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!
Wyandot
Government, A Short Study of Tribal Society
Rights Of Person
Each individual has a right to freedom of
person and security from personal and bodily
injury, unless adjudged guilty of crime by
proper authority.
Community Rights
Each gens has the right to the services of
all its women in the cultivation of the
soil. Each gens has the right to the service
of all its male members in avenging wrongs,
and the tribe has the right to the service
of all its male members in time of war.
Rights Of Religion
Each phratry has the right to certain
religious ceremonies and the preparation of
certain medicines.
Each gens has the exclusive right to worship
its tutelar god, and each individual has the
exclusive right to the possession and use of
a particular amulet.
Crimes
The violations of right are crimes. Some of
the crimes recognized by the Wyandot are as
follows:
Adultery.
Theft.
Maiming.
Murder.
Treason.
Witchcraft.
A maiden guilty of fornication may be
punished by her mother or female guardian,
but if the crime is flagrant and repeated,
so as to become a matter of general gossip,
and the mother fails to correct it, the
matter may be taken up by the council women
of the gens.
A woman guilty of adultery, for the first
offense is punished by having her hair
cropped; for repeated offenses her left ear
is cut off.
Theft
The punishment for theft is twofold
restitution. When the prosecutor and
prosecuted belong to the same gens, the
trial is before the council of the gens, and
from it there is no appeal. If the parties
involved are of different gentes, the
prosecutor, through the head of his
household, lays the matter before the
council of his own gens; by it the matter is
laid before the gentile council of the
accused in a formal manner. Thereupon it
becomes the duty of the council of the
accused to investigate the facts for
themselves, and to settle the matter with
the council of the plaintiff. Failure thus
to do is followed by retaliation in the
seizing of any property of the gens which
may be found.
Maiming
Maiming is compounded, and the method of
procedure in prosecution is essentially the
same as for theft.
Murder
In the case of murder, if both parties are
members of the same gens, the matter is
tried by the gentile council on complaint of
the head of the household, but there may be
an appeal to the council of the tribe. Where
the parties belong to different gentes,
complaint is formally made by the injured
party, through the chief of his gens, in the
following manner:
A wooden tablet is prepared, upon which is
inscribed the totem or heraldic emblem of
the injured man’s gens, and a
picture-writing setting forth the offense
follows.
The gentile chief appears before the chief
of the council of the offender, and formally
states the offense, explaining the
picture-writing, which is then delivered.
A council of the offender’s gens is
thereupon called and a trial is held. It is
the duty of this council to examine the
evidence for themselves and to come to a
conclusion without further presentation of
the matter on the part of the person
aggrieved. Having decided the matter among
themselves, they appear before the chief of
the council of the aggrieved party to offer
compensation.
If the gens of the offender fail to settle
the matter with the gens of the aggrieved
party, it is the duty of his nearest
relative to avenge the wrong. Either party
may appeal to the council of the tribe. The
appeal must be made in due form, by the
presentation of a tablet of accusation.
Inquiry into the effect of a failure to
observe prescribed formalities developed an
interesting fact. In procedure against
crime, failure in formality is not
considered a violation of the rights of the
accused, but proof of his innocence. It is
considered supernatural evidence that the
charges are false. In trials for all
offenses forms of procedure are, therefore,
likely to be earnestly questioned.
