Recently, Barclay Brooks of Pennsylvania sent back a Cradle Board and Tus (pitched jug) given to them by the late Clarence and Alice Wesley in the 1950s. The children of Clarence and Alice, Kathy Wesley Kitcheyan, Ann Wesley and John Wesley, came to the Museum and looked at the Cradle Board and Tus, and they confirmed these two items were made by their mother.
Ann and John said when they were kids, they would go with their mother to the Yellow Jacket area and cut juniper branches. The branches were cut at a slight angle and put in a can for the pitch to drip into the can, and later applied to the woven tus.
Kathy, Ann and John are of the Hai’aa’ha clan meaning Chiricahua Apache, and born for the Tugai Clan. They are direct descendants of Cochise and his son Naiche.
They are Chiricahua Apache since their mother, and their maternal grandmother were Chiricahua.
This is how the Apache Clan System works, you are what your mother and maternal grandmother is, and your paternal grandfather’s clan is acknowledged as to who you are born for.
