Shawnee Clans
Some of this is a bit technical, but the first part summarizes the data and the second part, The Historical Development of Shawnee Clans goes into more detail.
Description:
Ancient Period: a gens
with patrilineal descent having totemic reference to either animals
(wolf, turkey, panther, etc.) or natural objects or phenomena (tree,
wind, clouds, etc.). Kinship with the
totems was one of shared characteristics and empathy rather than some
form of kinship. The Shawnee did not have special dietary laws or
taboos associated with their hom'shooma, nor did they regard
themselves as descending from the totemic creatures. Membership in a
hom'shooma defined a kin group and the member had the rights and
privileges accorded that group within the tribe: "...the several tribes
[clans] were originally single families, the heads of which bore the
names by which their descendants were afterwards distinguished. The
children are always considered as belonging to the tribe of their
father..." (Shawnee Prophet in Trowbridge, p. 17). The Chiefdomship was
hereditary and passed on in the same clan, usually father to son, but
sometimes uncle to sister's son. If sister's son were a different clan,
he could be adopted into the appropriate one of his uncle. In the
transitional period, where sons could be put in either the father's or
mother's clan, succession could be effectively cut off by the
name-givers by selecting the mother's clan.
The most common clans common to all 19th century sources are Snake, Turtle, Raccoon, Turkey, Deer, Bear, Wolf, Panther, Fish, and Rabbit. Loon or Owl are prominent in the Kansas lists but absent in the Prophets list; the Prophet includes in his first 12 clans Tree
(and other objects and natural phenomena in his list of 34). We know
from closely related tribes and the names of 17th century Shawnee that
more inanimate (from a European point of view) objects figured in names
(Cornstalk, Flying Cloud, etc.).
Transitional Period:
After the War of 1812 when independent political existence was
curtailed and after the removal to the west, lost, that clans were
already being subsumed as sub-gentes: Hawk, Eagle, Turkey Buzzard for
the Fowl phratry with Turkey (said to have originally been Eagle); Elk
and Buffalo in the Hoofed phratry with Deer; and Wildcat with Panther;
Fox with Wolf, etc. Of note is the fact that only the Prophet included
natural objects or phenomena in his list, and only one--Tree--in his
first 12. Given that closely related groups such as the Kickapoo and
Sauk and Fox had gentes like Tree, Water, Thunderer, and the like, and
further that names of prominent Shawnee exist for the 17th century with
such names (Cornstalk, Flying Cloud, etc.) it seems reasonable to
conclude that these were a fatality of the transitional period. The
early development of phratries can be seen in Gatschet's pairing of 1)
Fish-Turtle and 2) Loon-Owl as the "grandfathers"
of the tribe who migrated across the ocean in a fog. Michelson also
indicated the pairs of the "grandchildren" as 3) Wolf-Fox, 4)
Panther-Wildcat, and 5) Eagle-Turkey. However, then, as now (current
period), some pairings are functional and cut across phratries:
Bear-Elk and Turtle-Turkey. In the current period, below, Turtle and
Turkey continue to be paired, and Rounded-feet paired with Horse
(analogous to Michelson's Bear-Elk). Coon (Raccoon) and Rabbit are said
to stand alone, a fact supported by Michelson who has Coon and Rabbit
"have no partners." (even though Raccoon is in the Rounded-foot
phratry). It is clear that the process of transition has never been
completed to form a stable system, but then the late 17th century
period was itself probably a transition from an earlier 16th and early
17th century situation for which we have virtually no information other
than comparative data with closely related tribes as the Kickapoo and
Sauk and Fox. See further analysis in Historical Development, below).
Current Period: a social grouping of six phratry-like categories within which totemic names are consolidated. Most
prominent functions of the clans are relegated to humorous bantering in
rivalry between different clans and in support of partner clans;
nevertheless, the clans maintain functions for ceremonial and other
public purposes, such as roles in funerals, Bread Dance preparations,
dancing partners, rain making, etc. Totems are common to all divisions.
