How did the Onondaga (Iroquois) live?
Background
Iroquois people lived together in villages of various sizes. Many of these villages were surrounded by wooden fences. These fences were constructed to keep away enemies and animals who would threaten the food supply.
Families lived together according to their maternal line (the mother’s blood line). Accordingly, a woman, her daughters, her younger sisters, and their husbands shared the same domicile (home). The brothers and sons of these women lived in the longhouse owned by the women of their wives' families. Often parents arranged their children's marriages. Gift-giving played an important role in formalizing the marriage.
The husband, wife, and children each had specifically defined roles in the Onondaga village. The Onondaga were one of the five nations in the Iroquois Confederation and its capital. Basically, it was the men's responsibility to fish and hunt, while the women were to work the fields, which they "owned." Ownership of the fields stemmed from the female's power of reproduction, which the Onondaga understood to come from the reproductive power of Mother Earth.
Major Idea
Iroquois society was highly organized, with family groupings playing a major role in the social order.
