Wyandots Indian Tribe
The Wyandot tribe was anciently divided into twelve clans, or gentes. Each of
these had a local government, consisting of a clan council presided over by a
clan chief. These clan councils were composed of at least five persons, one man
and four women, and they might contain any number of women above four. Any
business pertaining purely to the internal affairs of the clans was carried to
the clan councils for settlement. An appeal was allowed from the clan council to
the tribal council. The four women of the clan council regulated the clan
affairs and selected the clan chief. The office of clan chief was in a measure
hereditary, although not wholly so. The tribal council was composed of the clan
chiefs, the hereditary sachem, and such other men of the tribe of renown as the
sachem might with the consent of the tribal council call to the council fire. In
determining a question the vote was by clans, and not by individuals. In matters
of great importance it required a unanimous vote to carry a proposition.
The names of the ancient clans of the Wyandot tribe are as follows:
- Big Turtle.
- Little Turtle.
- Mud Turtle.
- Wolf.
- Bear.
- Beaver.
- Deer.
- Porcupine.
- Striped Turtle.
- Highland Turtle, or Prairie Turtle.
- Snake.
- Hawk.
These clan names are all expressed in Wyandot, words so long and hard to
properly pronounce that they are omitted here. They are written in what the
Wyandots call the Order of Precedence and Encampment, as I have recorded them
above. On the march the warriors of the Big Turtle Clan marched in front,
those of the Little Turtle Clan marched next to them, and so on down to the
last clan, except the Wolf Clan, which had command of the march and might be
where its presence was most necessary. The tribal encampment was formed "on
the shell of the Big Turtle," as the old Wyandots said. This means that the
tents were arranged in a circular form as though surrounding the shell of the
Big Turtle. The Big Turtle Clan was placed where the right fore-leg of the
turtle was supposed to be and the other clans were arranged around in their
proper order, except the Wolf Clan, which could be in the center of the
enclosure on the turtle's back, or in front of it where the turtle's head was
supposed to be, as it was thought best. In ancient times all their villages
were built in this order, and in the tribal council the clans took this order
in seating themselves, with the sachem either in the center or in the front of
the door of the council chamber.
These clans were separated into two divisions, or phratries. The first phratry
consisted of the following tribes:
- Bear.
- Deer.
- Snake.
- Hawk.
The second phratry consisted of the following tribes:
- Big Turtle.
- Little Turtle.
- Mud Turtle.
- Beaver.
- Porcupine.
- Striped Turtle.
- Highland Turtle, or Prairie Turtle.
The Mediator, Executive Power, and Umpire of the tribe was the Wolf
Clan, which stood between the phratries, and bore a cousin relation to
each.
All the clans of a phratry bore the relation of brothers to one another,
and the clans of one phratry bore the relation of cousins to those of the
other phratry.
Their marriage laws were fixed by this relationship. Anciently a man of
the first phratry was compelled to marry a woman of the second phratry,
and vice versa. This was because every man of a phratry was supposed to be
the brother of every other man in it, and every woman in the phratry was
supposed to be his sister. The law of marriage is now so modified that it
applies only to the clans, a man of the Deer Clan being permitted to marry
a woman of Bear, Snake, Hawk, or any other clan but his own. Indeed, even
this modification had now almost disappeared. If a man of the Deer Clan
married a woman of the Porcupine Clan, all of his children were of the
Porcupine Clan, for the gens always follows the woman and never the man.
The descent and distribution of property followed the same law; the son
could inherit nothing from his father, for they were always of different
clans. A man's property descended to his nearest kindred through his
mother. The woman is always the head of the Wyandot family.
Five of the ancient clans of the Wyandots are extinct. They are as
follows: (1) Mud Turtle; (2) Beaver; (3) Striped Turtle; (4) Highland, or
Prairie Turtle; (5) Hawk.
Those still in existence are as follows: (1) Big Turtle; (2) Little
Turtle; (3) Wolf; (4) Deer; (5) Bear; (6) Porcupine; (7) Snake.
The present government of the Wyandot tribe is based on this ancient
division of the tribes. An extract from the Constitution may be of
interest. It was adopted September 23, 1873:
It shall be the duty of the said Nation to elect their officers on the
second Tuesday in July of each year. That said election shall be conducted
in the following manner. Each Tribe (clan), consisting of the following
Tribes: The Big and Little Turtle, Porcupine, Deer, Bear, and Snake, shall
elect a chief; and then the Big and Little Turtle and Porcupine Tribes
shall select one of their three chiefs as a candidate for Principal Chief.
The Deer, Bear, and Snake Tribes shall also select one of their three
chiefs as candidate for Principal Chief; and then at the general election
to be held on the day above mentioned, the one receiving the highest
number of votes cast shall be declared the Principal Chief; the other
shall be declared the Second Chief. The above-named tribes shall on the
above named election day elect one or more sheriffs.
