Onondaga people

{{Short description|Ethnic group}} {{Other uses|Onondaga (disambiguation)}} {{Infobox ethnic group | group = Onondaga Onoñda’gegá’ | image = Tadodaho Sid Hill United Nations.jpg | region1 = {{flagcountry|United States}} (New York) | pop1 = Unknown<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.onondaganation.org/uncategorized/2020/onondagas-say-thats-not-us-in-your-census-reprint-from-2001/|title=Onondaga's Say: That's not us in your census (reprint from 2001)|website=Onondaga Nation|date=16 January 2020|accessdate=2 September 2021}}</ref> | region2 = {{flagcountry|Canada}} (Ontario) | pop2 = 2,894 (2019)<ref>{{cite web|url=https://fnp-ppn.aadnc-aandc.gc.ca/fnp/Main/Search/FNRegPopulation.aspx?BAND_NUMBER=247&lang=eng|title=Registered Population – Onondaga Clear Sky|date=9 April 2019|website=Crown–Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs Canada|publisher=Government of Canada|accessdate=2 September 2021}}</ref> | ref2 = | religions = Longhouse/Gai'hwi:io, Kanoh'hon'io, Kahni'kwi'io, other Indigenous religions, Christianity | languages = English, Onondaga, Other Iroquoian languages. | related = Seneca Nation, Oneida Nation, Tuscarora Nation, Mohawk Nation, Cayuga Nation, other Iroquoian peoples | native_name = | native_name_lang = | image_caption = Tadodaho Sid Hill, Traditional Chief of the Onondaga Nation at the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues }} The '''Onondaga people''' ({{Langx|ono|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" ({{Lang|tus|Kayečisnakwe’nì·yu}}<ref>Rudes, B. ''Tuscarora English Dictionary,'' Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1999.</ref> 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 federally recognized '''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.<ref name=":2">{{Cite web|title=Six Nations of the Grand River |url=https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/six-nations-of-the-grand-river|access-date=2020-12-08|website=The Canadian Encyclopedia |first1= Cody |last1=Groat |date= February 18, 2020 }}</ref>

==History== According to oral tradition, the Great Peacemaker approached the Onondaga and other tribes to found the Haudenosaunee.<ref>{{Cite book | author=Bruce E. Johansen | author-link=Bruce E. Johansen | title = The Native Peoples of North America: a History | publisher = Rutgers University Press | year = 2006 | pages = 136–138 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=yiKgBuSUPUIC&pg=PA136 | isbn = 978-0-8135-3899-0}}</ref> 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.<ref>{{Cite journal | last = Johansen | first = Bruce E. | title = Dating the Iroquois Confederacy | journal = Akwesasne Notes |series=New Series | volume = 01 | issue = 3/04 | pages = 62–3 | date = Fall 1995 | url = https://ratical.org/many_worlds/6Nations/DatingIC.html | access-date = 2020-02-09 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite encyclopedia | title = Ganondagan | encyclopedia = Encyclopedia of the Haudenosaunee (Iroquois Confederacy) | last1 = Johansen | first1 = Bruce Elliott | last2 = Mann | first2 = Barbara Alice | page = 105 | publisher = Greenwood Publishing Group | year = 2000 | url =https://books.google.com/books?id=zibNDBchPkMC&pg=PA105 | isbn = 978-0-313-30880-2 | access-date = 2010-05-23}}</ref>

