The Pascagoula democrat-star. (Pascagoula, Miss.) 1878-1920, 1895-05-24
Ghelrmorraf-S taf
THE CHOCTAW LAW OF MAR!
RAGE.
BY II. 5. HALBERT.

bf IL. ).
According TO the Choctaw tradition
ages ago, tn Great Spirit fashioned
the first Chdk1aws out of red clay n,
the base Of the Namih Waiyah mound
in Winston county, Miss. Immediate
ly after their creation, the Grea1
divided them into two iksa, tba
Kashapa Okla and the Hattak n
h0lahta. The word iksa has no exac
equivalent in English, but may B
translated class, party or sect. Sta.
tioning one iksa or the north and thu
west side Of the mound, the Great
Spirit gave them the law OF marriav.
which they were to keep forever ID.
violate. This law was that childreu
were to belong to the iksa OF ther
mothers, and that one must MARI,
into the opposite iksa. BY this law, !
man belonging to the Kashapa OH,
must marry = woman of the Hattak
in holahta. The children Of this mar
rage, Of course, belong to the iksa n
their mother. and whenever they mar.
~, 1t must be into the opposite iksa
In like manner a man belonglnv|
Hattak Ia holahta must marry a vol
man OF the Kashapa Okla, and thd
children, from being Kashapa OklaI
must marry into the Hattak In hol
Anita. Such was, and Is still to a grea1
extent, the Ch0ctaw law OF MARRIAGE
which they attribute to Divine auI
thority.
The two iksas lived promiscuouslI
throughout the nation, and as everyl
one knew to what iksa he belonged nd
matrimonial mistake could possil n
occur. This division Of Choctaws iutd
two iksas still exists is Mississippi
but Of recent years, II has begun I'd
give way under the influence of Chris
tianity, education and other influenced
Of contact with the white race.
This ancient ChOctaw law Of mari
riage, based upon the iksa divisioul
came up, for a while, as a disturbinJ
element In the case Of the recent Chocl
taw wedding, near, Conehatta, both
the bride and groom being member
Of the same iksa, Halifax in holahtal
though being no blood kin to each
other whatever. Most Of the friend
and relatives Of the respective parties
were In favor Of disregarding the lawI
That now as they were converts I'd
Christianity ii would be well to led
the old law become obsolete, or, i'd
the language Of President Cleveland
to fall into innoccuous desuetude. Cd
the other hand, some conservative
relatives OF the bride we're strongll
opposed TO the marriage; that theJ
had never heard OF u ma and a wd
man belonging to the same iksa mad
rying each other; and that the old la}
should be observed. An animated
discussion lasting two hours tiled
ensned. Finally the progressive part
won the day, the conservatives yield
ed the point, and the happy bride and
groom took their position on tn
ground; the preacher united them I'd
gether FOR life according TO u civilized
ritual, and both p~rogfessives and couI
s~ervatives came forward and present
ed their congratulations to the hapM
couple. Hencef0rth, VIC suppose TIM
law that was given at Nanih WaiyaA
with the Christianized ChOctaws, viii
soon be numbered with the thing
J that were, and we hope the day viii
soon come when other ~unnecessad
usages, both OF the white man and "
Choctaw, will likewise be relcgatcd !
the limbo OF oblivion.