Onondaga people

For other uses, see Onondaga (disambiguation).

Onondaga
Onoñda’gegá

Tadodaho Sid Hill, Traditional Chief of the Onondaga Nation at the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues
Regions with significant populations
United States (New York)	Unknown[1]
Canada (Ontario and Nunavut)	2,894 (2019)[2]
Languages
English, Onondaga, Other Iroquoian languages.
Religion
Longhouse/Gai'hwi:io, Kanoh'hon'io, Kahni'kwi'io, other Indigenous religions, Christianity
Related ethnic groups
Seneca Nation, Oneida Nation, Tuscarora Nation, Mohawk Nation, Cayuga Nation, other Iroquoian peoples

The Onondaga people (Onontaerrhonon, Onondaga: Onoñda’gegá’’, "People of the Hills") are one of the five original nations of the Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) Confederacy in the Northeastern Woodlands. Their historical homelands are in and around present-day Onondaga County, New York, south of Lake Ontario.

Being centrally located, they are considered the "Keepers of the Fire" (Kayečisnakwe’nì·yu^[3] in Tuscarora) in the figurative longhouse that shelters the Five Nations. The Cayuga and Seneca have territory to their west and the Oneida and Mohawk to their east. For this reason, the League of the Iroquois historically met at the Iroquois government's capital at Onondaga, as the traditional chiefs do today.

In the United States, the home of the Onondaga Nation is the Onondaga Reservation. Onondaga people also live near Brantford, Ontario on Six Nations territory. This reserve used to be Haudenosaunee hunting grounds, but much of the Confederacy relocated there as a result of the American Revolution. Although the British promised the security of Haudenosaunee homelands, the 1783 treaty of Paris ceded the territory over to the United States.^[4]

History

According to oral tradition, the Great Peacemaker approached the Onondaga and other tribes to found the Haudenosaunee.^[5] The tradition tells that at the time the Seneca nation debated joining the Haudenosaunee based on the Great Peacemaker's teachings, a solar eclipse took place. The most likely eclipse visible in the area was in 1142 AD.^[6][7]

This oral tradition is supported by archeological studies. Carbon dating of particular sites of Onondaga habitation shows dates starting close to 1200AD ± 60 years with growth for hundreds of years.^[8]

Sketch by Samuel de Champlain of his attack on an Onondaga village.

In the American Revolutionary War, the Onondaga were at first officially neutral, although individual Onondaga warriors were involved in at least one raid on American settlements. After Americans attacked their main village on April 20, 1779, the Onondaga later sided with the majority of the League and fought against the American colonists in alliance with the British. In 1779, George Washington ordered the termination of the Onondaga people, in an operation known as "The Sullivan Expedition", breaking the neutrality agreement and devastating the Onondaga people. ^[9] When the United States won independence, many Onondaga followed Joseph Brant to Upper Canada, where they were given land by the British Crown at Six Nations.

In the aftermath of the "Sullivan Expedition", following the brutal winter of 1780, there was a massive swarm of periodical cicadas, which emerge from underground every seventeen years. The sudden arrival of such a large quantity of the insects provided a source of sustenance for the Onondaga people who were experiencing severe food insecurity following the Sullivan campaigns and the subsequent brutal winter.^[10] The seemingly miraculous arrival of the cicadas (specifically, Brood VII also known as the Onondaga brood) is commemorated by the Onondaga as though it were an intervention by the Creator to ensure their survival after such a traumatizing, catastrophic event.^[11]

On November 11, 1794, the Onondaga Nation, along with the other Haudenosaunee nations, signed the Treaty of Canandaigua with the United States, in which their right to their homeland was acknowledged by the United States in article II of the treaty.^[12]

In 1816, 450 Onondaga were living in New York, 210 of whom lived on Buffalo Creek Reservation.^[13]

Prestige factors

The Onondaga Nation was crucial in forming the Iroquois League which led them to be very well revered by their peers. The "Tree of Peace" was planted on Onondaga Land.^[14] Onondaga has been regarded as the capital of Iroquois land. The Onondaga were known as the Central Fire-Keepers of the Confederacy.^[14] The Onondaga were known as the guardians or watchkeepers of the league. They were keepers of the law in order to preserve traditions and institutions.^[14] The culture hero Hyenwatha was an Onondaga Indian and was essential in the early organization of the league.^[14] The title of Tadodaho was always held by an Onondaga chief; he was to be the chief arbitrator of the Lords of the Confederacy.^[14] The Onondaga maintained the largest number chieftainship titles as well as the largest number of clans among the Iroquois.^[14] Handsome Lake, the Seneca half-brother of Cornplanter and author of his eponymous Code, died at Onondaga.^[14]

Customs

Iroquois Chiefs from the Six Nations Reserve reading wampum belts in Brantford, Ontario in 1871. Joseph Snow, Onondaga chief, is first on the left.

