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guilty party and his uncle, then it was mandatory for the guilty
party to go before the council house. The guilty party did not
have to go before his own clan.
The Bird Clan was the clan which held the power in the
council house. The Tiger Clan were the ones who were in charge
of the ceremonies. These two clans made up the largest member-
ship in the council house. This setup was how it use to be.
However, today I am not quite sure what the council house con-
sists of, or what the roles of the clans are, nor do I know
how it is run presently. It may or may not be the same setup
as it has always been. However, as far as I know the Bird
Clan and the Tiger Clan still have an important place in the
council house functions.
It seems that these two clans are still active in their
positions of talking with the guilty or accused among their other
functions. The clans involved still try to straighten out the
problems with the guilty party or the accused by counselling and
talking with the defendant as the first step in problem resolving.
Again, going back to how it use to be at the ceremonial
grounds, the Tiger Clan, the Bird Clan, the Deer Clan, the
Wind Clan, and the Snake Clan made camp at the ceremonial grounds,
and were always on hand for anything that arose. Whatever clan
the defendant was from, whether it was Tiger, Bird, Deer, etc.,
he knew that the Tiger and the Bird were the clans he would have
to stand before.
When the crime had been committed, whether it was the de-
fendant or a witness, it was their duty to look for and inform
the uncle of the defendant's crime, unless, of course, the uncle
was the witness. Whenever the uncle could not be located for one
reason or another, the other clans would be informed, and they
would help look for the uncle of the defendant until he was
found. Whenever a crime had been committed, the offender
was expected to contact his uncle immediately. But at times this
was not feasible; then the defendant or witness went to the de-
fendant's clan, or any clan, whichever was on hand. They were
told what happened. Even so, the uncle still had to be located
and informed of the incident, since he was the one who had the role
of talking with him before the defendant must go before the council
house.
Take for instance if you and I, or the three of us, were
from the same clan, such as the Tiger, Deer, or Bird Clan, and we
were witnesses to the act that was committed, or if we happened
to be the ones who were approached by the defendant or a witness--
since I am the man, I would be the messenger sent to find the
uncle of the defendant. After the uncle has had an intimate
talk with the defendant, and he has gone over even the most
minute detail with him, if it is some act which cannot be resolved