within the Iroquois Confederacy, with ancestral lands in central New York. They maintain their national identity through owning land and operating as a sovereign nation. The confederacy was formed by the Peacemaker and Hiawatha, uniting five different tribes. Traditional dress and agricultural practices, such as the planting of the “Three Sisters,” are still practiced today. The Onondaga Nation also has many ceremonies that revolve around the lunar calendar.
The Onondaga Nation is one of six Native American tribes that make up the Iroquois Confederacy. The Onondagas are also known as the Iroquois, or Haudenosaunee, meaning “longhouse people.” The nation’s ancestral lands are located in central New York. Traditionally, the Onondaga tribe was a hunting, gathering, and farming society. Today, the Onondagas maintain their national identity by owning 7,300 acres near Syracuse, New York, and operating as an indigenous, democratic, sovereign nation within, but not governed by, the United States.
The Onondaga Nation is estimated to have been a member of the Iroquois Confederacy since about AD 1000. Historical Onondaga accounts of the formation of the confederacy tell the story of a person, known as the Peacemaker, who was sent by the Creator to bring unity to the Cayuga, Oneida , Onondaga, Mohawk and Seneca. Prior to this point in history, individual Indian nations were often at war. The Peacemaker enlisted the help of Hiawatha, an Onondaga warrior, to form the alliance between the five different Native American tribes. Much later, in the 1700s, the Tuscarora people joined the five-nation Iroquois Confederacy as the sixth non-voting tribe.
Traditional dress for male members of the Onondaga Nation typically included buckskin pants, leggings, moccasins, and, as the weather turned cold, warm clothing. Females generally wore shorter leggings than men, a wrap skirt made of buckskin, and a long buckskin tunic. Women also wore warm clothes and moccasins in the winter.
A distinguishing feature of traditional male Iroquois dress was the gustoweh, a headdress that identified which Iroquois nation the man belonged to, by the arrangement of the feathers on it. The gustoweh of the Onondaga male typically consisted of wooden strips adorned with eagle, turkey, falcon, or pheasant feathers. The feather arrangement for an Onondaga on the gustoweh would be one feather facing up and one feather facing back.
An important traditional agricultural practice of the Onondaga Nation was the planting of the “Three Sisters,” a plantation of corn, beans, and squash. Corn was first planted in rows, and as it sprouted, dirt was piled up around the immature corn stalks. Then, the Onondaga women would plant beans in the hill they made, and the beans would grow corn stalks, adding nitrogen to the soil. The squash was then planted between rows, keeping weeds out and shading the soil so it retained moisture.
The Onondaga Nation has many ceremonies that are still practiced today and generally revolve around the lunar calendar. The first celebration of the Onondaga lunar year is known as “Midwinter” and is a time to give thanks to the Creator. Some of the other ceremonies include a maple sap ceremony, a strawberry ceremony, and a planting ceremony.
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