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Clan Animals Three basic clans--Bear, Turtle, and Wolf--exist at each of the Iroquois nations. Other clans vary depending upon the nation. The Mohawks have only three original clans; the Onondaga have nine. Each nation is also divided into two halves, or moieties. Moieties provide ceremonial services for each other. In particular, they bury the other side's dead and console them during their grief. Although clan members take their clan animal as their emblem, they do not believe that their clan is descended from that animal. Rather, tradition states that someone went from one camp group to the next naming each for a bird or other animal that he saw nearby.
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