The Onondaga practice the sprinkling of ashes when juggling the treatment of the sick.^[15] They also do a public confession of sins upon a string of wampum (shell beads).^[15] The wampum is employed in all matters of public importance. Their funerals were known to be quiet and solemn, with the women covering their faces.^[15] There were also special events such as the Planting Feast which would happen in May or when the Onondaga believed the ground was ready. This was three days for penitential and religious services. One day for the children's dance, and one each for the Four Persons, the Holder for the Heavens, the Thunder, and for gambling.^[15] The Strawberry Feast comes when the berries are ripe. This day there are dancing for the Thunder and a feast of strawberries.^[15] The Green Bean Dance comes when the green beans are fit for use. This day there are dances for the Thunder and a mixture of war and feather dances.^[15] The Green Corn dance always comes after the Green Bean dance. This day there are three days for religious services, one for the children, one for the Four Persons, one for the Holder of the heavens, and one for the Thunder with the feast.^[15] The Onondaga's Thanksgiving feast in October closely resembled the Green Corn Dance.^[15]

The Onondaga peoples place great emphasis on giving thanks, and this is reflected in their ceremonies. Ceremonial songs would be performed in the longhouse, and danced to in a counter-clockwise direction since this is the life-providing direction of Mother Earth, moon, and stars.^[16] The more spirited the singing and dancing, the more thanks is given to the Creator. The Onondaga peoples rely on the lunar calendar for their ceremonies that occur, and there are faith-keepers responsible for initiating the ceremonies based on the different moons.^[16]

Culture

Some factors that defined pre-colonial Onondaga life were:

• a continued placement of villages on defensive high points away from rivers and the presence of defensive earthen embankments^[17]
• a gradual evolution of pottery vessels and smoking pipe forms and decorations^[17]
• a gradual evolution of stone and bone tools and implements^[17]
• continuity in subsistence systems^[17]
• continuity of house forms and inferred communal living^[17]
• the continued use of human face motifs^[17]
• evidence for bear ceremonialism^[17]

Government

Clan System

The Onondaga in New York have a traditional matriachal form of government, wherein chiefs are nominated by clan mothers, rather than elected. One's clan is determined by their matrilineal lineage, meaning that clan membership is inherited from the mother. Membership in the Onondaga is also exclusively inherited matrilineally. The clan system extends throughout the Haudenosaunee, and clan members from other nations are considered family.^[18] In total there are nine clans:

• wolf
• turtle
• beaver
• snipe
• heron
• deer
• eel
• bear
• hawk

Onondaga peoples believe it is their duty to help and support their clan in tough times, sickness, and death. Interclan marriages are mandatory, so a member of one clan can only marry someone outside of their clan.

Land

On March 11, 2005, the Onondaga Nation in the town of Onondaga, New York, filed a land rights action in federal court, seeking acknowledgment of title to over 3,000 square miles (7,800 km²) of ancestral lands centering in Syracuse, New York. They hoped to obtain increased influence over environmental restoration efforts at Onondaga Lake and other EPA Superfund sites in the claimed area.^[19] The Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit rejected the Onondagas' claim in 2012, and the Supreme Court in 2013 declined to hear an appeal.^[20]

On June 29, 2022, 1,023 acres of land were returned to the Onondaga Nation.^[21]

On September 30, 2024, 1,000 acres of land were returned to the Onondaga Nation.^[22]

Sports

The Onondaga very much enjoyed sports and physical activity. Lacrosse and foot races were always known to be favorites of the Onondaga people.^[23] They also adopted many games from European settlers such as mumble the peg, marbles, some games of ball, pull away, and fox and geese in the snow.^[23] Hide and seek and Blind man's buff were played but no games with song.^[23]

Notable people

Rose Doctor, Onondaga people Wolf Clan, Clanmother^[24]

• Leon Shenandoah (1915–1996), Tadodaho
• Oren Lyons (Lives at Onondaga and holds a Faithkeeper title, but is Seneca)
• Tom Longboat (Six Nations)
• Dinah John (c. 1774–1883)
• Canassatego, Hiawatha, Tadadaho of the Iroquois Confederacy
• Tadodaho Sidney Hill
• Samuel George, (Hononwirehdonh, or 'Great Wolf'), (1795–1873; chief from 1850 to 1873)
• Madge Skelly (1903–1993), actress, director, speech pathologist
• Lyle Thompson (professional lacrosse player) (born 1992)
• Tonya Gonnella Frichner lawyer and activist (1947–2015)
• Eric Gansworth (poet, novelist and visual artist)