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.<ref>{{Cite book | last = Tuck | first = James A. | title = Onondaga Iroquois Prehistory: A Study in Settlement Archaeology | publisher = Syracuse University Press | year = 1990 | edition = reprint| page = 197 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=YeWHw-hTJfoC&pg=PA197 | isbn = 978-0-8156-2511-7 }}</ref> [[File:Onondaga Village Allen.jpg|thumb|250px|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.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.onondaganation.org/history/us-presidents-hanadagayas/ | title=US Presidents – Hanadagá•yas | date=22 February 2014 }}</ref> 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.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Rojas |first=Rick |date=June 22, 2018 |title=A Story of Survival Revived by the Cicadas' Loud (and Crunchy) Return |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/22/nyregion/cicadas-return-onondaga-nation.html |access-date=April 2, 2024 |work=The New York Times}}</ref> The seemingly miraculous arrival of the cicadas (specifically, Brood VII also known as the Onondaga brood) is commemorated by the Onondaga as an intervention by the Creator to ensure their survival after such a traumatizing, catastrophic event.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2018-05-14 |title=Ogweñ•yó’da’ déñ’se’ Hanadagá•yas: The Cicada and George Washington |url=https://www.onondaganation.org/blog/2018/ogwenyoda-dense-hanadagayas-the-cicada-and-george-washington/ |access-date=2024-04-02 |website=Onondaga Nation |language=en-US}}</ref> [[File:The Onondaga chief Isaac Hill Kaweneseronton of the Six Nations Confederacy, Montreal, QC, 1870.jpg|thumb|Chief Isaac Hill Kaweneseronton, taken in Montreal in 1870 at William Notman's studio. ]] 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.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.canandaigua-treaty.org/The_Canandaigua_Treaty_of_1794.html|title=1794 Pickering Treaty With the Six Nations|publisher=1794 Canandaigua Treaty Commemoration Committee, Inc.|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060426085515/http://canandaigua-treaty.org/The_Canandaigua_Treaty_of_1794.html|archive-date=2006-04-26|url-status=dead|access-date=6 September 2016}}</ref>

In 1816, 450 Onondaga were living in New York, 210 of whom lived on Buffalo Creek Reservation.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Hauptman|first1=Laurence|title=Seven Generations of Iroquois Leadership: The Six Nations Since 1800|date=2008|publisher=Syracuse University Press|isbn=978-0-8156-3165-1}}</ref>

== Prestige factors == The Onondaga Nation was crucial in forming the Iroquois League which led them to be highly appreciated by their peers. The "Tree of Peace" was planted on Onondaga Land.<ref name="auto2">{{cite journal |last1=Blau |first1=Harold |title=Historical Factors in Onondaga Iroquois Cultural Stability |journal=Ethnohistory |date=1965 |volume=12 |issue=3 |pages=250–258 |doi=10.2307/480514|jstor=480514}}</ref> Onondaga has been regarded as the capital of Iroquois land. The Onondaga were known as the Central Fire-Keepers of the Confederacy.<ref name="auto2"/> 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.<ref name="auto2"/> The culture hero Hyenwatha was an Onondaga Indian and was essential in the early organization of the league.<ref name="auto2"/> The title of Tadodaho was always held by an Onondaga chief; he was to be the chief arbitrator of the Lords of the Confederacy.<ref name="auto2"/> The Onondaga maintained the largest number chieftainship titles as well as the largest number of clans among the Iroquois.<ref name="auto2"/> Handsome Lake, the Seneca half-brother of Cornplanter and author of his eponymous Code, died at Onondaga.<ref name="auto2"/>

== Customs == thumb|right|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.<ref name="auto3">{{cite journal |last1=Beauchamp |first1=W. M. |title=Onondaga Customs |journal=The Journal of American Folklore |date=1888 |volume=1 |issue=3 |pages=195–203 |doi=10.2307/534235|jstor=534235}}</ref> They also do a public confession of sins upon a string of wampum (shell beads).<ref name="auto3"/> 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.<ref name="auto3"/> 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.<ref name="auto3"/> The Strawberry Feast comes when the berries are ripe. This day there are dancing for the Thunder and a feast of strawberries.<ref name="auto3"/> 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.<ref name="auto3"/> 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.<ref name="auto3"/> The Onondaga's Thanksgiving feast in October closely resembled the Green Corn Dance.<ref name="auto3"/>

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.<ref name=":02">{{Cite web|date=2014-02-18|title=Ceremonies|url=https://www.onondaganation.org/culture/ceremonies/|access-date=2020-12-08|website=Onondaga Nation|language=en-US}}</ref> 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.<ref name=":02"/>

== 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<ref name="auto">{{cite book|last1=Hart|first1=John P.|last2= Engelbrecht|first2=William E.|chapter=Revisiting Onondaga Iroquois Prehistory through Social Network Analysis|title=Process and Meaning in Spatial Archaeology: Investigations into Pre-Columbian Iroquoian Space and Place|year= 2016|pages=189–214|editor1=Eric E. Jones |editor2=John L. Creese|publisher=University Press of Colorado|location=Boulder, CO|jstor=j.ctt1kc6hk0.15|doi= 10.5876/9781607325109.c007|isbn=9781607325109|chapter-url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/312919962}}</ref> * a gradual evolution of pottery vessels and smoking pipe forms and decorations<ref name="auto" /> * a gradual evolution of stone and bone tools and implements<ref name="auto" /> * continuity in subsistence systems<ref name="auto" /> * continuity of house forms and inferred communal living<ref name="auto" /> * the continued use of human face motifs<ref name="auto" /> * evidence for bear ceremonialism<ref name="auto" />

