Tooker] ETHNOGRAPHY OF THE HURON 127 



the couple were invited. Wlien all were assembled and seated accord- 

 ing to rank around the house, the father of the girl or the master of 

 ceremonies deputed to the office announced that the couple was being 

 married and that that was the reason for the gathering and that the 

 feast was prepared for the enjoyment of all. All greeted this with 

 approval, ate of the kettle, and left (S 122-123) ." 



The parents of the girl desired that the suitor have not only a 

 good address and be well painted and adorned, but also that he be 

 bold in hunting, war, and fishing and capable of supporting the girl 

 (S 123). For example, in one instance, an Indian made love to a girl 

 and because she could not get her father's consent to the marriage, the 

 boy carried her off and took her for a wife. There ensued a great 

 quarrel and the girl was taken from him and returned to her father. 

 The father had objected that the boy could not do anything, "though 

 he amused himself with cooking in the French way and did not make 

 a practice of hunting." In order to prove himself, the boy went fish- 

 ing and caught a number of fish. Then the girl was given to him and 

 he took her to his house (S 124) . 



Many young men had not wives (atenonha), but companions 

 (asqua), because the marriage ceremony had not been performed. 

 They lived together for as long as they wished, their relationship not 

 hindering their freely seeing other friends, male or female, without 

 fear of reproach. Premarital sex relationships were not frowned 

 upon (S 121-122). Wlien the girl became pregnant, the various 

 lovers would come to her, each saying that the child was his. From 

 them, she chose the one she liked best (C 139-140) . 



Probably both matrilocal and patrilocal residence were practiced 

 by the Huron. The cases in the Relations do not indicate matrilocal 

 residence ( JR 13. 11 ; 17 : 165, 19 : 85, 147 ; cf. JR 13 : 199— the case of a 

 woman living in Huronia with her husband; she was of a strange 

 nation "and spoke a language that I did not understand so well").^^ 



^ Jackson (1830 b : 29) and Mary Jemison (Seaver 1824 : 180) also report that a present 

 was given by the boy to the girl or her father. Powell (1881 : 64) reports that presents 

 were given by the man to the girl's mother and that a feast was part of the customary 

 procedure among the Wyandot. Iroquois custom was for a girl to cook 20 cakes of boiled 

 cornbread with berries in them, or a different number of cakes made by other recipes. 

 These were taken to the house of the man where they were distributed among friends and 

 relatives, and a feast made of them and meat provided by the father or male relatives of 

 the young man. His mother filled the basket which contained the cakes with meat, and the 

 girl's relatives later feasted on this gift (Waugh 1916 : 82, 85-87 ; see also Morgan 1901(1) : 

 313). This wedding bread (see note 14, p. 70) is still remembered by the Iroquois (Shi- 

 mony 1961 a: 227). 



38 One supposes that marriage was matrilocal when the old longhouse was still in use, the 

 members of the matrilineally related families living in one longhouse, although there prob- 

 ably were exceptions. With the change in house type, there may have occurre.d a change 

 in rule of residence. Powell (1881 : 64) says that the Wyandot couple resided matrilocally 

 for a short time. Fenton (1951 b : 43) reports that the Iroquois couple now moves in with 

 the set of parents that has room for them and that they move out as soon as they are able 

 to build a house. He also suggests that residence may have been patrilocal In those mar- 

 riages that were arranged by the mothers. 



