Organization and Kinship of Iroquois Horticultural Societies

Organization and Kinship of the Iroquois Horticultural Societies

Each society has its own culture which defines them. It can be based on their ancestries, area of origin, beliefs and values. In this paper, I will identify and describe the kinship in the Iroquois Tribe; as well as, explaining three examples of how their system impacts their way of life. The last thing that I want to touch on is comparing my society, behaviors, and kinship compare to the Iroquois Tribe.

Iroquois kinship is extremely strong in their society. Another name for their kinship is called matrilineal. This means that their blood lines are through the females of the society and not the males. Since they rely on family, many times you will see clans or grouping of families. However, you are not aloud to marry within your own clan. That means that parallel cousins are not allowed to marry, but cross cousins are ok to wed. In short that means that you may not marry your first cousin, but are able to marry you second cousin. The Iroquois are also a horticulture society. Being horticulture means that they survive mostly by owning and farming the land (which passes down through the females). As with most horticulture societies they usually maintain in the same area (unless another culture tries to influence their culture).

In the Iroquois culture the females are the ones with the most influence. The reason for this is because the females are the ones that provide the homes and the cultivating of the crops. Their survival relied on corn, beans and, squash not only for sustenance but also for trading (Nowak & Laird, 2010,) If the men wanted to go to war they had to have the approval of the woman. The approval was given in way of the corn, squash, and beans. Another approval for the eldest woman of the Iroquois was when it was time for a new marriage in the tribe. When the time came for a boy to be a man he would have to leave his clan to join