The pioneer express. [volume] (Pembina, Dakota [N.D.]) 1883-1928, 1900-09-28
W ! n ! I : / PISS g:| sEls
49,
PUEBLO INDIAN WOMEN HAVE
& PRixiLEQEes ssisss !.
They Absolutely Isdls Thsir Husband
and ali Properly belong. to Them
4 { Psculias1tlss OF ss Their manner N 81!
tss living Ess " Il

Among the Pueblo indians of the;
southwest woman is the boss and has
rights and privileges greater. than. thoss
OF her more civilized sisters. Practical
Vail property. both real and personal, !,
!, belongs to the women. and .they.alone
can dispose of 1t. The crops Inv the
felds are the special charged the man
OF the. house, but only soslonE al they
are in the ground. When the harvest
ls gathered and brought insi becomes;
the woman's property and the man can
not dispose Of 1t, even inSthe way iiof q
social entertainment or msst wfthcait
first securing the wife's consent No
case has eyer been known where. a man
has attempted to- override these. ar
rangementsand assume cont ol; for the
result would be expulsion from the
family and probably also from the
tribe. When a man marries he goes to
the house of his wife's people and his
standing there is so peculiar and SO in
. secure, as 1t were, that he dares not at
tempt to break through the rules which
have governed him and his ancestors
for many generations. f..
In fact, the standing of man in his
wife's household is but little better
than that of an honored guest The
Pueblos, like all the other Indian
tribes. are organized on the clan sys-
tem-that is, the descendants, real or
supposed, of common ancestor consti-
tute family group, named after some
animal or some object. like the Rat
tlesnake gems, the Corn people and so
on. But descent is reckoned. only, in
the female line, and the children, there
fore, always belong to the mothers
gems. BY an ancient rule, still OBJ
. served, marriage within the gems is not
permitted. Thus It comes about that
the man is. as it were, Gin the house
. of his enemies" for in any difference
Sof opinion the whole house Is against
Shin. 81
Each gems, or.huge. artificial family
lives by itself in the village, all of its
houses being connected with each 9th
er. but not with those of any other
gens.a The, houses of the Pueblos are
arranged in long rows, or in beehive-
like clusters, the rooms being placed
one above the other, so as to form ter
races like a great stairway. When a
family increases new rooms are built,
but they always adjoin and are con-
nected with those already standing.
There is no way. therefore, in which a
man can escape the dominating inlu-
ences of his Wife's. people. The gsns
sometimes numbers 500 members Or
more, all animated by the same mo-
lives and bound to. standby each other.
No matter how aggressive the man
may be, he is necessarily of a different
family, and the immense majority
against him makes his case hopeless.
Under these conditions family jars are
extremely rare, for only in the most
important case will a mans gems take
up his defense. Ees,; 4. ..
The woman has still another ex2e-
dent, seldom used, but always held in
reserve. II her husband does not be-
have himself he can be sent home to
his fathers. in other words, he may be
expelled from his wifes gems. into
which he is adopted when he n,arries.
and consequently has to leave, tn home
of the gems. In that case he loses not
only his wife but albright to his chill
dren, since the latter are reckoned the.
children Of the gems, and becomes p-ac-
tically, if not actually. an outcast. The
Indian is very loath to give up the
teachings and beliefs of a lifetime to
adopt those Of other men, and the aver
age brave" recognizes that his wife is
the "boss" and conforms himself to the
conditions which confront him, Leaving
his theories for discussion in the1 s.
of stag gathering.
AS matter Of fact the ayeras
se~~e.~~~~.~.~~r.e~