For decades the healing spirits have been confined against their will in a large cinder block building topped with razor wire; under the close watch of sleepless television monitors and alert guards.

They were placed in a large, windowless room behind a heavy steel door, without sun, air or wind. Some said they were deep in sleep, in a dream state, waiting for the day when they would be returned to their distant homes.

Non-Natives refer to these entities as false face masks some of whom are characterized by twisted mouths, misshapen noses and long black hair.

Long considered a form of native art they have been eagerly sought by collectors ignorant of their true meaning. Museums in particular searched for the masks which were then placed in dioramas or on shelves for academic study.

Brushed aside were the objections of the traditional Iroquois who believed the masks were not simply inanimate objects but special beings who traced their ancestry to the beginning of the world. They are an integral part of Haudenosaunee society essential to the spiritual and psychological well being of the people, honored by those who know their full significance.

In the past, it was possible for non-Native guests to see the ancient ones as they performed their rituals before the community. It is known they are capable of bending the normal rules of physical science as they moved through time, space and realities.

Despite this, they were not always understood or respected. The missionaries referred to them as “satanic” while the social scientists attempted to bleed the spiritual life from them by intellectual qualification and objective cultural analysis.

The Iroquois see them differently. They are a source of mystery, strength, renewal and hope. Perhaps it was because they were so important an effort was made to have them actively repressed or removed from their aboriginal custodians.

Through various means many of them left our communities. Some were stolen, others purchased from individuals who failed to understand the consequences of their actions. For years the Iroquois suffered considerable internal stress because they lacked the capacity to effect the individual and collective spiritual healing the ancient ones brought about.

As tough as times had been in the past, the Haudenosaunee managed to hold on to the essence of their culture and identity due in part to their ability to retain the power of the medicine societies. When they began to leave unwelcome changes came, tensions increased, dissension was the mark of the times, the people became confused.

By far, the largest collector of masks was George Heye of New York City. Mr Heye had spent his considerable fortune accumulating the world’s largest inventory of Native artifacts, artworks and sacred items.

He had founded the Museum of the American Indian with display facilities in a museum on upper Broadway in New York and a plain, rectangular research and collections facility in the Bronx.

When not on public view in Manhattan the ancient ones were housed in the Bronx much to the displeasure of the leaders of the Confederacy who wanted them returned home to take their rightful place in Iroquois society.

In 1989 the National Museum of the American Indian was born, a successor to the old MAI. It adopted a policy of repatriating sacred items back to the Native people since, its trustees reasoned, strong, culturally vibrant indigenous societies were a necessary component of hemispheric life.

Along with that, came the moral obligations to assist Native people as they begin to slowly heal from centuries of oppression.