Iroquois--Clans and Classes
the Condoling Council. -- Clans and Classes.
The name usually given to the Book of Rite, or rather to its contents, is, in the Canienga dialect, Okayondongh-sera Yondennase
(or in the French missionary orthography, Okaionhsera Iontennase), which may be councils, civils and religious, tribal and federal, in which the public spirit and social temper of the Iroquois found their most congenial and most popular mode of display, the Yondennase, the Condoling ( or Mourning ) Council, held the highest rank. it was , in a certain way, typical of the whole, and comprised the elements of all the other councils. In its earlier form this council was not peculiar to the Iroquois. We know, from the Jesuit reports, that it was the custom of the Hurons to hold a public lamentation for the death of a chief, and at the same time to appoint another who should take his place and assume his name. But that which among the Hurons was merely a tribal custom became, in the Iroquois form of government, an important institution, essential to the maintenance of their state. By the ordinances of their League, it was required that the number of their federal senate should be maintained undiminished. On the death of one of its, members, it was the duty of the nation to which he belonged to notify the other nations of the event, and of the time and place at which he would be lamented and his successor installed. The notice was given in the usual manner, by officials messengers, who bore for credentials certain strings of WAMPUM, appropriate to the occasion. The place of meeting was commonly the chief natron of the deceased senator's kindred- usually his mother, if she survived him- was in the meantime convened to select his successor. the selection must be approved by his clan and by the nation; but as their sentiments were generally known beforehand, this approval was rarely withheld. Indeed, the mischief resulting from as unsuitable council and the senate had the right of deposing any member who was found unqualified for the office.
At the appointed day the chiefs of the other nations approached the place of meeting. A multitude of their people, men and women, usually accompanied them, prepared
to take part in the exhibitions of grief and in the festivities which always followed the installation of the new councilor. the approaching chiefs halted when they reached the border of the "opening," or cleared space surrounding the town. Here took place the "preliminary ceremony," styled in the
" Deyughnyonkwarakda," a word which means simply " at the edge of the woods." At this point a fire was kindled, a pipe was lighted and passed around with much formality, and an address of welcome was made by the principal chief of the inviting nations. The topics of this address comprised a singular mixture of congratulations and condolence, and seem to have been prescribed forms, which had come down from immemorial antiquity, as appropriate to the occasion.
the guests were than formally conducted-- " led by the hand," as the recites -- to the Council House of the town. they seem, anciently at least, to have advance in the order of their clans. The towns belonging to the Wolf Clan were first enumerated-- probably as the chiefs belonging to them took their places - than the town tortoise clan ( or double clan, as it is styled ), and finally those of the Bear clan. In all, 23 towns name. Five of them are expressly stated to have been "added lately." The residue are supposed to be the name of the towns in which the people of the Five Nations resided at the time when the confederacy was formed, though this point is uncertain. That few of these can now be identified, is what would naturally be expected. It is well known that the Indians had the custom of removing their towns from time to time, at intervals varying from ten to twenty years, as their fuel in their neighborhood became exhausted, and as the diminished crops under their primitive mode of agriculture showed the need of fresher soil. Only those villages would be permanent whose localities offered some special advantages, as fortresses, fishing places, or harbors.
This list of towns has another peculiarity which arrests the attentions. It apparently comprises all the towns of the League, but these are divided among only three clans, those of the Wolf, the Tortoise and the Bear. the other clans of the confederacy are not once named in the book. Yet there are indications which show that when the list the list of the chiefs which concludes the book was written, at a date long after this list of towns first recited, other clans existed in three of the nations. this is an important point, which merits further consideration. Those who have read the adimirable account of the "League of the Iroquios ," by Morgan, and his philosophic work on "Ancient Society" are aware that he has brought out and elucidated with much clearness and force the nature and results of the remarkable clan system which prevail among North American Indians. It is not universal, as it does not seem to be known among the widely scattered bands of the Crees and the Athapascans, or among the Indians of Oregon. It was found, however, among the great majority of tribes in the region north of the Mexico and east of the Rocky Mountains, and was sufficiently alike in all to indicate a common origin. Mr. Morgan finds this origin in a kinship, real or supposed, among the members of each clan. He considers the clan, or gens, and not the single family, to be the natural unit of primitive society.
the Condoling Council. -- Clans and Classes.
