Family, Kinship, and Social Organization

Kinship systems among Eastern Woodland Algonquians vary widely. The Algonkin, Eastern Abenaki, Malecite, Mi’kmaq, Ojibwa, and Ottawa have the extended family group as a basic unit. Persons in the past were attached either through consanguinity or marriage to a core unit composed of a prominent older man, his wife or wives, and his children. Brothers often hunted together, and post-marital residence was frequently bilocal. The Ojibwa and Ottawa, among others, permitted cross-cousin marriage in the past. To members of these groups, parallel cousins, which are the offspring of one’s mother’s or father’s same-sex siblings, are classified as kin and remain unmarriageable. Cross-cousin marriage refers to the practice of taking as one’s spouse an offspring of one’s mother’s or father’s opposite-sex siblings, or, in short, a female cousin (if one is a man) who is the daughter either of the brother of one’s mother or the sister of one’s father.

The greatest diversity in kinship reckoning lies along the Atlantic coast, although in common parlance today Algonquian speakers prefer to adopt English (or French) kinship terminology. The Malecite system exhibits a bifurcate collateral pattern, in that distinct terms exist for mother, mother’s sister, and father’s sister. Cousin terms follow an “Iroquois pattern” which distinguishes parallel cousins from cross cousins and may indicate the existence of cross-cousin marriage in the past. Knowledge of cousin marriage occurring at any time is denied by the Malecite, however, likely in conformity with the prohibition on first- and second-cousin marriage by the Roman Catholic Church. Malecite families have nicknames, such as “the people of the crow,” and often a myth accounts for a name’s origin. Age is also an important criterion, both terminologically and behaviourally. There are separate terms for older sister, older brother, and younger sibling, without reference to the younger sibling’s sex. Elders are esteemed, and respect terms for grandmother and grandfather are applied to anyone much older than the speaker, even where no genealogical connection is apparent.

A similar emphasis on age permeates the Mi’kmaq system, which nonetheless differs because it is generational. Only in one’s own generation are fine distinctions made for sets of male siblings, sets of female siblings, married siblings (regardless of sex), and younger and older siblings of each sex. In the third and fourth ascending generations, merely sex and generation of the relative is distinguished, and in all descending generations, except for one’s own children, even the sexes are merged under one term. Cousins are terminologically and behaviourally equated with cousins. In this, the Mi’kmaq kinship organization shows parallels with the “Hawaiian cousin system” of the matrilineal Delaware in which siblings and cousins of the same sex are terminologically indistinguishable. One explanation equates the existence of generational cousin systems with the need for solidarity among large kin groups engaged in substantial economic endeavours, such as building fishweirs among the Mi’kmaq or communal deer drives among the Delaware.

The Western Abenaki at Saint-François traditionally possessed exogamous patrilineal, patrilocal totemic groups whose members regarded themselves as descendants of a remote male ancestor. In 1736 totems included the turtle, bear, beaver, otter, and partridge. The Abenaki probably engaged in cross-cousin marriage prior to sanctions imposed on the practice by the Roman Catholic Church. Bear and turtle moieties divided the population into two halves – the term “moiety” means “half” – for certain activities. Western Abenaki also exhibited a distinctive trait in that two male partners, as children, formed a special bond between themselves which lasted for life.

The Algonkin, Ojibwa, and Ottawa, like the Malecite on the east coast, have an “Iroquois cousin pattern” which classes parallel cousins and siblings together as kin and cross cousins as non-kin. A joking relationship exists between male cross cousins, or a male and female cross-cousin pair, which provides amusement for other persons present since jokes are often ingenious and ribald. Parallel aunts and uncles are merged terminologically, in a bifurcate pattern by sex, with mother and father, and cross aunts and uncles are classified separately. Cross-cousin marriage occurred until the mid nineteenth century, although it was restricted to the third descending generation among the Southwestern Ojibwa.

The Potawatomi historically had a strongly corporate “Omaha system” of exogamous patrilineal clans, dispersed among many villages. Children received one of their names from their clan’s members, to whom they were bound by social and ceremonial obligations. A secondary, but still vital, emphasis was placed on matrilineal linkages. Kin groups were dynamic: during the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, segmentary lineages and clan segments pressed into new areas and set up villages, which maintained ties with their parent clans.

