Onondaga
The Onondaga are an Indigenous nation primarily located in New York State and Ontario, known as the "people of the hill" in their language. Historically, they were central to the Iroquois Confederacy, which included five (later six) nations, and their main village served as the confederacy's capital. The Onondaga Nation is organized into matrilineal clans, and leadership is traditionally determined by clan matrons. Their society was primarily agricultural, with women playing a critical role in farming staple crops such as corn, beans, and squash.
Throughout the 17th century, the Onondaga experienced warfare and territorial losses, particularly during the American Revolutionary War, which led to significant population shifts and claims over ancestral lands. The Onondaga Nation has opted out of participating in U.S. Census counts since 2000, citing concerns over census practices, and their population is estimated at approximately 1,603 in Canada as of 2024. Many Onondaga, especially the younger generations, continue to learn their native language, and religious practices often blend traditional beliefs with Christian influences. Ongoing negotiations with state and federal governments focus on sovereignty and land reclamation, with recent successes in regaining ancestral territories.
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Onondaga
- CATEGORY: Tribe
- CULTURE AREA: Northeast
- LANGUAGE GROUP: Iroquoian
- PRIMARY LOCATION: New York State, Ontario
- POPULATION SIZE: The Onondaga Nation refuses to participate in the US Census and keeps their population from the public; estimated 1,603 in Canada (2024, The Canadian Encyclopedia)
In the Onondaga language, “Onondaga” means “people of the hill.” The main Onondaga village was on a hill southeast of present-day Syracuse, New York. The Onondaga nation was the geographically central nation of the Five (later Six) Nations of the Iroquois Confederacy. Therefore, the confederacy's capital was at this main Onondaga village, and the Onondaga were the Keepers of the Council Fire of the confederacy. The main speaker of the council was always an Onondaga, as was the keeper of the council wampum. The Great Council of the Confederacy, which met each autumn and in emergencies, was composed of fifty sachems (chiefs) from the five Indigenous nations. The Onondaga held fourteen of these hereditarily chosen sachemships, more than any other nation. These rules were set down before European contact (estimates vary widely, from the 1300s to the 1500s) by the founders of the Iroquois Confederacy, Hiawatha, and Deganawida.
The Onondaga nation was organized into matrilineal clans: Wolf, Bear, Beaver, Turtle, Deer, Eagle, and Heron. Clan sachems were appointed by the clan matrons, the senior women of each clan. The Onondaga were also matrilocal, in that a marrying couple would live with the wife’s family in an extended-family longhouse made of poles and bark. Each longhouse accommodated up to thirty people, and there could be twenty to fifty longhouses in a village. The Onondaga population around 1600 was probably more than 2,000.
While men hunted for game and practiced warfare and trade at great distances, Onondaga women tended the fields adjacent to their villages, carrying on the main economic subsistence of the community. Corn, beans, squash, sunflowers, and tobacco were the main crops the women grew. The seasonal cycle of religious ceremonies reflected the importance of agriculture to the Onondaga: the Maple Sugar Festival, the Strawberry Festival, the Green Corn Dance, the Harvest Festival, and the Midwinter Ceremonies.
The Onondaga and the other Iroquois nations became involved in a spiral of warfare and imperialism in the seventeenth century, which did not end until the American Revolutionary War. In the latter conflict, the vast majority of them, including the Onondaga, sided with the British and lost most of their ancestral lands across New York State. The Onondaga did manage to retain a reservation southeast of present-day Syracuse, but many settled instead on the Six Nations reserve along the Grand River in what is now Ontario, Canada. Many who remained in what is now New York State were living at Buffalo Creek, a predominantly Seneca community. Eventually, most Onondaga at Buffalo Creek returned to the Onondaga reservation near Syracuse. The rightful location of the seat of the Iroquois Confederacy became one of great contention among the Iroquois; the Grand River Onondaga claimed that the seat was at their Six Nations reserve, but the Buffalo Creek community also claimed the seat. The Buffalo Creek group acceded to the group at the Onondaga reservation, but a conflict still exists between the Onondaga (and all Iroquois) of the Grand River (Canadian) reserve and the Onondaga in their ancient homeland as to which council fire is the legitimate one. It remained a complex issue, and rather than having two sides, there were many nuanced viewpoints.
The New York Onondaga still use the traditional method of deciding political leadership; the matrons of each clan appoint leaders. They are involved in ongoing negotiations over sovereignty issues with New York State and the federal government. The Canadian Onondaga are split into two governmental factions, traditional and elected leadership, and the Canadian government recognizes only the latter. Many older members still speak the Onondaga language, and children learn it in school. Some adhere to Christian denominations, but at least a quarter of Onondaga people in both Ontario and New York practice the traditional Iroquois religion, the Longhouse religion, which is a mix of pre-contact belief systems and Christian ideas institutionalized by the prophet Handsome Lake in the early nineteenth century.
Due to disagreements with what the Onondaga Nation feels are discrepancies in census-taking practices and reporting, the Onondaga in the United States have opted out of participating in formal US censuses since 2000. The Onondaga Nation in the United States has had some success in regaining their Indigenous lands in the twenty-first century. In September 2024, they reclaimed 1,000 acres of ancestral lands from the US government.
Bibliography
Abler, Thomas S., and Michelle Filice. "Onondaga." The Canadian Encyclopedia, 7 Feb. 2024, www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/onondaga. Accessed 25 Oct. 2024.
"About Us." Onondaga Nation, www.onondaganation.org/aboutus. Accessed 25 Oct. 2024.
Fleming, Ahna. "Onondaga Nation Reclaims 1,000 Acres of Ancestral Land." The Daily Orange, 30 Sept. 2024, dailyorange.com/2024/09/onondaga-nation-reclaims-ancestral-land. Accessed 25 Oct. 2024.
McAndrew, Mike. "Onondaga's Say: That's Not Us in your Census [reprint from 2001]." Onondaga Nation, 16 Jan. 2020, www.onondaganation.org/uncategorized/2020/onondagas-say-thats-not-us-in-your-census-reprint-from-2001. Accessed 25 Oct. 2024.
"New Publication: Onondaga and Empire; An Iroquoian People in an Imperial Era." New York State Museum, www.nysm.nysed.gov/research-collections/archaeology/news/new-publication-onondaga-and-empire. Accessed 25 Oct. 2024.
"Onondaga Nation." Dartmouth College Libraries Digital Collections, collections.dartmouth.edu/occom/html/occom/ctx/orgography/org0078.ocp.html. Accessed 25 Oct. 2024.