The False Face Society is a society of healers who don false face masks, traveling to the homes of the sick who request the False Face Ceremony. The main reason behind the false face masks’ appearances is because the intention of the mask is to scare off whatever evil spirit or energy is causing such ailments to the individual. The mask is carved from wood and uses horse hair. After an individual receives the ceremony, they are now inducted into the False Face Society for life.
Many Haudenosaunee people do not regard false face masks as “artifacts” which I very much agree with. The false face masks are not merely objects, but are apart of the Haudenosaunee religion and serve to represent a spirit. Additionally, the Haudenosaunee people are not an extinct people, there is no such thing as “the vanishing Indian,” their culture and history is very real, important and very much alive for them. For them to call their own culture not an artifact is something museums and individuals must respect, only gifts from the tribes should be accepted for museums.