The daily morning journal and courier., 1901-12-14
the power of the mask worn

1 prophecy the power of the mask worn l by the seer closes his eyes or impresses 1 his vision in such a way that clairvoy- ance ensues-frequently an admonition of some coming disaster.
 | There are masks made of corn husks. As symbol of fruitfulness they are significant of great power.
 I At the door of the Long, house during a false-face dance they demand trib- ute and none can pass them without offering money or tobacco. Always guardians, at the birth of a child they watch the door lest an evil spirit may
 enter and carry away the life of the newborn child
 Representing the staple production or | the Indian these corn husk masks are slorifled with fringe or halo about the
 entire face indicating the rays of the sun. They are woven and beautifully braided by some member of the society. To dispose of one of them to any per
 son outside the mystic circle was, in the old times, a blasphemy, punishable by dismissal from membership. Each clan of the Iroquoise-the Deer, Beaver, Bear, Wolf, Turtle, Heron, Hawk and Snipe--had its totem carved into one of these masks which led it's
 clan in the procession. Each mask
 must carry it's rattle, either of tortoise
 shell, or hickory bark rolled and filed
 with gravel, corn or wild cherry etones
 The initiative thought of the ancient
 Iroquoise carver fashioned these mystic
 masks into various birds and animals
 These rare patterns have disappeared,
 but one, an exceedingly fine wolf, is
 eXtant, and now in the possession of
 collector of New York city.
 Some bird specimens are in collections
 and can be recognized at once by their
 facsmiiles The man-face masks rep
 resent all phases of human thought,
 fear, courage, mirth, sadness, revenge and hate, and most curiously wrought
 are they.
 They are variously adorned with tin or copper eyes and some with long horse-tail, black or white, hair parted each side from the face. The ears are frequently decorated with earrings, sometimes three or four pair in each ear. The lips are spread far apart with laughter or defiance.
 The medicine man is indicated by the whistle lips for his hot ashes blowing A woman mask is rarely seen. This is against the law of the original Giant Mask who gave the ritual to a young chief who, lost in the forest, went astray in the cave where he dwelt.
 By reason of the accident of his en- tering the cave his life was spared, but he was charged with the duty of carv- ing masks and organizing the society among human beings his secret to be given from generation to generation by the sign of the mystics. When the mask is not in use it is kept in a secret place where even the sun is forbidden to enter into it's darkness.
 In the secret mystic society of the Ma ga-na ga yah the masks themselves never officiate but lend their gourd rat ties to accompany the songs. In it's attendance upon the sick the mask asks the body to release the patient from the bondage of poison or wounds.
 The Mask, or False Face society, still among some of the Iroquois of New York state and Canada, but in it's by the younger Indians much of the old-time ritual, being for gotten, is omitted and the reasons for the rites lost. The feast has degenera- ted into a mere fun dance wherein the student will, now and then, find hint of the old-time story which a few of the very aged people remember, but will not tell.
 Collectors of Indian relies are eagerly searching for these older masks, but there are hardly a dozen left in all of New York state and Canada. There 1 are Iroquois carvers of to-day who will ! make good looking masks modern with l fresh paint, some times feathers, to | sell, but these up-to-date Indians, | knowing little or nothing of the reason If the mask, cannot conceive the weird- ness of construction that inspired the ! pagan of centuries ago.
 The mechanical tap of a white mans | hammer and the thrust of the modern | inife fail to depict the mystery lines of | he stone chisel and the flint gougs which inspired life in the carvings of | he old Iroquois sculptor
 It may become fad of fashion to | ,ollect these modern masks. But the lays of the old Iroquois mask have York Sun.