¡Descarga Iroquois Society and Culture: Roles of Women and Men, Art, Beliefs, and Politics - Prof. 4 y más Apuntes en PDF de Literatura Americana solo en Docsity! IROQUOIS Society – Roles of Women • The Iroquois Women in a family did all of the household functions, all preparation and preserving of food, made clothing for family and took care of the children. • Unlike the colonies which soon came, these women participated in ceremonies which men usually only did. These include gambling, belonging to their medicine societies, and political ceremonies. • Women also did tasks such as collect firewood, planted and tended to the crops. • These women were the keepers of the culture. For example, a family’s lineage was from a matrilineal descent. The clan is passed to a family from the mother’s family clan. • They later advised men about realistic ways to deal with Europeans on their land. Society – Roles of Men • The Iroquois Men were traditionally responsible for hunting, making tools and pipes, and various other tasks. • They cleared the land by stripping bark off the trees, then burning the brush and dead timber. • Once married, the man moved in with the woman. • The Iroquois are very well known for social equality between the sexes. • Only men could move onto become a chief. Culture – Language • There are many different elements in culture such as the language the people speak, the art they create, the beliefs, and the festivals they participate in. • The Iroquois is a native culture which has many different languages. Since they come from five different tribes they have five languages; Seneca, Cayuga, Oneida, Onondaga, and Mohawk. • Each language also has different dialects, for example the language Mohawk has Akwesasne and Kahnawake as a two of their dialects. Culture – Art • The Iroquois culture has many different styles of art that they do. • They do basket making, beadwork, corn husk work, paintings, pottery, sculpting and woodwork. • Their art workmanship is an intimate understanding and respect for the natural gifts the world has given them. Culture – False faces • The art was not just for show, yet they used a lot of their art for ceremonies. For example for the ceremony for the false face societies masks were made of maple, white pine, basswood and poplar. • At first the faces were carved into living trees then cut free and painted and decorated. The masks represented the spits who revealed themselves to the mask maker in prayer. Culture – Beliefs • The Iroquois have many beliefs they believe in the Great Spirit who they believe is responsible for the creation of human, plants and animals. • There are many beliefs that there are supernatural powers and are closely connected to animals and nature. • He also indirectly guides the lives of ordinary people yet. Although these people can only can talk to him through the burning of tobacco which would send him their prayers. • They believe that dreams are important signs from the supernatural life and are an expression of the soul. They pay a lot of attention to figure out the meaning of dreams. Culture – Festivals • There are May festivals to celebrate events which are significant to both spiritual and physical life of the tribes. • Some of the sacred ceremonies include feather dances, drum dances, the rite of personal chant, the bowl game, and Sun ceremonies. • The most important ceremony is the harvest festival which is geared to the seasons. • Another important event is the Midwinter festival which is celebration of dream renewal and dream interpretation. It begins around New Year’s or when the Pleiades are directly overheard at dusk and lasts for six days. There are many festivals held throughout the year celebrating the good spirts for health, clothes, food and happiness. Technology – Tools • The men would make all the tools. • Many of the tools that they made where from the material of stone, bone, and antler. • They made spears for fishing and stone adzes for wood working also made flint knives and wooden hoes. Technology – Weapons • Also they had their own weapons for fighting and hunting. • For hunting they made snare traps to capture bears and deer by bending over small trees. • Used bow and arrows, lances, war clubs, knives and tomahawks for fighting. • The most popular item that we see is the arrow head which was made of bone, flint and metal. Technology – Transportation • The Iroquois did not have much diversity in the modes of transportation that they used. • During the winter months they would travel by dog sled or snow shoe • Warmer months they would travel by foot and canoe Politics – Chief • A Chief was elected by the tribe’s council to lead and represent them. There were two councils that they represent: the males and the mothers of the nation. To be elected he must have a 75% consensus from both councils.