Six phratries now exist:
1. Fowl phratry (turkey, chicken, hawk, eagle - winged creatures);
2. Turtle phratry (turtle, fish, snake - aquatic creatures and those whose status is ambiguous, such as amphibians and reptiles);
3. Rounded-paw phratry (panther, wolf, fox -- carnivorous animals leaving round-footed tracks);
4. Hoofed (Horse) phratry (deer, horse, elk, buffalo - grazing animals leaving hoof-shaped tracks);
5. Scratchy-paw (Raccoon) phratry (raccoon, bear, beaver -- generally non-carnivorous animals leaving scratchy-foot or oblong tracks); and the
6. Rabbit phratry -- (displaying a gentle nature, possibly includes squirrels, chipmunks, and the like).
Again,
some relationships of individual clans cross phratry boundaries
(Turtle-Turkey, Horse-Rounded-foot). The overall impression is a
consolidation of names to abet ceremonial and practical affairs, but
with no phratry organizations (no officials, no bundles, no formal
assemblies).
NOTE: It
must be emphasized that membership in a clan did not bestow upon a clan
member any sacred power from the group totem. See the discussion on
this under "Sacred Power" in the Historical Development section.
Etymology. Related to the kinship stem in the word translated as 'Grandfather' (ni-me'shoom-'tha
'my grandfather'). The word can be literally one's grandfather, but as
a generic term it is in the sense of a distant clan relative along with
the term for grandmother. The group of relatives to which the
grandparent terms apply provide the boundaries enclosing a closed
kinship system of near relatives open only for descending generations.
See Kinship below. Gatschet: umsomiwe, 'clan, gens', pl. umsomiwenua (notebook, p. 86); C.F. Voegelin: hom'shoomi, hom'shoomiwi, pl. hom'shoomiwena (first year notebooks, 1933); Alford (Galloway, 1934:505-6): Umsoma.
Shawnee kinship.
Shawnee kinship is a closed system, or nearly so. All grandparents and
ancestors, and the children of grandparents and their siblings, are
called by the terms translated as 'grandfather' and 'grandmother'.
Oddly, this means that one would call a person younger than oneself, if
he descended from one's grandfather's siblings, a grandfather or a
grandmother in the English sense of the word. Actually, however, the
term would refer to distant clan relatives who hypothetically could
trace their ancestry back to a known progenitor. These 'grandparent'
terms form a boundary around a closed near-relative system. This system
consists of ego's parent's and their descendants (including ego), ego's
parent's siblings and their descendants, and ego's descendants and
ego's siblings and their descendants. See Shawnee Kinship for a full description.
Affiliation: A child is associated with a clan at his naming ceremony (see ).
In ancient times a boy would most likely receive the name of his
father's hom'shooma. Names could be changed if the child were sickly,
if the name proved inappropriate, if another person was found to have
the same name, or other circumstances. In this case, another naming
ceremony would take place.
A person
could be adopted into another clan if it proved necessary; for example,
if the son of a chief was not found suitable to succeed, a son of his
sister might be selected and his hom'shooma changed accordingly.
Shawnee can usually tell the clan of a person by the meaning of the
name, but the real meaning is explained by the elder conferring a name
on the child at the naming ceremony.
The selected
name has a definite linguistic structure and can usually be
distinguished from "nicknames" taken by individuals or applied to them
by others because of distinguishing characteristics or exploits.
Nicknames only incidentally indicate clan affiliation.
Functions:
Clans had definite functions within the tribe or band; for example, the
panther clan led a war party on the warpath, but a member of the wolf
clan led the war party back into the village. A
Raccoon may be called upon by a council to prepare for rain making, but
trouble may come if a Raccoon Men is not sent to the rear when coming
to a large body of water. A Turtle or Turkey Man must be chosen to
handle the Kishpoko bundle, and the leaders of the 12 men and 12 women
who prepare for the spring Bread Dance must also come from one of these
two divisions. However, in one case the Thawikila divisions bundle was
given specifically to the care of a Turkey Man "because a turkey is
ready to fly quickly" (Jennie Cegar, Shawnee Name Groups, p. 631).
