Today, most people live in a nuclear family – a household of parents and children. The Haudenosaunee have extended families known as clans that included include aunts, uncles, grandparents, cousins all related through the mother.
The Family Clans include Turtle, Snapping Turtle, Tortoise, Wolf, Snipe, Plover, Killdeer, Beaver, Ball (Small Deer), Hawk, Pigeon Hawk, Heron, Deer, Eel, Big Bear, Younger Bear, and Suckling Bear.
The number of clans varies among the nations. The Mohawk Nation has three different Bear Clan families, three different Wolf Clan families, and three different Turtle Clan families. The same is true of the Oneida Nation. Only the Onondaga Nation has all nine Clans groups.
Generally, textbooks state that we have nine Clans, that is not quite true. We actually have 49 different Clan families. This is because there are several Clans under the Wolf, Turtle, Bear, Snipe and Deer Clans.
