Description
The Seneca are a group of people who historically lived south of Lake Ontario, one of the five Great Lakes in North America. Their nation was the farthest to the west within the Six Nations or Iroquois League (Haudenosaunee) in New York before the American Revolution. For this reason, they are called “The Keepers of the Western Door.” In the 21st century, more than 10,000 Seneca live in the United States, which has three federally recognized Seneca tribes. Seneca oral history states that the tribe originated in a village called Nundawao, near the south end of Canandaigua Lake, at South Hill. Close to South Hill stands the 865-foot-high Bare Hill, known to the Seneca as Genundowa. Bare Hill is part of the Bare Hill Unique Area, which began to be acquired by the state in 1989.
Language
Iroquoian
Culture
In the autumn small parties of Seneca men left the villages for the annual hunt, returning about midwinter; spring was the fishing season. Seneca women were responsible for the cultivation of corn (maize) and other vegetables. The Seneca used kinship to organize their society; extended families linked through the maternal line lived together in longhouses. The tribe had eight clans; these were in turn organized into two equally sized groups, or moieties. The moieties had their own chiefs and served complementary roles in games, funerals, and ceremonies. Kinship rules mandated marriage between, not within, the moieties. Each community had a council of adult males who guided the moiety chiefs.