Other taboos and prohibitions are also encountered: In the 19th century
it seems that a Rabbit Man only is permitted to tell Wildcat and
Rabbit, and, in general, probably this prohibition was generalized to
other tales (but no longer holds true). In funerals the leader and the
grave diggers and corpse handlers may not be of the same clan as the
deceased. However, clans may kill the animals of their totems in
hunting and eat their flesh. It is probable that the functions, tasks,
and prohibitions were much greater before the 19th century.
THE HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENT OF SHAWNEE CLANS
Twentieth Century Clans:
Like
many aspects of the Shawnee, defining the clan system resents special
problems to the investigator. The problem revolves around the fact that
the data from the 19th century is at variance from that collected in
the second decade of the 20th century.
When
C.F. Voegelin (hereafter, CFV) and E.W. Voegelin (EWV) wrote their
ground-breaking "Shawnee Name Groups" in 1935 (American Anthropologists
37.4 (Oct-Nov 1935) the only previously know published work was that of
Lewis Henry Morgan. Morgan's data indicated thirteen clans while CFV
and EWV found only six groups, a classification verified by the
classification of Thomas Wildcat Alford.
Looking
at the discrepancy, they felt that at least part of Morgan's data may
have stemmed from informants "whose culture was more 'Seneca' than
'Shawnee'." Since CFV and EWV's data was also at variance with that of
closely related Algonquian groups such as the Sauk, Potawatomi, they
were inclined to believe that "Shawnee name groups are basically
Central Algonkin; it is even possible that the nucleus of the complex
was a part of Shawnee culture at a remote time when sibs were only
weakly developed, if at all, among the Central Algonkin. With such a
nucleus the various Central Algonkin tribes must have developed their
special sib systems while the Shawnee instead elaborated the common
nucleus into a name group system" (p. 635). In other words, they
projected their findings backward in time as the original system with a
reasonable hypothesis.
Time
did not bear out their original inclinations and subsequently they had
to amend their conclusions, as we shall see. In the meantime, the
following table summarizes the data from the classification of Thomas
Wildcat Alford (1934) and CFV and EWV (1935). It should be noted that
Thomas Wildcat Alford (then 73) was one of the specific informants
mentioned as sources for the data in "Shawnee Name Groups." Since their
research was in 1933-4, Alford's material probably is in concert with
that of CFV and EWV.
NOTE:
I have rendered the forms in the regularized orthography with
corrections for better comparison and have adopted the suggestion the
these represent a consolidation into "Phratries" mad by Charles
Callender (Social Organization of the Central Algonkian Indians. Milwaukee Public Museum Publications in Anthropology, no 7, Milwaukee, Wis.), a classification to which we will return.
