Men who were not Cherokee and married into a Cherokee household had to be adopted into a clan by a clan mother he could not take his wife's clan. Her husband was required to leave his clan and live with her in her new clan. If the person was a woman who had born a Cherokee child and was married to a Cherokee man, she could be taken into a new clan. Ĭherokee born outside of a clan or outsiders who were taken into the tribe in ancient times had to be adopted into a clan by a clan mother. The purpose of this was not retaliation but equalization. Indeed, if the intentional or unintentional killer escaped or found sanctuary in one of the towns so designated, such as Chota, Kituwa, or Tugaloo, the fugitive's clan was expected to deliver up another of its members. The one to pay the penalty did not have to be the person responsible it could be any member of his or her clan. The clan was also responsible for balancing the death of one of its members at the hands of the member of another clan, whether deliberate, impulsive, or accidental. Such marriage was considered incest and punishable by death at the hands of the offender's own clan and by no other. It was forbidden to marry within one's clan or to someone in the clan of one's father. Ĭherokee clans held the only coercive power within Cherokee society. In addition, Cherokee society tended to be matrilocal, meaning that once married a couple moved in with or near the bride's family. Property was inherited and bequeathed through the clan and held in common by it. Traditionally, women were considered the head of household among the Cherokee, with the home and children belonging to her should she separate from a husband, and maternal uncles were considered more important than fathers.

The Cherokee society was historically a matrilineal society meaning children belong to the mother's clan, and hereditary leadership and property were passed through the maternal line. The Cherokee clans ( Cherokee syllabary:ᏣᎳᎩ ᏓᏂᎳᏍᏓᏢᎢ) are traditional social organizations of Cherokee society.Ĭustoms and functions of the Cherokee clans Seven Cherokee chiefs who accompanied Sir Alexander Cumming, to England, representing every region in which the Cherokee then lived.

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