In all Woodland Algonquian societies, a special rite of passage usually followed a young boy’s killing of his first big game. A girl’s first menses often met with some sort of ceremonial rite. Women sought seclusion at this time and for each succeeding menses thereafter. Among many Woodland Algonquians, sexual continence was practised not only during menstruation but also during pregnancy and lactation. A Delaware girl following her first menstrual seclusion donned a special headdress that partially covered her face and indicated her readiness to receive suitors.

Marriage conferred adult status on men and women. Before marriage a Mi’kmaq man had to turn over most of his hunt to his chief; after marriage he gave only a small tribute. Marriage occurred after a couple remained betrothed for at least a year. Among most groups the man was required to perform one year’s bride service for the parents of his intended, although chastity during this time was not so strictly observed among Central Algonquian speakers as it was in the east. Malecite and Mi’kmaq of both sexes observed strict sexual abstinence during this period of waiting. The man proved his prowess as a provider to his father-in-law, while the woman demonstrated her domestic skills by fashioning all her future husband’s garments and footwear. Elders of a girl’s family played a strong advisory role, but she usually also exercised considerable choice in the matter. Presents of wampum often were made by a suitor to a girl or members of her family, but other indications of interest were purely symbolic. A Malecite youth tossed a wood chip into the lap of a girl he admired and, if she liked him, she returned the chip to him with a smile.

Among the Eastern Woodland Algonquians, marriages were often concluded with feasting and dancing in the presence of chiefs and family. Less ceremony attended marriages in the upper Great Lakes region. While many marriages were monogamous, chiefs often had more than one wife. Among the Delaware and Potawatomi, polygamy was fairly common and divorce almost as much so. By contrast, divorce rarely occurred among traditional Malecite and Mi’kmaq owing to a strict moral code on the matter. By the mid-nineteenth century, pressure from missionaries had led to the disappearance from all areas both of polygamy and of the requirement that a man perform one year’s bride service to his father-in-law.

Woodland Algonquians respected their elders. When an elder fell ill among the Malecite and Mi’kmaq, shamans attended the sick person, but, if the patient worsened, procedures such as dousing the invalid in cold water might take place to hasten death. This was not viewed as disrespectful. During funeral ceremonies, mourners traditionally placed grave offerings with a body, which was taken out through the side of a dwelling rather than a door. Traditionally, there was a great fear of ghosts; a light kept burning near a gravesite was believed to keep malicious spirits at bay. A band, clan, or medicine society held a funeral ceremony and feast, often over a period of four days in the upper Great Lakes region. The corpse was interred either in a seated or a prone position, although the Mi’kmaq were also known to have practised scaffold burial and to have cremated their dead. The Ojibwa, Ottawa, and Potawatomi placed a low rectangular, gabled “gravehouse” over a gravesite. The gravehouse had a opening in the front for the spirit to come and go and a marker post in front which stated the occupant’s totemic designation and gave some indication of achievements, especially if the occupant had been a warrior. Until quite recently, food offerings were also left near the grave. Today, funerals, which last several days, usually take place in the home of the deceased. In the Maritime provinces, respect for the dead often is accompanied by prayers, singing, a feast, and an auction or distribution of goods on behalf of the person’s family. Funeral ceremonies may follow either a Christian order of service or a ceremony favoured by contemporary traditionalists.

Social organization and leadership differed from group to group. Among the Eastern Abenaki, Algonkin, Malecite, and Mi’kmaq, the bilateral extended family comprised the fundamental group-building block, although patrilineal principles usually governed leadership succession within the village or local summer band. The Western Abenaki, Ojibwa, Ottawa, and Potawatomi historically had patrilineal clans. At Saint-François, the turtle mark and bear mark acted as the symbolic identifiers for two important organizational moieties within the Abenaki group and represented the Sokoki and the Penacook respectively. These moieties functioned both in the council forum and during team sports. By contrast, the Delaware were matrilineal. Munsee and Unami sectors of the Delaware tribe had three kinship groups, or ubiquitous tribal, subdivisions – Turtle, Turkey, and Wolf – each of which until the mid-nineteenth century contained a civil chief, a war chief, a speaker, and a messenger. The Delaware of the Six Nations also included one woman in the chiefly lineage as a “chiefmaker,” a trait borrowed from the Iroquois. Among the Potawatomi, strong all-male village councils influenced chiefly appointments and activities, and there was a specialized warrior class or sodality which exercised policing functions. Only the Delaware, Mi’kmaq, and Potawatomi historically exhibited tribal structures, and, of the three, only the Mi’kmaq organization still remains in existence. The Mi’kmaq may have retained their tribal system owing to their villages’ dispersed character, which rendered them less accessible to colonial scrutiny and manipulation. Yet it is highly improbable that any of these groups evidenced a tribal level of integration before 1650.