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|
Individual member(s) of the phratry indicated by -(h)ileni or -(h)ileniiki.1. |
Name of phratry indicated by -(h)om'shoomi.2 |
|
Foul (Turkey) Phratry |
Peleewiileni 'man of fowls'; composed of fowls of all kinds -- winged creatures whether they fly or not. |
Peleewom'shoomi 'Turkey name group'; representing bird life. |
|
Turtle Phratry |
Ka'kineethiileni 'turtle-man; composed of turtles of all kinds, but also creatures of ambiguous classification such as amphibians and reptiles. |
Kka'kileewom'shoomi 'Turtle name group'; representing aquatic life. |
|
Rounded-foot Phratry |
Petekothiteewiileni 'round-footed man'; composed of animals of round feet or paws who leave round tracks.. |
Petekothiteewom'shoomi
'Rounded-feet name group'; representing carnivorous animals, as the
dog, wolf, and the like, whose paws are ball-shaped, or rounded. |
|
Hoofed (Horse) phratry |
Msheeweewiileni 'horse-man'; composed of animals with hoofs and who leave hoofed tracks. |
Msheeweewom'shoomi 'Horse name group'; representing herbivorous animals as the horse, deer buffalo, and elk. |
|
Claw-foot (Raccoon) Phratry |
Thepatiiwiileni 'raccoon man'; composed of animals with oblong feet who leave "scratch" tracks, like raccoon and bear. |
Thepatiiwom'shoomi 'Raccoon name group'; representing animals having paws which can scratch like those of raccoon and bear. |
|
Gentle Nature (Rabbit) Phratry |
Petakineethiileni 'rabbit-man'; composed of rabbits and others of its kind. This latter is about extinct. At least its is not popular. |
Petakineethiiwom'shoomi 'Rabbit name group'; representing a gentle peaceful nature. |
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1 From hileni 'man', plural hileniiki 'men, tribe'. 2 Voegelin also used the form Alford gives when referring to an individual or group of individuals with membership in the hom'shooma rather than a generic term for the group itself, as well as a form with lenawe 'Indian', plural lenaweeki 'people (Indians)': petekothiteewileniiki 'rounded-feet men', mseeweewiilenaweeki 'horse people', but mseeweewi hom'shoomlichi 'horse lodge (name group where it occurs as two words)' (1933 fieldwork notebooks, pages 225-226 where CFV initially glossed the hom'shooma as 'lodge(s)'). | ||
Specifically,
along with the difference in the number of clans between their data and
that of Morgan, the problem was that CFV and EWV found that the "The
most striking and certainly the only original feature of Shawnee name
groups is a negative one: the name groups are not unilateral
[patrilineal or matrilineal descent] in an area where unilateral
systems of social organization are to be expected." With respect to the
number of clans, they insisted, "the Shawnee ever had thirteen name
groups was consistently denied by all informants, some of whom were so
far advanced in years as to bridge the gap between Morgan's time and
ours."
In
fairness it must be said that their hypothesis was tentative and in the
article they held out the possibility that "...there is nothing
inherently improbable in supposing that the six name groups of the
present day represent a consolidation of a former larger number; as we
have mentioned (p. 622), in the abstract the number of name groups is
often said to be twelve." And when the Trowbridge papers were
discovered and published by Kinietz and E.W. Voegelin, she restated the
case to incorporate the new information as follows (footnote 9, page 16
of Shawanese Traditions):
Trowbridge
here uses "tribes" for that form of social grouping among the Shawnee
which we would now call "gens" or "patrilineal clans." By the twentieth
century these groups had lost their unilateral character to such an
extent that Dr. C.F. Voegelin and I adopted the term "name groups" for
them; but it becomes clear from the Trowbridge material that unilateral
descent was once associated with them.
The
term "name group" then is only appropriate for the form taken since the
second decade of the twentieth century when Shawnee social organization
had lost its original form. There is no reason, then, that we cannot
use the general term "clan" for this aspect of Shawnee social
organization in the since of patrilineal (patrisibs, patrilineal clans,
or gentes) groupings. In fact, the earliest record we have of a
description of Shawnee social organization comes from a Shawnee chief,
Itawachcomequa, who was jailed in South Carolina (where he died). Under
interrogation by Governor Glen (William L. McDowell, Jr. (ed.), Documents Relating to Indian Affairs, May 21, 1750-August 7, 1754, p. 422-23), he said, by means of an interpreter:
I am a Shavanah, and Head of a Town. We are distributed by different Names, the Cow, the Bear, the Buffaloe. There are also Wolf Shavanahs and other Names given us. [Italics added.]
Further,
the notion that the Shawnee disavow groupings into twelve or thirteen
clans has been also found to be amiss. I collected thirteen clan names
from Robert Williams in the early 1970s (the thirteenth being Snake)
and a number of other sources, mostly unpublished, now provide us with
lists similar to, but independent of, Morgan's data and which confirm
his findings. Henceforth, then, clan will be used in this sense. There
is great ambiguity in the literature on the use of such terms, but in
general a clan indicates a social grouping in which the kin group
regard themselves as being descended from a remote, but unknown,
ancestor. We will return to a precise definition and description below.
