The False Face Society
The False Face Society is probably the best known of the medicinal societies among the Iroquois, especially for its dramatic wooden masks. The masks are used in healing rituals which invoke the spirit of an old hunch-backed man. Those cured by the society become members. Also, echoing the significance of dreams to the Iroquois, anyone who dreams that they should be a member of the society may join.
The False Face Society proper performs a ritual twice a year. The ceremony contains a telling of the False Face myth, an invocation to the spirits using tobacco, the main False Face ritual, and a doling out of mush at the end. During the main part of the ritual, the False Face members, wearing masks, go through houses in the community, driving away sickness, disease and evil spirits. Members use turtle shell rattles, shaking them and rubbing them along the floors and walls. If a sick person is found, a healing ritual may be performed using tobacco and singing. The tobacco is burned, and wood ashes are blown over the sick person.
The community then gathers at the longhouse where the False Faces enter and sit on the floor. The people bring tobacco which is collected as they arrive, and burned when the ceremony begins. The ceremony itself is meant to renew and restrengthen the power of the gathered masks, as well as the spirit of Hadu⁷i⁷ in general. The ritual continues with dancing. At the end of the ritual, corn mush is doled out to the assembled crowd, and everyone goes home.
The design of the masks is somewhat variable, but most share certain features. The eyes are deep-set and accented by metal; the noses are bent and crooked; they are painted red and black; most often they have pouches of tobacco tied onto the hair above their foreheads. Horse tail hair is used for the hair.
When making a mask, a man walks through the woods until he is moved by Hadú⁷i⁷ to carve a mask from a tree. Hadú⁷i⁷ inspires the unique elements of the mask’s design and the resulting product represents the spirit himself, imbued with his powers. The masks are carved directly on the tree and only removed when completed. Masks are painted red if they were begun in the morning or black if they were begun in the afternoon. Red masks are thought to be more powerful. Because the masks are carved into trees that are alive, they are similarly considered to be living and breathing.
EDIT: Since I posted this last night a member of the Iroquois has been in contact with me asking me to stress some important facts about The False Face masks. Apparently such masks aren’t supposed to be seen be non-Iroquois (although we came to the conclusion that as the masks above are readily available for anyone to see on Google images they were alright on Tumblr). There’s a bit more about this on the False Face Society’s Wikipedia page (second paragraph down) and I highly recommend people go read it!
![Christmas is Cancelled
Oliver Cromwell, “who was part of the joint republican, military and parliamentarian effort that overthrew the Stuart monarchy as a result of the English Civil War, and was subsequently invited by his fellow leaders to assume a head of state role,” [Source] banned Christmas in the ‘anti-fun charter’ of 1651. Public notices were nailed to trees around Britain warning that:
The observation of Christmas having been deemed a sacrilege, the exchange of gifts and greetings, dressing in fine clothings, feasting and similar satanical practices, are hereby FORBIDDEN, with the offender liable to a fine of five shillings.
In 1657 he also banned mince pies because they symbolised Catholicism.
Advent Calendar of Oddments 2012: December 3rd](http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m6sfotZXcC1rnseozo1_400.png)
![Pope Joan (also called La Papessa) is the name of a legendary female pope who supposedly reigned for less than three years in the 850s, between the papacies of Leo IV and Benedict III (though there were only two months between the two reigns). She is known primarily from a legend that circulated in the Middle Ages. Pope Joan is regarded by most modern historians and religious scholars as fictitious, possibly originating as an anti-papal satire. The story of Pope Joan is known mainly from the 13th century chronicler Martin of Opava – writing 500 years after the alleged Popess. Most scholars dismiss Pope Joan as a medieval legend. The Oxford Dictionary of Popes acknowledges that this legend was widely believed for centuries, even among Catholic circles, but declares that there is “no contemporary evidence for a female pope at any of the dates suggested for her reign,” and goes on to say that “the known facts of the respective periods make it impossible to fit [a female pope] in”. For those who are wondering what would happen if this were true (or were to ever be true): nothing; a female is not able to be a priest and a Pope cannot be crowned unless he is a priest first. [Source]](http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m81ujsfXFs1rnseozo1_400.jpg)
![In Jewish folklore, a golem is an animated anthropomorphic being, created entirely from inanimate matter.
The most famous golem narrative involves Judah Loew ben Bezalel, the late 16th century chief rabbi of Prague, who reportedly created a golem to defend the Prague ghetto from antisemitic attacks. Depending on the version of the legend, the Jews in Prague were to be either expelled or killed under the rule of Rudolf II, the Holy Roman Emperor. To protect the Jewish community, the rabbi constructed the Golem out of clay from the banks of the Vltava river, and brought it to life through rituals and Hebrew incantations. As this golem grew, it became increasingly violent, killing gentiles and spreading fear. A different story tells of a golem that fell in love, and when rejected, became the violent monster seen in most accounts. Some versions have the golem eventually turning on its creator or attacking other Jews.
The Emperor begged Rabbi Loew to destroy the Golem, promising to stop the persecution of the Jews. To deactivate the Golem, the rabbi rubbed out the first letter of the word “emet” (truth or reality) from the creature’s forehead leaving the Hebrew word “met”, meaning dead. The Golem’s body was stored in the attic genizah of the Old New Synagogue, where it would be restored to life again if needed. According to legend, the body of Rabbi Loew’s Golem still lies in the synagogue’s attic. Some versions of the tale state that the Golem was stolen from the genizah and entombed in a graveyard in Prague’s Žižkov district, where the Žižkov Television Tower now stands. A recent legend tells of a Nazi agent ascending to the synagogue attic during World War II and trying to stab the Golem, but he died instead.
[with thanks to the-black-emporium for bringing this particular oddment to my attention and providing the photograph of Rabbi Loew and his Golem at a museum in Prague]](http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m6fwxjLg9l1rnseozo1_1280.jpg)