Today

• Onondaga Reservation south of Nedrow, New York outside Syracuse
• Onondaga of Ohswegen and Bearfoot Onondaga, both at Six Nations of the Grand River, Ontario, Canada

Other spellings encountered

• Onöñda'gega, Onondaga language
• Onontakeka, Oneida language
• Onondagaono, Seneca language

See also

• Onondaga language
• HMCS Onondaga (S73) Oberon Class submarine
• John Arthur Gibson

Notes

1. "Onondaga's Say: That's not us in your census (reprint from 2001)". Onondaga Nation. 16 January 2020. Retrieved 2 September 2021.
2. "Registered Population – Onondaga Clear Sky". Crown–Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs Canada. Government of Canada. 9 April 2019. Retrieved 2 September 2021.
3. Rudes, B. Tuscarora English Dictionary, Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1999.
4. Groat, Cody (February 18, 2020). "Six Nations of the Grand River". The Canadian Encyclopedia. Retrieved 2020-12-08.
5. Bruce E. Johansen (2006). The Native Peoples of North America: a History. Rutgers University Press. pp. 136–138. ISBN 978-0-8135-3899-0.
6. Johansen, Bruce E. (Fall 1995). "Dating the Iroquois Confederacy". Akwesasne Notes. New Series. 01 (3/04): 62–3. Retrieved 2020-02-09.
7. Johansen, Bruce Elliott; Mann, Barbara Alice (2000). "Ganondagan". Encyclopedia of the Haudenosaunee (Iroquois Confederacy). Greenwood Publishing Group. p. 105. ISBN 978-0-313-30880-2. Retrieved 2010-05-23.
8. Tuck, James A. (1990). Onondaga Iroquois Prehistory: A Study in Settlement Archaeology (reprint ed.). Syracuse University Press. p. 197. ISBN 978-0-8156-2511-7.
9. "US Presidents – Hanadagá•yas". 22 February 2014.
10. Rojas, Rick (June 22, 2018). "A Story of Survival Revived by the Cicadas' Loud (and Crunchy) Return". The New York Times. Retrieved April 2, 2024.
11. "Ogweñ•yó'da' déñ'se' Hanadagá•yas: The Cicada and George Washington". Onondaga Nation. 2018-05-14. Retrieved 2024-04-02.
12. "1794 Pickering Treaty With the Six Nations". 1794 Canandaigua Treaty Commemoration Committee, Inc. Archived from the original on 2006-04-26. Retrieved 6 September 2016.
13. Hauptman, Laurence (2008). Seven Generations of Iroquois Leadership: The Six Nations Since 1800. Syracuse University Press. ISBN 978-0-8156-3165-1.
14. Blau, Harold (1965). "Historical Factors in Onondaga Iroquois Cultural Stability". Ethnohistory. 12 (3): 250–258. doi:10.2307/480514. JSTOR 480514.
15. Beauchamp, W. M. (1888). "Onondaga Customs". The Journal of American Folklore. 1 (3): 195–203. doi:10.2307/534235. JSTOR 534235.
16. "Ceremonies". Onondaga Nation. 2014-02-18. Retrieved 2020-12-08.
17. Hart, John P.; Engelbrecht, William E. (2016). "Revisiting Onondaga Iroquois Prehistory through Social Network Analysis". In Eric E. Jones; John L. Creese (eds.). Process and Meaning in Spatial Archaeology: Investigations into Pre-Columbian Iroquoian Space and Place. Boulder, CO: University Press of Colorado. pp. 189–214. doi:10.5876/9781607325109.c007. ISBN 9781607325109. JSTOR j.ctt1kc6hk0.15.
18. "Culture". Onondaga Nation. 2014-02-18. Retrieved 2020-12-08.
19. [1] Archived 2010-12-06 at the Wayback Machine, Syracuse Post Standard, n.d., accessed 11 Nov 2015
20. "Supreme Court rejects Onondaga Indian Nation's land claim against New York". CNYCentral.com. 15 October 2013. Retrieved 29 June 2017.
21. "The Onondaga Nation, in Unprecedented Land Back Moment, Regains 1,023 Acres of the Land From New York State". onondaganation.org. 1 July 2022.
22. AP News Ancestral land returned to Onondaga in upstate New York accessed October 1,2024
23. Beauchamp, W. M. (1895). "Onondaga Notes". The Journal of American Folklore. 8 (30): 209–216. doi:10.2307/534095. JSTOR 534095.
24. "Current Clan Mothers." Haudenosaunee Confederacy. Retrieved 11 Sept 2012.

References

• Onondaga Reservation, New York United States Census Bureau

External links

• Onondaga Nation, official website