Onondaga

The Village of Onondaga is the capital of the Onondaga Nation and serves as the meeting place for the Grand Council of the Haudenosaunee. While the physical location of the village has changed a bit over the years, it has been in the current location on the Onondaga Creek since 1720.

The Onondaga Nation

The Haudenosaunee

The Haudenosaunee, also known as the Iroquois or the League of Five Nations, is a democratic confederation of the Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga, Cayuga, and Seneca Nations. In 1722, the Tuscarora were admitted to the Haudenosaunee. The Onondaga, as Keepers of the Central Fire, maintain the meeting place of the Chiefs of the Haudenosaunee. 

The Longhouse

The Longhouses, known as Ganoñhsésgeh in the Onondaga language, serve as both home and meeting places for the various clans residing in the village. There are groupings of the structures laid out around the central Ganoñhsésgeh which serves as the primary seat of the Onondaga nation and the central fire of the Haudenosaunee Grand Council. 
The buildings are constructed from elm trees with a double frame of elm poles and saplings and shingled with elm bark sheets. Inside the structures, each clan family has a central fire surrounded by bunk beds and communal living space. Each clan has their own building.  

Dragon Clans of the Haudenosaunee

The primary home for the Haudenosaunee's Dragon clans is located outside of the Onondaga village. The members of the Dragon clans work with the Dragons, known as Onyarekowa in the language of the Mohawk nation. Each fully grown Onyarekowa leads a separate clan of their own and the collective Dragon clans send a chief to the Grand Council. The members of the clans come from all of the nations of the Haudenosaunee, and most of the clans are mixed membership.

Type

Village

Inhabitant Demonym

Onoñda’gegá’’, "People of the Hills"/Haudenosaunee, "People of the Longhouse"