Seneca Tribe

The Seneca Tribe was the largest tribe included in the "Six Nations." They are presently located on reservations in New York, Oklahoma and Ontario. They currently have a population of 15,000 to 25,000 members. The Seneca people were deemed the "keepers of the western door."

The Seneca lived in dwellings called longhouses. They were made from wood and bark and would hold many families, sometimes as many as 20. They were approximately 50 to 150 feet long, 20 to 25 feet wide and 15 to 20 feet high. There were no windows in the dwellings. They contained high wide doors at each end with a symbol of one of their eight clans at one end of the house. Several small fires were placed in the central passage way and the smoke from the fires exited through openings in the roof. The sleeping quarters were placed along each side of the passageway. The oldest woman in the dwelling was deemed the head of the household. The men moved into the bride's longhouse upon getting married. The Seneca tribes practice the Longhouse religion founded by the Seneca Chief Handsome Lake. He designated the longhouse as the Seneca's place of worship.