o one of four peoples or nations (tribes) and one of eight clans" (Trigger, 1990, p. 65). The nuclear family was a subset of the clan, although several extended nuclear families might share the same longhouse, and marriages occurred not within but between clans. Therefore the adolescent male could anticipate leaving the house of his birth, while the adolescent female could anticipate never leaving the house of her birth.
The different expectations of adulthood on the part of adolescent boys and girls were only one aspect of the sex-specific training of young people in Huron culture. Physical hardiness was of special significance for boys, who were trained on the bow and arrow, harpoons, and games. Girls' training focused on domestic chores, "and as they grew older, [girls] played games that taught them to perform household tasks" (p. 77), which were meant to provide them a connection "with their own household" (p. 77). A girl in puberty could be identified when she began to cook her own food during menstrual periods, which appears to have further reinforced her domestic connection. A boy's puberty was defined by a vision quest, essentially a fasting-and-camping ritual enactment of all the physical training undergone in previous years. The onset of puberty implied a whole range of preparations for marriage. While public display of either positive or negative affection was not permitted, sexual activity in private was not only not particularly discouraged but rather acknowledged as a feature of experimentation. Indeed, says Trigger, adolescents "often had several sexual partners concurrently, and girls were active as men in initiating these relations" (1990, p. 78)
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