Haudenosaunee Clan Mother

A/N: I decided to do a really small collaboration project with my internet friend, who is a great artist and does commissions! Please follow her on Instagram @artprincess235 and check out her DeviantArt account as well: https://www.deviantart.com/mariajosecreations Remember you should always support indigenous artists like her ;) . Basically, we wanted to do some informative posts about the role of women in traditional indigenous societies before Europeans arrived. We're going to start with Iroquois Clan Mothers and might continue this in the future. The art is done by her. The informative descriptions are written by me.

The Iroquois Confederacy was one of the most powerful alliances in North America prior to European contact. The Haudenosaunee, as they call themselves, have an origin story in their oral tradition about the Great Peacemaker and the formation of the league. Historians believe this to have happened around 1142. Soon after, The league came to dominate the Great Lakes area. In 1722, the Tuscarora joined and the league became known as the Six Nations.

Haudenosaunee society followed a matriarchal family structure. Each family traced its lineage back to a female ancestor. After a woman got married, her husband would move to her family’s longhouse and their children would be considered a part of the mother’s clan.

One of the most important roles of women among the Haudenosaunee was that of Clan Mother. The Clan Mothers were the leaders of the clans and were passed down the title by their female relatives. They had to oversee village affairs such as food distribution and land usage, and had to make the critical decision of deciding who would be the chief.

But even though Clan Mothers played an essential role in the government, the main reason why they were venerated was because they ensured that children were taught the traditions of the people and that the culture survived. Clan Mothers arranged marriages and named children at birth. No ceremony could begin without a Clan Mother, because they knew about all the procedures that should be followed. They ensured that the customs and ways of the Longhouse did not die out. Just as fires in the hearths of longhouses were guarded so they wouldn’t burn out, the Clan Mothers guarded the culture of the people.