==Government==

=== Clan system ===

The Onondaga in New York have a traditional matriarchal 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.<ref name=":1">{{Cite web|date=2014-02-18|title=Culture|url=https://www.onondaganation.org/culture/|access-date=2020-12-08|website=Onondaga Nation|language=en-US}}</ref> 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 {{convert|3000|sqmi|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.<ref>[http://www.syracuse.com/news/poststandard/index.ssf?/base/news-6/1155718727202510.xml&coll=1&thispage=2] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101206005903/http://www.syracuse.com/news/poststandard/index.ssf?%2Fbase%2Fnews-6%2F1155718727202510.xml&coll=1&thispage=2|date=2010-12-06}}, ''Syracuse Post Standard'', n.d., accessed 11 Nov 2015</ref> 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.<ref>{{cite web|title=Supreme Court rejects Onondaga Indian Nation's land claim against New York|date=15 October 2013|url=http://cnycentral.com/news/local/supreme-court-rejects-onondaga-indian-nations-land-claim-against-new-york|publisher=CNYCentral.com|access-date=29 June 2017}}</ref>

On June 29, 2022, it was announced that 1,023 acres of land were to be returned to the Onondaga Nation.<ref>{{cite web|title=The Onondaga Nation, in Unprecedented Land Back Moment, Regains 1,023 Acres of the Land From New York State|date=1 July 2022|url=https://www.onondaganation.org/uncategorized/2022/land_back_1023_acres/|publisher=onondaganation.org}}</ref> The land transfer took effect on September 30, 2024.<ref>[https://apnews.com/article/native-american-land-rights-onondaga-new-york-9f105760632d6bf7ce26a6e1c324f8a6 AP News Ancestral land returned to Onondaga in upstate New York accessed October 1,2024]</ref>

== Sports == The Onondaga very much enjoyed sports and physical activity. Lacrosse and foot races were always known to be favorites of the Onondaga people.<ref name="auto1">{{cite journal |last1=Beauchamp |first1=W. M. |title=Onondaga Notes |journal=The Journal of American Folklore |date=1895 |volume=8 |issue=30 |pages=209–216 |doi=10.2307/534095|jstor=534095}}</ref> 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.<ref name="auto1"/> Hide and seek and Blind man's buff were played but no games with song.<ref name="auto1"/>

==Notable people== [[File:Rose Doctor.JPG|thumb|upright|Rose Doctor, Onondaga people Wolf Clan, Clanmother<ref>[http://www.haudenosauneeconfederacy.com/currentclanmothers.html "Current Clan Mothers."] ''Haudenosaunee Confederacy''. Retrieved 11 Sept 2012.</ref>]] * Leon Shenandoah (1915–1996), Tadodaho * Oren Lyons (Lives at Onondaga and holds a Faithkeeper title, but is Seneca) * Tom Longboat (Cogwagee), Grand River Onondaga distance runner * Dinah John (<abbr>c.</abbr> 1774–1883) * Canassatego, Onondaga leader, diplomat, and spokesperson known for his speech at the 1744 Treaty of Lancaster, where he recommended that the British colonies emulate the Haudenosaunee by forming a confederacy. * Tadodaho Sidney Hill * Samuel George, ({{Lang|ono|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) * Alfred Warner Jacques (craftsman of traditional wooden lacrosse sticks, American lacrosse player), (1949 to 2023)

==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== {{Reflist|30em}}

== References == *[https://www.census.gov Onondaga Reservation, New York] United States Census Bureau

==External links== * [http://www.onondaganation.org Onondaga Nation], official website

Category:Onondaga Category:Haudenosaunee Category:Iroquoian peoples Category:Indigenous peoples of the Northeastern Woodlands Category:Native American history of New York (state) Category:Native American tribes in New York (state) Category:Ethnic groups in Syracuse, New York Category:History of Broome County, New York Category:History of Onondaga County, New York Category:Native American people in the American Revolution Category:Onondaga, New York