Lesson Two - Clanship
Lesson Two will help students to understand further the meaning of clanship and the larger circle of kinship to the community. What is clanship? The Diné clan system has been around since the first four clans were set in place by the Holy People. These clans were originated to help identify the mother and where she comes from. The Dine are a matrilineal tribe. Each person is identified by who the mothers are (such as the biological mother, the fathers mother, the maternal grandmother and paternal grandmother) and these are identified through the four clans. It is through these four initial individuals that one will connect their relationship to others. A person may not necessarily be directly related through bloodline to a person of the same clan but are seen as distant relations therefore may be identified as the brother or sister to an individual. For this purpose, an individual may have several sisters, brothers, aunts, uncles, and grandparents. Clanship gives a sense of connecting to others. This may mean that a person who is not in any way a relative or distant family member, lives miles apart, can meet and call each other brother if they both have the same clan.
Through the clanship system, you will find that students are now relating to a bigger group of individuals. As we have started from the first four clans students will need to identify relationship to maternal and paternal family members by constructing a model, such as a family tree. Students will use a triangle to depict female and a circle to depict male. Starting from the maternal family, students will identify all aunts and uncles, their spouses and their children. Once identified, students will then need to label each relative according to kinship term (example: maternal aunt-shima yazhi, paternal aunt-shibizhi). Use following to help identify kinship;
- Female- CircleMale - Triangle
- Older Brother – shinaaiYounger Brother – shitsili
- Older sister – shadiYounger Sister – shideezhi
- Maternal Aunt – shima yazhiPaternal Aunt – shibizhi
- Maternal Uncle – shiyaazhPaternal Uncle – Shizhe'e
- Maternal Grandmother – shimasaniPaternal Grandmother – shinali
- Maternal Grandfather – shicheiiPaternal Grandfather – shinali hastiin
The Dine clan system is so complex that even the female and male gender will relate to maternal and paternal family members differently. Such as a male greeting the mothers brother would say, shahastoi (my brother) and a female would say shiyaazh (my son).
When students have identified their family members they will then place each member in order of birth on family tree. Therefore, first born would be placed first, connected to their spouse if they have one and their children if any as well. Next, will be the second born and so on, until completion of family tree. As your students are creating their family tree, keep in mind that it is crucial that each person listed be identified by gender and to keep maternal and paternal aunts and uncles separate. For this reason, creating two separate family trees is important, one for maternal and the other paternal. As students identify each member, you will also remind students about the maternal clan and how all females on the maternal tree are of one clan and as such, you relate to all individuals with the same clan as your mother, also your mother or your aunt. All individuals with the same clan as your father's mother will also be related to you accordingly, thus creating a bigger group of relations. The teachings in Dine is that you never are to say, "I am alone" or "I have no family" for you have family all around you. Family is a strong bond, the foundation to k'e (kindship) and who you are, therefore, a great importance in the Dine value. Teachings of kinship help in the area of discipline, cultural knowledge, ties to relating oneself to the universe and has an impact on how you greet and present yourself as an individual to others.
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