ecause blame for events that occur is not to be placed on the settlers. This division is also made because life for the Iroquois changed drastically after European contact. Iroquois nations found themselves competing for the goods the settlers offered. The settlers also brought with them diseases that the Iroquois had never been exposed to. Consequently, many nations suffered enormous losses simply because their bodies did not have immunity to these new diseases. One could say the Iroquois were enlightened by this new interaction with the settlers, but at what cost? In some Iroquois villages, nearly half the population was lost to disease. Much of what the settlers had to offer the Iroquois were merely luxuries. They had survived for centuries without them.The Iroquois were never a particularly peaceful culture from the settler’s standpoint. The settlers defined peace as an absence of war, while the Iroquois believed war was needed as a way to keep peace. The government structure served more as a guideline than law. It was not an alliance between the cultures. Many small battles arose, mostly vengeful acts. The Iroquois firmly believed no death was accidental; someone had to be blamed. So the tribe would attack their enemy for vengeance. A little reflection on this idea, and one can see why the settlers thought of the Iroquois as a violent culture. Rituals and Tradition were a large part of Iroquois society. Rituals and traditions have been shown throughout history to be a large part of what holds a society together. Many rituals and traditions in Iroquois culture revolved around death and the other side. While one moiety would be mourning a death in the group, another would make burial and ceremonial preparations. Moieties were divisions within a particular clan. Another tradition closely tied to this was the replacement of loved ones. The loved one was replaced by either another member of the clan, or someo...
