Wyandot Government

Powell, J. W. Wyandot Government: A short study of tribal society First Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology to the secretary of the Smithsonian Institution 1879-1880, p. 57-69. Washington Government Printing Office. 1881.

Wyandot Tribal Society

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 … Read more

Wyandot Tribal Regulations

Name Regulations It has been previously explained that there is a body of names, the exclusive property of each gens. Once a year, at the green-corn festival, the council women of the gens select the names for the children born during the previous year, and the chief of the gens proclaims these names at the festival. No person may change his name, but every person, man or woman, by honorable or dishonorable conduct, or by remarkable circumstance, may win a second name commemorative of deed or circumstance, which is a kind of title. Regulations Of Personal Adornment Each clan has … Read more

Wyandot Government: A Short Study of Tribal Society

In the social organization of the Wyandot four groups are recognized, the family, the gens, the phratry, and the tribe. Society is maintained by the establishment of government, for rights must be recognized and duties performed. In this tribe there is found a complete differentiation of the military from the civil government. The civil government inheres in a system of councils and chiefs. In each gens there is a council, composed of four women, called Yu?-waí-yu-wá-na. These four women councillors select a chief of the gens from its male members—that is, from their brothers and sons. This gentile chief is … Read more

The Wyandot 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 Wyandot Gens The gens is an organized body of consanguineal kindred in the female line. “The … Read more

Society of the Wyandot Tribe

Treason Treason consists in revealing the secrets of the medicine preparations or giving other information or assistance to enemies of the tribe, and is punished by death. The trial is before the council of the tribe. Witchcraft Witchcraft is punished by death, stabbing, tomahawking, or burning. Charges of witchcraft are investigated by the grand council of the tribe. When the accused is adjudged guilty, he may appeal to supernatural judgment. The test is by fire. A circular fire is built on the ground, through which the accused must run from east and west and from north to south. If no … Read more