A constitutional league of peace in the stone age of America : the League of the Iroquois and its constitution / by J.N.B. Hewitt.

  • Hewitt, J. N. B. (John Napoleon Brinton), 1859-1937.
Date:
1920
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A constitutional league of peace in the stone age of America : the League of the Iroquois and its constitution / by J.N.B. Hewitt. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    In brief, these are the ohwachira (=the uterine family), of which one or more constitutes a clan; the clan, of which one or more may constitute a sisterhood, or, as it is usually called, a phratry of clans; the sisterhood or phratry of clans, of which only two constitute a tribe in Iroquois social organization; the tribe, of which two or three constitute a sisterhood or phratry of tribes; and finally the league or confederation which is composed of just two sisterhoods or phratries of tribes. The common noun ohwachira (as pronounced by the Mohawk and other r-sounding dialects) or ohwachia (as uttered by the Onondaga and other r-less dialects) signifies a group of male and female uterine kin, real, or such by legal fiction. It includes all the male and the female progeny of a woman, and also the progeny of a woman and of all her female descendants, tracing descent of blood in the female line and of such other persons as may have been adopted into it. In so far as known the ohwachira, unlike the clan, does not bear the desig- native name of a tutelary or other protecting genius, or “ totem ” as it is commonly but loosely called when applied to a clan; and yet it is commonly known that the influential matron of an ohwachira usually bears the reputation of being deft in the peculiar arts of the sorceress, each of which being the potence or orenda of some tutelary. The matron of an ohwachira is usually, not always, the oldest woman in it. But, by becoming incapacitated by age or other infirm¬ ity to manage the affairs of an ohwachira as its moderator, she may ask permission to resign so that a much younger woman of recognized ability and industry and integrity of character may be nominated and installed to preside over the ohwachira in her stead. Naturally, the ohwachira had as many firesides as it had women who were married. Each married woman of an ohwachira used one side of one of the fires at the center of the lodge. The Iroquoian lodge was extended lengthwise to accommodate those who dwelt in it, and the fires were kindled along the center from place to place. The members of an ohwachira have (1) the right to the name of the clan of which that ohwachira is a constituent unit; (2) the right of inheriting property from deceased members of it; (3) the right to take a part in the councils of the ohwachira; (4) the right to adopt an alien through the advice of the presiding matron of it. In the present organization of the league, only certain ohwachira have inherited chiefship titles, the principal and the vice-chief, and, consequently, the right to name any of its members to fill these offices; after the formation of the league these nominees had to be installed by federal officers, but previously by tribal officers. Strictly speaking, these titles of chiefship belong to the mothers in the ohwachira, over which the presiding matron held a trusteeship.