Over the course of his text the Ordeal of the Longhouse: The peoples of the Iroquois League in the Era of European Colonization Donald Richter attempts to piece together what remains of the Iroquoian oral tradition, to understand the cultural as well as the political motivations behind different actions of the League. Richter would likely agree with Fixico that understanding the role of Iroquois mythology is vital to understanding how the tribes expressed themselves within the League. The ritual responsibilities towards the village, tribe, family of the Iroquois does show what Fixico calls a "visual and circular" orientation, rather than a linear and verbal tradition, and all tribes' interpretations of history eschewed easy linear interpretations of the relationship of the past to the present (Fixico xii). "Clans had reciprocal obligations centering on ceremonial gift giving and mutual ritual duties" (Richter 21). The League's conflicts with its Indian and new European...
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