The Project Gutenberg EBook of Wyandot Government: A Short Study of Tribal
Society, by John Wesley Powell
This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or
re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.net
Title: Wyandot Government: A Short Study of Tribal Society
Bureau of American Ethnology
Author: John Wesley Powell
Release Date: October 25, 2005 [EBook #16947]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ASCII
*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK WYANDOT GOVERNMENT ***
Produced by Carlo Traverso, Barbara Tozier, and the Online
Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net, from
images generously made available by the Bibliotheque
nationale de France at http://gallica.bnf.fr.
[Transcriber's Note: This text uses several diacritical marks: [)e]
represents "e with breve," [n] represents "superscript n," ' at
the end of syllables is a prime mark, [u.] represents "u with dot
below."]
SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION--BUREAU OF ETHNOLOGY.
J. W. POWELL, DIRECTOR.
WYANDOT GOVERNMENT:
A SHORT STUDY OF TRIBAL SOCIETY.
BY
J. W. POWELL.
In the social organization of the Wyandots 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 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
|