The Sacred Hoop: Recovering the Feminine in American Indian Traditions

ody responsible for implementing policies that bore on the
common interest of all. It should also be noted that the
Reformation followed Columbus’s contact with the Americas
and that his and Martyr’s reports concerning Native Americans’
free and easy egalitarianism were in circulation by the time the
Reformation took hold.
The Iroquois federal system, like that of several in the vicinity
of the American colonies, is remarkably similar to the
organization of the federal system of the United States. It was
made up of local, “state,” and federal bodies composed of
executive, legislative, and judicial branches. The Council of
Matrons was the executive: it instituted and determined general
policy. The village, tribal (several villages), and Confederate
councils determined and implemented policies when they did not
conflict with the broader Council’s decisions or with theological
precepts that ultimately determined policy at all levels. The
judicial was composed of the men’s councils and the Matron’s
council, who sat together to make decisions. Because the
matrons were the ceremonial center of the system, they were
also the prime policymakers.
Obviously, there are major differences between the structure
of the contemporary American government and that of the
Iroquois. Two of those differences were and are crucial to the
process of just government. The Iroquois system is spirit-based,
while that of the United States is secular, and the Iroquois Clan
Matrons formed the executive. The female executive function
was directly tied to the ritual nature of the Iroquois politic, for
the executive was lodged in the hands of the Matrons of
particular clans across village, tribe, and national lines. The
executive office was hereditary, and only sons of eligible clans
could serve, at the behest of the Matrons of their clans, on the
councils at the three levels. Certain daughters inherited the office
of Clan Matron through their clan affiliations. No one could