The Kosciusko star. (Kosciusko, Miss.) 18??-1898, 1895-03-15
The ChOctaW Law of Marriage.
By II. S. HALBERT IN C0NEHATTA
INDEX.

INDEX.
According to the Choctaw tradi'
ton, ages ago, the Great Spirit
fashioned the first Choctaws out Of
red clay at the base of the Nanih
Waiyan mound in Win ston county,
Miss. Immediately after theil
creation the Great Spirit divided
them into two iksa, the Kashapa
Okla and the Hattak in holahta.
The word iksa has no exact equiv,
alent III English, but may be trans
lated class, party or sect. Station.
ing one jksa on the North and West
side of the mound, the Great Spir.
it gave them the law of marriage,
which they were to keep forever
inviolate. This law was that chill
dren should belong to the iksa Of
their mothers, and that one must
marry into the opposite iksa. By
this law, Il man belonging to the
Kashapa Okla must marry wom-
au of the Halifax in holahta. The
children of this marriage, of course,
belong to the lksa Of his mother,
and whenever they marry 1t must
be into the opposite iksa. In like
manner a man belonging to HaItak
in holahta must marry woman of
the Kashapa Okla; and the chill
dren, from being Kashapa Okla,
must marry into the Halifax in hol-
Anita. Such, and is still to a great
extent, the Choctaw law of marri-
age, which they attribute to divine
authority.
The two iksas lived promiscu-
ously Throughout the nation, and
as everyone knew to what iksa he
belonged no matrimonial mistake
could possibly occur. This divis-
ion Of Choctaws into two iksas still
exists in Mississippi; but Of recent
years, it has begun to give way
under the influence Of Christianity,
education and other influences of
contact with the whites.
This ancient Choctow law of
marriage, based upon the iksa d.
vision, came up, for a while, as a
disturbing element in the case of
the recent Choctaw wedding near
Conehatta, both the bride and
groom betty members of the same
iksa, Halifax in holahta, though
being no blood kin to each other
whatever. Most Of the friends and
relatives of the respective parties
were in favor of disregarding the
law. That now as they were con.
verts to Christianity it would be
we'll to let the old law become alb.
solete, or in the language Of Pres
ldent Cleveland. to fall into innoc.
uous desuetude. On the cthel
hand, some conservative relatives
OF the bride were strongly opposed
to the marriage; that they had
never heard OF a man and II WON.
an belonging to the same iksa mar,
rying each other; and that the old
law should be observed. An AMI.
mated discussion for two hours then
ensued. Finally the progressive
party won the day, the conserva.
tlves yielded the point, and the
happy bride and groom took their
position on the ground; the preach.
er united them together for life ac-
cording to civilized ritual, and
both progressives and conservatives
came forward and presented theil
congratulations to the happy cou.
pie. Henceforth, we suppose the
law that was given at Nanih Wal
yah, with the Christianized Choc-
taws, will soon be numbered with
the things that were, and we hope
the day will soon come when other
unnecessary usages, both OF the
white man and the Choctaw. will
likewise be relegsted to the limbo
of oblivion.