The name usually given to the Book of Rite, or rather to its contents, is, in the Canienga dialect, Okayondongh-sera Yondennase
(or in the French missionary orthography, Okaionhsera Iontennase), which may be councils, civils and religious, tribal and federal, in which the public spirit and social temper of the Iroquois found their most congenial and most popular mode of display, the Yondennase, the Condoling ( or Mourning ) Council, held the highest rank. it was , in a certain way, typical of the whole, and comprised the elements of all the other councils. In its earlier form this council was not peculiar to the Iroquois. We know, from the Jesuit reports, that it was the custom of the Hurons to hold a public lamentation for the death of a chief, and at the same time to appoint another who should take his place and assume his name. But that which among the Hurons was merely a tribal custom became, in the Iroquois form of government, an important institution, essential to the maintenance of their state. By the ordinances of their League, it was required that the number of their federal senate should be maintained undiminished. On the death of one of its, members, it was the duty of the nation to which he belonged to notify the other nations of the event, and of the time and place at which he would be lamented and his successor installed. The notice was given in the usual manner, by officials messengers, who bore for credentials certain strings of WAMPUM, appropriate to the occasion. The place of meeting was commonly the chief natron of the deceased senator's kindred- usually his mother, if she survived him- was in the meantime convened to select his successor. the selection must be approved by his clan and by the nation; but as their sentiments were generally known beforehand, this approval was rarely withheld. Indeed, the mischief resulting from as unsuitable council and the senate had the right of deposing any member who was found unqualified for the office.
At the appointed day the chiefs of the other nations approached the place of meeting. A multitude of their people, men and women, usually accompanied them, prepared
to take part in the exhibitions of grief and in the festivities which always followed the installation of the new councilor. the approaching chiefs halted when they reached the border of the "opening," or cleared space surrounding the town. Here took place the "preliminary ceremony," styled in the
" Deyughnyonkwarakda," a word which means simply " at the edge of the woods." At this point a fire was kindled, a pipe was lighted and passed around with much formality, and an address of welcome was made by the principal chief of the inviting nations. The topics of this address comprised a singular mixture of congratulations and condolence, and seem to have been prescribed forms, which had come down from immemorial antiquity, as appropriate to the occasion.
the guests were than formally conducted-- " led by the hand," as the recites -- to the Council House of the town. they seem, anciently at least, to have advance in the order of their clans. The towns belonging to the Wolf Clan were first enumerated-- probably as the chiefs belonging to them took their places - than the town tortoise clan ( or double clan, as it is styled ), and finally those of the Bear clan. In all, 23 towns name. Five of them are expressly stated to have been "added lately." The residue are supposed to be the name of the towns in which the people of the Five Nations resided at the time when the confederacy was formed, though this point is uncertain. That few of these can now be identified, is what would naturally be expected. It is well known that the Indians had the custom of removing their towns from time to time, at intervals varying from ten to twenty years, as their fuel in their neighborhood became exhausted, and as the diminished crops under their primitive mode of agriculture showed the need of fresher soil. Only those villages would be permanent whose localities offered some special advantages, as fortresses, fishing places, or harbors.
This list of towns has another peculiarity which arrests the attentions. It apparently comprises all the towns of the League, but these are divided among only three clans, those of the Wolf, the Tortoise and the Bear. the other clans of the confederacy are not once named in the book. Yet there are indications which show that when the list the list of the chiefs which concludes the book was written, at a date long after this list of towns first recited, other clans existed in three of the nations. this is an important point, which merits further consideration. Those who have read the adimirable account of the "League of the Iroquios ," by Morgan, and his philosophic work on "Ancient Society" are aware that he has brought out and elucidated with much clearness and force the nature and results of the remarkable clan system which prevail among North American Indians. It is not universal, as it does not seem to be known among the widely scattered bands of the Crees and the Athapascans, or among the Indians of Oregon. It was found, however, among the great majority of tribes in the region north of the Mexico and east of the Rocky Mountains, and was sufficiently alike in all to indicate a common origin. Mr. Morgan finds this origin in a kinship, real or supposed, among the members of each clan. He considers the clan, or gens, and not the single family, to be the natural unit of primitive society.
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