While we know our northern friends may not feel it, in the South, Spring is
here. So we thought we'd share a few of our gardening sites appropriate
for this time of the year. Along with gardening, there's grilling, and getting
ready to diet so that you can fit back into that bathing suit this summer!
The Family
The family, as the term is here used, is
nearly synonymous with the 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.
The 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 Wyandot
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 that 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 a woman in each gens, as
illustrating this statement:
Wun-dát English.
Man of Deer gens De-wa-tí-re Lean Deer.
Woman of Deer gens A-ya-jin-ta Spotted Fawn.
Man of Bear gens A-tu-e-tes Long Claws.
Woman of Bear gens Tsá-man-da-ka-é Grunting
for her Young.
Man of Striped Turtle gens Ta-há-son-ta-ra-ta-se
Going Around the Lake.
Woman of Striped Turtle gens Tso-we-yuñ-kyu
Gone from the Water.
Man of Mud Turtle gens Sha-yän-tsu-wat' Hard
Skull.
Woman of Mud Turtle gens Yan-däc-u-räs
Finding Sand Beach.
Man of Smooth Large Turtle gens Hun'-du-cu-tá
Throwing Sand.
Woman of Smooth Large Turtle gens Tsu-ca-en
Slow Walker.
Man of Wolf gens Ha-ró-un-yû One who goes
about in the Dark; a Prowler.
Woman of Wolf gens Yan-di-no Always Hungry.
Man of Snake gens Hu-ta-hú-sa Sitting in
curled Position.
Woman of Snake gens Di-jé-rons One who
Ripples the Water.
Man of Porcupine gens Han-dú-tun The one who
puts up Quills.
Woman of Porcupine gens Ké-ya-runs-kwa
Good-Sighted.
The Phratry
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 organization 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.
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 a 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.