It
remains, however, to account for the groupings found by CFV and EWV. In
fact, the problems is made even more curious by the fact that the
Shawnee Prophet, who provided the data Trowbridge recorded, listed 34
clans! He did indicate that the first twelve were the most important,
but this leaves the other names unaccounted for. Why such a plethora of
terms in the first place.
Part
of the solution, which will receive confirmation in the discussion
below, was formulated by Callender. He found that the same process of
consolation had taken place among the Sauk, Prairie Potawatomi, and
Kickapoo. He suggested that this was the result of a declining
population and related factors the proper performance of the
ceremonials of the tribe were threatened and the ritual functions were
preserved by their being grouped into phratries and unilineal descent
abandoned in favor of a non-lineal system, though still organized into
social units but making available a larger pool of appropriate clans.
These were, Callender proposed, the "name groups" described by CFV and
EWV. He suggested that early unilateral patri-clans had developed into
to patri-clans name groups, and then finally to name group phratries
without unilateral descent. In other words, former independent clans
were now constituents of one of the six name groups, but without their
former unilineal features.
This defines the change from the late nineteenth century 12 or 13 clans of the late 19th
century into the 6 phratries of the 20th century, but it does not
completely account for the plethora of terms listed by the Shawnee
Prophet in early 19th century. Trowbridge remarks that in his list the
first 12 were the most important, indicating at an early date the same
preference for a dozen idealized clans. It is my suggestion that the
large number of clans grew out of somewhat divergent clans belonging to
different divisions of the Shawnee confederacy. This confederacy took
place before or in the early stages of the Beaver Wars (Wars of the
Iroquois), but did not demand at that time a total integration of the
nearly autonomous members of the confederacy. When they were scattered
once again after being defeated by the Iroquois, they probably
maintained there earlier clan groups. However, when the nation once
again gathered in Ohio the concept that they all shared the same clans
led to a proliferation of clan names. Due to great separation in the
1780s, the process of integration was not complete and thus the Shawnee
Prophets long list of clans. In the west, the lists from the Kansas
Shawnee will be seen to be relatively stable, but divergent from the
list of the Shawnee Prophet (even though he did join the others in
Kansas himself later) in which the first 12 probably represented the
clans of the Kishpoko division.
Nineteenth Century Clans:
|
Trowbridgea |
Morganb |
Morganc |
Spencerd |
Gatschete |
Michelsonf |
Speck g | |||||||||||||
|
1. Snake |
5. Snake |
11. Snake |
8. Snake |
10. Snake |
|
Snake | |||||||||||||
|
2. Turtle |
(Fish) |
10. Turtle |
4. Turtle |
2. Turtle (Fish-Turtle) |
Turtle |
Turtle (water) | |||||||||||||
|
3. Raccoon |
2. Raccoon |
9. Raccoon |
2. Raccoon |
3. Raccoon |
Raccoon |
| |||||||||||||
|
4. Turkey |
4. Turkey |
7. Turkey |
7. Turkey |
7. Turkey |
Turkey |
Turkey | |||||||||||||
|
6. Deer |
10. Deer |
8. Deer |
6. Deer |
5. Deer |
|
| |||||||||||||
|
7. Bear |
12. Bear |
3. Bear |
9. Bear |
4. Bear |
Bear |
Bear (Roundfoot) | |||||||||||||
|
8. Wolf |
1. Wolf |
1. Wolf |
5. Wolf |
1. Wolf |
Wolf |
Wolf (Roundfoot) | |||||||||||||
|
9. Panther |
9. Panther |
5. Panther |
3. Panther |
6. Panther |
Panther |
| |||||||||||||
|
20. Fish |
3. Fish |
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Fuller discussions of those aspects mentioned appear under Shawnee Divisions and Sacred Power. |
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