Talk:False Face Society

I removed the following links from the External Links subsection: I removed them because they were broken. However, I didn't fix them, because upon examination of the remaining link I discovered that the oficial Haudenosaunee policy is that the masks should not be depicted or shown to the public at all. I will fix the Modern Conflicts section accordingly, as it mentions the Haudenosaunee policy, but is not very clear about its contents. I am unsure about whether the broken links should be fixed, as I am not sufficently informed on Wikipedia policy. Can anyone with an encyclopedic knowledge of Wikipedia policy and its interaction with content "owners" policy enlighten me about what should be done? I am inherently biased against hiding knowledge of any kind, yet, at the same time, I do not relish the opportunity to show cultural insensitivity. Apwith (talk) 15:37, 19 January 2010 (UTC)
 * From http://www.usao.edu/~usao-indianart/course/l9.html
 * Seneca False Face Society "Scalp mask"
 * Seneca False Face Society "Doctor Mask
 * Seneca Corn Husk Society (related to but different from the False Face Society)
 * Wikipedia is not censored, so the links shouldn't be removed just because somebody says such links shouldn't be distributed. On the other hand, links to works that infringe copyright are prohibited, but I'm not sure what is the copyright status of photos of those masks. Svick (talk) 19:25, 19 January 2010 (UTC)

In editing the Modern Conflicts subsection, I became curious about the "Iroquois Traditionalist Society". In order to find a reference I googled it (the previous link), but only came up with this articles material and spam derived from it. Maybe I'm misunderstanding the phrase, but the capitalisation leads me to think that this is a specific or "formal" group within Haudenosaunee society. Does anybody know more about this? Apwith (talk) 18:12, 19 January 2010 (UTC)

This is upsetting to see on wiki. Especially since it is even noticed on the article itself that my Nation has asked not to distribute images of these masks. Yet, here are images. This is a break of Iroquois law and it's upsetting to see wiki ignore this. I had to cover the right side of my screen to even try to read bits of this article. Apparently sacred has no meaning here. SiriusKarma —Preceding undated comment added 20:58, 1 October 2013 (UTC)

We have a variety of depictions of sacred objects on Wikipedia. For example, see the page on Muhammad, containing artistic depictions of the prophet, which is traditionally forbidden in (Sunni) Islam. This is a secular project designed to inform people about a wide variety of subjects. The ethos of Wikipedia is opposed to arbitrary restrictions on information, even when based on some people's deeply-held religious beliefs. Stewart king (talk) 18:27, 27 December 2014 (UTC)


 * I added another depiction from a book by Arthur C. Parker. Since his father was Seneca, he was adopted by the tribe, and he cooperated with Seneca religious leaders on the book it would appear that the ban is not absolute in any case. Peter Flass (talk)