A fine Haudenosaunee(Iroquois) Whistling mouth false face mask. The Iroquois False Face Society was and still is essentially a healing society that incorporates a number of masks as healing and apotropaic devices. According to William N. Fenton, crooked or broken nose with crooked mouth, spoon mouth, bi-funnelate blower, square-mouth blower, straight lipped, protruding tongue, smiling mouth, drooping or hanging mouth, whistling mouth, long nose, horned, blind, divided, and pox masks represent most of the styles seen. Fenton posits that since the primary function of the false face society is to heal or cure by the blowing of ashes on a patient, it is not surprising that the mouth is the most prominent feature on false face masks.

This fine and rare example of the whistling mouth style was carved in 1975 by John Elliot from the Six Nations Territory in Southern Ontario, Canada. John is Mohawk and belongs to the Turtle clan. His Mohawk name is garon-hyomdy-a which means “across the river/water”. I actually know John personally and have acquired masks from him before when at his home on Six Nations. I brought this mask with me when I visited John’s home back in 2002. I wanted to learn more about it; specifically, why it was not painted. John originally treated it with sunflower oil. He told me that in his earlier days of carving he often oiled the masks or stained them with a stain that brought out the natural color of the wood. The form of this mask is somewhat different from John’s other whistlers that have the mouth tapering off into a small diamond shape. Although some might call this a blower mask, Fenton’s iconography would classify it as a whistling mouth. Materials used include Basswood, copper sconces and white horse hair. I acquired this mask in the 1980s from a handicraft store in the small town of Wiarton, Ontario. I have a number of false faces in my collection and will be parting with a few more.

No stand is included.

Dimensions: 11 x 7 inches (28x 18 cm) 

c. 1975