The Wolf Tribe shall have the right to elect a chief whose duty shall be
that of Mediator.
In case of misdemeanor on the part of any Chief, for the first offense the
Council shall send the Mediator to warn the party; for the second offense
the party offending shall be liable to removal by the Mediator, or Wolf
and his Clan, from office.
The origin of these clans is hidden in the obscurity of great antiquity.
They are of religious origin. We learn something of them from the Wyandot
mythology, or folk-lore. The ancient Wyandots believed that they were
descended from these animals, for whom their clans were named. The animals
from which they were descended were different from the animal of the same
species to-day. They were deities, zoological gods. The animals of the
same species are descended from them. These animals were the creators of
the universe. The Big Turtle made the Great Island, as North America was
called, by the Wyandots, and he bears it on his back to this day. The
Little Turtle made the sun, moon, and many of the stars. The Mud Turtle
made a hole through the Great Island for the sun to pass back to the East
through after setting at night, so he could arise upon a new day. While
making this hole through the Great Island the Mud Turtle turned aside from
her work long enough to fashion the future home of the Wyandots, their
happy hunting-grounds, to which they go after death. The sun shines there
at night while on his way back to the East. This land is called the land
of the Little People, a race of pigmies created to assist the Wyandots.
They live in it, and preserve the ancient customs, habits, beliefs,
language and government of the Wyandots for their use after they leave
this world by death. These Little People come and go through the "living
rock," but the Wyandots must go to it by way of a great underground city
where they were once hidden while the works of the world were being
restored after destruction in a war between two brothers who were gods.
All Wyandot proper names had their foundation in this clan system. They
were clan names. The unit of the Wyandot social and political systems was
not the family nor the individual, but the clan. The child belonged to its
clan first, to its parents afterwards. Each clan had its list of proper
names, and this list was its exclusive property which no other clan could
appropriate or use. They were necessarily clan names.
The customs and usages governing the formation of clan proper names
demanded that they be derived from some part, habit, action or peculiarity
of the animal from which the clan was supposed to be descended. Or they
might be derived from some property, law, or peculiarity of the element in
which such animal lived. Thus a proper name was always a distinctive badge
of the clan bestowing it.
When death left unused any original clan proper name, the next child born
into the clan, if of the sex to which the vacant name belonged, had such
vacated name bestowed upon it. If no child was born, and a stranger was
adopted, this name was given to such adopted person. This was the
unchangeable law, and there was but one proviso or exception to it. When a
child was born under some extraordinary circumstances, or peculiarity, or
with some distinguishing mark, or a stranger adopted with these, the
council-women of the clan informed themselves of all the facts and devised
a name in which all these facts were imbedded. This name was made to
conform to the ancient law governing clan proper names if possible, but
often this could not be done. These special names died with their owners,
and were never perpetuated.
The parents were not permitted to name the child; the clan bestowed the
name. Names were given but once a year, and always at the ancient
anniversary of the Green Corn Feast. Anciently, formal adoptions could be
made at no other time. The name was bestowed by the clan chief. He was a
civil officer of both his clan and the tribe. At an appointed time in the
ceremonies of the Green Corn Feast each clan chief took an assigned
position, which in ancient times was the Order of Precedence and
Encampment, and parents having children to be named filed before him in,
the order of the ages of the children to be named. The council-women stood
by the clan chief, and announced to him the name of each child presented,
for all clan proper names were made by the council-women. This he could do
by simply announcing the name to the parents, or by taking the child in
his arms and addressing it by the name selected for it.
The adoption of a stranger was into some family by consent, or at the
instance of the principal woman of the family. It was not necessary that
the adoption be made at the Green Corn Feast. The adoption was not
considered complete, however, until it was ratified by the clan chief at
the Green Corn Feast. This ratification might be accomplished in the
simple ceremonial of being presented at this time to the clan chief by one
of the Sheriffs. His clan name was bestowed upon him, and he was welcomed
in a few well-chosen words, and the ceremony was complete. Or the adoption
might be performed with as much display, ceremony and pomp as the tribal
council might, from any cause, decree. The tribal council controlled in
some degree the matter of adoptions. In ancient times, when many prisoners
of war were brought in it determined how many should be tortured and how
many adopted.
Lalemant says the original and true name of the Wyandots is Ouendat.
In history the Wyandots have been spoken of by the following names:
- Tionnontates,
- Etionontates,
- Tuinontatek,
- Dionondadies,
- Khionontaterrhonons,
- Petuneux or Nation du Petun (Tobacco).
They call themselves:—
- When'-duht, or
- When'-dooht.
They never accepted the name Huron, which is of French origin.
The Wyandots have been always considered the remnant of the Hurons.
That they were related to the people called Hurons by the French,
there is no doubt. After having studied them carefully for almost
twenty years, I am of the opinion that the Wyandots are more closely
related to the Senecas than they were to the ancient Hurons.
Additional Wyandot History
- Onsite
- Offsite
