Page images
PDF
EPUB

PERMANENT

SUBSECTION OF ANTHROPOLOGY.

A. A. A. S., VOL. XXIX.

43

ADDRESS

BY

PROFESSOR J. W. POWELL,

CHAIRMAN OF SUBSECTION OF ANTHROPOLOGY.

WYANDOTTE GOVERNMENT. A SHORT STUDY OF TRIBAL SOCIETY. IN the social organization of the Wyandottes four groups are. recognized the family, the gens, the phratry, and the tribe.

THE FAMILY.

The family as the term is here used is nearly synonymous with household. It is composed of the persons who occupy one lodge or, in their permanent wigwams, one section of a communal dwelling. These permanent dwellings are constructed, in an oblong form, of poles interwoven with bark. The fire is placed in line along the center and is usually built for two families, one occupying the place on each side of the fire.

The head of the family is a woman.

GENS.

The gens is an organized body of consanguineal kindred in the female line. "The woman carries the gens," is the formulated statement by which a Wyandotte expresses the idea that descent is in the female line. Each gens has the name of some animal— the ancient of such animal being its tutelar god. Up to the time when the tribe left Ohio, eleven gentes were recognized, as follows:

Deer, Bear, Highland turtle (striped), Highland turtle (black), Mud turtle, Smooth large turtle, Hawk, Beaver, Wolf, Sea Snake, and Porcupine.

In speaking of an individual he is said to be a Wolf, a Bear, or a Deer as the case may be, meaning thereby that he belongs to that gens; but in speaking of the body of people comprising a gens they are said to be relatives of the Wolf, the Bear, or the Deer, as the case may be.

There is a body of names belonging to each gens so that each person's name indicates the gens to which he belongs. These names are derived from the characteristics, habits, attitudes, or mythologic stories connected with the tutelar god.

The following schedule presents the name of a man and woman in each gens as illustrating this statement.

[merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small]

There are four phratries in the tribe-the three gentes, bear, deer, and striped turtle constituting the first; the highland turtle, black turtle, and smooth large turtle the second; the hawk, beaver and wolf, the third; and the sea snake and porcupine the fourth.

This unit in their organizations has a mythologic basis and is chiefly used for religious purposes, in the preparation of medicines, and in festivals and games.

The eleven gentes as four phratries constitute the tribe.
Such is the social organization of the Wyandottes.

Each gens is a body of consanguineal kindred in the female line, and each gens is allied to other gentes by consanguineal kinship through the male line, and by affinity through marriage.

To be a member of the tribe it is necessary to be a member of a gens; to be a member of a gens it is necessary to belong to some family; and to belong to a family a person must have been born in the family so that his kinship is recognized; or he must be adopted into a family and become a son, brother, or some definite relative; and this artificial relationship gives him the same standing as actual relationship in the family, in the gens, in the phratry, and in the tribe.

Thus the tribe is a body of kindred.

Of the four groups thus described, the gens, the phratry, and the tribe constitute the series of organic units; the family or household as here described is not a unit of the gens or phratry as two gentes are represented in each-the father must belong to one gens and the mother and her children to another.

GOVERNMENT.

Society is maintained by the establishment of government, for rights must be recognized and duties performed.

In this tribe there is found a complete differentiation of the military from the civil government.

[blocks in formation]

The civil government inheres in a system of councils and chiefs. In each gens there is a council composed of four women called Yu-wai'-yu-wa'-na.

These four women councillors select a chief of the gens from its male members that is from their brothers and sons. This gentile chief is the head of the gentile council.

[ocr errors]

The council of the tribe is composed of the aggregated gentile councils. The tribal council therefore is composed one-fifth of men and four-fifths of women.

« PreviousContinue »