Among Central Algonquian speakers, leadership tended to be based mainly on the maintenance of reciprocity of interest between leader and led, whereas Eastern Algonquian leadership revealed more of an authoritarian nature, with tribute often required of a subservient retinue or class. Western Abenaki, Malecite, and Mi’kmaq societies displayed stratification in that chieftainships emerged within a limited number of high-ranking families. Succession to leadership usually followed patrilineal principles, although this rule was not inviolate since a brother or nephew might gain precedence over a son if the band council deemed the former contender more worthy of the honour. A chief supplied retinues of persons willing to hunt, go to war, or form trading parties under his aegis, and he also provided necessities such as canoes, dogs, and provisions for long journeys. Young men, not yet married, ate in his company and shared a portion of their hunt with his household.

During the early fur trade, these sagamores wielded considerable influence in their communities, although they could not coerce their followers to obey their wishes. The Malecite village of Ouigoudi at the mouth of the Saint John River had one head chief, Chkoudun, who represented the interests of the Malecite nation as a whole. Yet, as the Malecite dispersed to inland riverine sites under local headmen in the late seventeenth century, French missionaries came to assume many roles formerly ascribed to indigenous leaders. In later years, whenever strong Malecite leaders arose, factionalism ensued, though chiefs might be unobstructed in forwarding policies on behalf of individual bands. During the late 1930s to the 1960s, Chief “Billy” Saulis of Tobique, who championed the integrity of the native community against land grabbers, government negligence, and bureaucratic incompetence, was regarded as a leader after the old tradition in representing interests broader than those of a single reserve. Nevertheless, an attempt in the 1950s to establish a pan-reserve Malecite entity with a superchief and supercouncil under the name Wolastok was unsuccessful.

It was noted in the late nineteenth century that the Mi’kmaq divided their lands into seven subdistricts. Today, the Mi’kmaq still have a system of district chiefs which operate under the auspices of a grand chief and council, with headquarters in Cape Breton. Appointments to offices follow traditional principles, although their functions primarily are symbolic rather than actively political. The districts are: Onamag (Cape Breton), Esgigeoag (eastern Nova Scotia), Segepenegatig (the Shubenacadie district), Gespogoitnag (southwestern Nova Scotia), Epegoitnag and Pigtogeog (most of the Northumberland Strait region including Prince Edward Island), Sigenigteoag (the Memramcook district), and Gespegeoag (the Gaspé).

Until the early twentieth century, installations of life chiefs at Saint-François proceeded with considerable ceremony, which included giving the incumbent a new name. A civil chief, a war chief, and a council of elders of leading families comprised the Saint-François Grand Council. In 1771 wampum records for this community were entrusted to a special body formed of seven women and six men.

Among all eastern Woodland Algonquian peoples, men traditionally achieved status through their prowess in the hunt, in medicinal powers, and in warfare and trade. A young man gained manhood once he killed his first big game. Women traditionally acquired prestige through their skills as herbalists and midwives. At the other extreme, war captives and slaves constituted the lowest social echelon. Delaware adopted captive native, white, Mexican, and black children, and occasionally purchased slaves.

Modern reserve life is primarily egalitarian, although stratification exists where certain families are accorded prominence. Educational attainments also confer status. While the family constitutes the most important unit, other organizations cross-cut reserves and so sponsor a wider sphere of social interaction. Visiting among extended kin members has always been a popular pastime. Those who gain higher education often foster interest in their particular field among youth with whom they come in contact. The same may be said of those who excel in sports. Church-related events and festivities, educational workshops and displays relating to native culture and aboriginal rights, boy scouts, cubs, girl guides, baseball, hockey, lacrosse and societies such as Alcoholics Anonymous bring people together from different communities. Young people occasionally gain band or federal-government sponsorship to attend conferences on indigenous issues in other provinces or countries. The modern powwow, which had its birth in the rejuvenation of native traditions and values, draws not only Canadian Algonquian individuals but also native persons from many other parts of Canada and the United States to participate in musical, artistic, recreational, and social events.