A formal ceremony to reaffirm the long-standing partnership between Cornell and the Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) will be held at the Indian Village on the New York State Fair grounds on Indian Day, Friday, Aug. 29, from 10 a.m. to noon.

The ceremony, planned for the Turtle Mound in the village, will include the dedication of trees given to the Haudenosaunee by Cornell, the presentation of a Seneca name to Cornell President Hunter Rawlings and a Victory Dance by members of the Six Nations Agricultural Society.

Representing the Six Nations Agricultural Society, which manages the Indian Village at the fair, will be Lloyd Elm, the group's president; Norman Jemison, village superintendent; Clara Hill, the society's clerk; and vice presidents for each of the Six Nations: the Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga, Cayuga, Seneca and Tuscarora.

Cornell participants will be Rawlings; Daryl B. Lund, dean of the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences (CALS); Brian F. Chabot, associate dean of CALS; William Lacy, director of Cornell Cooperative Extension; David L. Call, dean emeritus of CALS; Jane Mt. Pleasant, director of Cornell's American Indian Program; and Henrik N. Dullea, vice president for university relations.

Mark Alger, deputy state commissioner of agriculture, and Peter Cappuccilli, director of the state fair, also will attend.

"Cornell is a facilitator and conduit for the ongoing partnership between Native and non-Native peoples in New York state," Mt. Pleasant said. "This event will honor both past and future ties."

Cornell's formal relationship with the nations of the Iroquois Confederacy began in the 1920s when Cornell established an Indian Extension Program that emphasized agricultural and home economics training for Native peoples in New York. At the dedication of the State Fair Indian Village in the 1930s, Cornell provided trees in a special ceremony that marked the partnership between the university and the confederacy.

Two white pine trees will be dedicated at the 1997 ceremony. The white pine has great symbolic importance for the Haudenosaunee, since it is the Tree of Peace, which was used to represent the formation of the confederacy by the Peacemaker and the man known as Hiawatha. The branches of the white pine, which provide shelter for the people, represent the laws of the confederacy; under the white roots of peace, which extend in four directions, are buried the weapons of war. Planting two white pines side by side represents the spirit of friendship and trust between the Haudenosaunee and non-Indians, while asserting the Iroquois commitment to sovereignty and cultural identity.

A white ash and a hickory tree also will be dedicated, to represent their importance to Native communities, which used the ash to make corn baskets and the hickory for furniture and carved items.

Phillip Thompson of the Seneca Nation's Cattaraugus Reservation will dedicate the trees.

Indian Day occurs annually during the state fair and recognizes the important role that Native peoples play in New York. Native Americans from across the state attend the fair on this day to participate in special events and ceremonies.