The False Face Society is a medicinal society within the Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) tradition, known for its use of carved wooden masks. These masks symbolize various aspects of human experience and are believed to possess spiritual power to heal diseases. The society’s practices originated from an encounter between the Great Creator and a powerful Spirit whose name was Ethiso:da‘, Hado’ih, or simply the Great False Face, also known as “Old Broken Nose.” The entity whose face became grotesquely twisted after failing a divine test. The society’s members, male healers, use these masks in shamanistic rituals to propitiate supernatural agents of disease and restore health. The masks are typically fashioned from living trees and feature exaggerated traits such as crooked mouths, protruding tongues, or spoon-shaped lips. 

Among the Haudenosaunee nations, the Society’s foundations trace to a primordial contest. The Creator had completed the earth when a mysterious stranger, a powerful spirit, appeared claiming to have created the land. 

To determine supremacy, the Creator, and the Stranger, agreed to a competition to move a mountain. The stranger moved it slightly, but the Creator moved it decisively. However, during the contest, the Stranger was curious and looked back prematurely. The mountain struck his face and disfigured it permanently. 

After the competition, the Creator recognized the Spirit’s power and assigned him the role of protecting humans against disease, illness, and natural calamities.