Ancient Rights of the Thunder Clan
by Iron Thunderhorse, April 2002
ACQTC today has five active clans: 1. Thunder Clan/Pinessi-wekit; 2. Wolf Clan/Malsumwekit; 3. Bear Clan/Awasusswekit; 4. Turtle Clan/Tulipaswekit; 5. Fishhawk Clan/Manamaquaswekit. There were other clans in ancient times but only these five remain.
Each clan maintains its own societies, and these all have specific responsibilities determined long ago by Algonquian tradition. The Thunder Clan is responsible for the political center of the Algonquian Families. It’s inherent right as the “Fire-Keepers” is to see that the maeweomi or central council fire is lit and keeps burning bright.
Clan lineage is passed along the female line yet only the males (who indicate certain traits) are selected first to serve as the kicinnawatunk or “stewards/caretakers” of the ecosystems. Thunder Clan lineage is considered a divine right of succession to lead and gather the people together. If there is no male to succeed then a female sunksquaw is chosen from the lineage.
The ancestral Algonquian term for self-identity --- mamawinnini --- derives from mamawi, which indicates “together/collective.” In the PEA-A language group the words mauwe-, mauwi- indicate “to gather.”
There are similar words used as in fixes to show a sociopolitical connection. For example, the PEA-A word nogomaugh indicates that everyone is related by blood. The Quinnipiac word Sagamore comes from Sagamaugh and is the term for “wise councillors” for the bands who gathered together around a particular maweomi.
Another slight variation is the word mayawi, which indicates those who are gathered together are “united” as a “union.” Thus the prefix mayau- refers to our ancestral “alliances” or “confederacies” and the allusion is a united people of one mind, one heart, and one fire.
The Bear Clan holds the responsibility for the nation’s health and spiritual welfare. For the Quinnipiac and our allies, the Lenni Lenape, this is not just any bear, it is Awasusse or the Sky Bear, better known as Ursa Major or The Big Dipper. The biggest spiritual celebration of the Algonquian Feast of Dreams takes place during the Winter Solstice (12-21). In ancient times it consisted of a 12-day ritual reenactment of the journey taken by sky-bear each year and the dances associated with it.
The Wolf Clan is responsible for the social welfare of the nation. Wolf was the one who taught our ancestors the skills needed for survival and the laws of hunting and tracking as a pack. Wolf knows the shortest routes to water, and was the first to establish trails so they are caretakers of the Mishimayagat or Great Trail System in Connecticut.
The Fishhawk Clan represents our ancient traditions as a maritime culture, so it is responsible for the ancestral fishing skills, crafts and trade because the rivers, lakes and oceans were our aboriginal highways. ACQTC plans to revive the arts of canoe-making and crafting associated with these ancient traditions.
Lastly, the Turtle Clan represents the guardians of our land. Turtle Island is what our ancestors called North America. In the center of the Turtle’s back is a giant cedar tree, which the Quinnipiac called k’tschwak shittawoonghqas. This sacred tree connects us to the three worlds: underworld (ancestry/past); middleworld (earth/present); and upperworld (afterlife/future). Turtle Clan orators are keepers of the sacred Wampum belts and were held by the Turtle Clan Ambassadors known as the Peacemakers.
Algonquian bands represent regional families that are literally “banded together” around a particular maweomi that belonged to a particular Sachemdom. In the spring the bands fanned out to various fishing camps or planting grounds, but in the winter they returned to the central wintering grounds where all the bands united and organized massive deer drives. The wintering grounds of the Quinnipiac extended from about where Meriden and Cheshire stand today, to Middletown in the east and Waterbury in the west, up to just below Farmington and the Tunxis Sachemdom.
The Quinnipiac, like the other Algonquians of southern New England, lived in several types of dwellings and erected others for specific purposes. In the spring and summer camps along the shores they lived in domed-shaped wigwam structures of bent saplings covered with woven mats made from bullrushes. In the winter they erected wiekiup-style dwellings called nissawikan or “pointed lodges” where poles are fashioned like a tipi and covered with bark, not skins. For special ceremonies there were long houses or quinnekommuk and ceremonial arbors called puttuckquapowunk.
Professor Kathleen Bragdon also noted that a special ceremonial structure was erected “to conduct diplomatic business” where strict protocols were maintained by the elite Pinessisok or Thunder Clan Warrior’s Society. These structures were Clan Warrior’s society. These structures were called wetampaddawunk-kommuk or “the place of covenants” in the Quinnipiac dialect.
Namitch neetompaog.
published in the Branford Review, April 10, 2002
