clan mother
Lineage's female elder
A clan mother is a senior woman who holds authority within a kinship group, particularly in matrilineal societies like the Haudenosaunee (Iroquois).
Clan mothers traditionally select and can remove male chiefs, oversee family welfare, and preserve cultural knowledge.
The term sometimes extends to any respected elder woman who guides an extended family or community: She was the clan mother everyone consulted before major decisions.
- matriarchFemale family leader
- elderSenior figure of authority
- IroquoisNative American confederacy
- longhouseElongated communal dwelling structure
- tribeSocial group sharing ancestry
lineage · blood ties · grandmother · council · wisdom · Six Nations · kinship · firekeepers · authority · ancestral · bloodline · hereditary · women · ceremony · nations · governance · decision making · tradition
- ancestorsancestor, ancestors, forebears, forebear, forbear
- Matriarchsmatriarch, grandmother, grandma, granny, great-grandmother
- clan structurechief, elder, patriarch, matriarch, headman
- IroquoisIroquois, Mohawk, Iroquois Confederacy, Oneida, Onondaga
- tribal culturetribe, common ancestry, elder council, kinship ties, headman
- tribal leaderschieftain, chief, headman, sachem, sagamore
clan motherpatriarch
Male head of family
chief · sachem · war chief · headman · warrior chief
clan motherchief
Top-ranking leader
autocrat · warlord · dictator · military commander · elected official
clan, mother, clans, clansman, clansmen, clanswoman, clannish, clannishness, mothers