FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

Q. Do the Iroquois live in bark longhouses?
 
A. Iroquois stopped living in bark longhouses in the early 1700s, then lived in log houses, and today live in modern dwellings.

Q. Do Iroquois pay taxes?
 
A. Iroquois pay no property taxes if they live on an Iroquois reservation. They pay property and school taxes if they live off the reservation. They pay no taxes to the Internal Revenue Service on  income earned on their reservation. Iroquois pay federal, state, and provincial taxes earned off the reservation. They pay no sales tax on goods sold on the reservation, nor do they collect sales tax when they sell goods on the reservation. While they legally do not have to pay sales tax on goods bought off the reservation, many merchants insist they do and New York State does not enforce the law prohibiting merchants from charging them. 
 
Q. Do the Iroquois welcome visitors?
 
A. Many Iroquois communities have cultural centers, museums, craft and art shops, businesses, and special events that welcome visitors.
 
Q. Do Iroquois have their own language?
 
A. Each Iroquois nation speaks its own language. A  speaker from one of the Six Nations can understand a speaker from another Iroquois nation. The Iroquoian language family includes the Cherokee language. Not all Iroquois today can speak their native language, but all  speak English, and some speak French.
 
Q. What form of government do the Iroquois have?
 
A. Most Iroquois communities have two forms of government: traditional and elected. Traditional government begins with groups of families called clans. Each clan is headed by a woman "clan mother" who appoints a "Chief" who serves with her approval for the people.
 
Traditional clan chiefs meet as a government for the nation and the national clan chiefs meet as the Six Nations Confederacy under a system brought to the Iroquois by cultural leaders called Hiawatha and the Peace Maker many centuries ago.
 
Early in this century Iroquois in the United States and Canada were forced to maintain councils of Elected "Chiefs" who deal with state and Provincial governments. The Seneca communities of Allegany and Cattaraugus joined together to form the Seneca Nation of Indians, a separate government in New York State.
 
Traditional and elected governments co-exist in most communities, but some communities have only a traditional or elected government.
 
Q. What religion do the Iroquois have?
 
A. Many forms of religion are found in Iroquois communities. Some traditionalists follow the teachings of Handsome Lake, a prophet who died in 1815. Others seek guidance from the teachings of the Peace Maker centuries before. Some follow spiritual beliefs that have passed down through elders but have no organized body of believers. Quite a few are Christians of many denominations. Followers of other religious views are also found.
 
Q. Were the Iroquois conquered by the U.S. Army
and confined to reservations?
 
A. No. Iroquois fought on both sides of the war of independence. After the war they made treaties and land sales that reduced their land areas to where they now live. They are not wards of the U.S. Government. Their lands do not belong to the United Sates. Their lands were not "reserved" for  them by the U.S. They are a federally recognized tribe by the United States.