The Onondaga call themselves Onoda'gega, sometimes spelled Onontakeka, which means People of the Hills, or Onondagaono (The People of the Hills). The Onondagaono are one of the original Five Nations to accept the Peacemaker's message, and they joined together with the Mohawk, Oneida, Seneca, and Cayuga to form the Haudenosaunee Confederacy, which is also know as the Iroquois Confederacy. Haudenosaunee translates to mean "People of the Longhouse," which refers to the type of homes built …
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…a smoke hole directly over every fire pit within the longhouse is left open. This is done to allow the smoke to pass through the longhouse. It is said that the Smoke Dance, which is still done today as a social dance, originated out of the need of the people to remove the smoke from the inside of the longhouse. The dancers help the smoke to rise and leave through the hole in the roof.