A Voice from the Eastern Door
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This belt has been called the Six Nations Brace Belt and records when the Tuscarora Nation was taken into the Iroquois Confederacy. Each diagonal band represents a state or nation of the Confederacy, a brace or supporting beam of The Long House, by which the Iroquois often called their league. The braces represent an alliance for purposes of peace. This belt commemorates the admission of the Tuscaroras to take shelter under The Tree of Peace, the Iroquois United Nations....
This belt is a friendship belt, and the symbols on the belt represent two nations joined together by the Path of Peace. One square represents the Ojibway Nation and the other square represents the Iroquois. There will always be an open path between them....
Many people, including many Indian people, think that the Iroquois Confederacy was formed for the exclusive benefit of only the original Five Nations, that all other people were excluded from the Kayenerenhkowa, the Great Peace Law. This is not true. We have records of at least thirty-nine Indian peoples who took shelter beneath The Tree of Peace, most of them eventually becoming members or citizens of the Iroquois Confederacy. The Peacemaker’s thoughts had not been for Iroquois-speaking p...
This is the original belt delivered by the Lenni-Lenape (Delaware) Chiefs to William Penn at the celebrated peace treaty under the elm tree at Shackamaxon in 1682. The hand of William Penn is joined in friendship with the hand of the Indian, and the two smokes (councils) of the two peoples are joined together as one. William Penn at that time said these words to the Indians, “We meet on the broad pathway of good faith and good will. No advantage shall be taken on either side, but all shall be o...
This belt was given to the Indians before they entered the Council House where the treaty was to be made. It was a token of amity and good faith. The figure with the white heart represents the white man and the other figure represents the Indian. When the treaty had been concluded and the Indians went out of the Council House with William Penn, they presented him with a return belt as evidence of their good faith. As usual, the treaty was faithfully kept by the Indians but was broken by...
After the Hurons were conquered by the Five Nations in 1650, many were taken in by the Iroquois. Whole villages were adopted by the Senecas and Mohawks. This belt became a Seneca belt and was taken to Grand River Lands (Ohsweken) after the American Revolution. Its meaning is lost. To read the history of the Hurons written by non-Indians one is led to believe that all of the Hurons were massacred by the Five Nations, that none were given any quarter, that all died at the stake, etc. These...
French Invasion—This belt was made to keep in memory the expeditions of the French against the Five Nations. The Iroquois never forgave (and the French would never let them forget) the French of Canada for invading their territory and killing and torturing their people, as well as burning their villages. Champlain was the first offender and De Nonville the last to do serious injury. Up until twenty-four years after Champlain had killed three Mohawk men at Lake Champlain, the Iroquois had not t...
This belt symbolizes the agreement and conditions under which the Iroquois welcomed the white peoples to this land “You say that you are our Father and I am your son.” We say, “We will not be like Father and Son, but like Brothers. This wampum belt confirms our words. These two rows will symbolize two paths or two vessels, traveling down the same river together. One, a birch bark canoe, will be for the Indian People, their laws, their customs, and their ways. The other, a ship, will be for t...
This belt records the condition of the early white people who came to the Iroquois Country. The strong outside diagonal lines supporting the weak inside diagonal line represents the Five Nations, the Iroquois. The thin, weak inside line represents the early whites. The Indians supported these early whites, holding them up so that they would not fall down, that is, showing them how to hunt, to farm, and teaching them how to survive and live in this country until they were strong enough to...
It is provided thus: When a person or family belonging to the Five Nations desires to abandon their nation and the territory of the Five Nations, they shall inform the chiefs of their nation and the Council of the League of Five Nations shall take notice of it. When any person or any of the people of the Five Nations emigrate and reside in a distant region away from the territory of the League of Five Nations, the Chiefs of the Five Nations, at will, may send a messenger carrying a broad belt...
It is provided thus: The father of a child of great comeliness, learning ability or specially loved because of some circumstances may, at the will of the child’s clan select a name from his own (the father’s) clan and bestow it by ceremony, such as is provided. This name shall be only temporary, and shall be called “a name hung about the neck”. It is provided thus: Should any person, a member of the League of Five Nations, especially esteem a man or woman of another clan or of a foreign nation,...
It is provided thus: When a candidate chief is to be installed, he shall furnish four strings of shell wampum one span length bound together at one end. Such will constitute the evidence of his pledge to the Chiefs of the League that he will live according to the Constitution of the Great Peace and exercise justice in all affairs. When the pledge is finished, the speaker of the council must hold the wampum strings in his hand and address the opposite side of the council fire, and he shall begin...
It is provided thus: To you, Adodarhoh and your cousin chiefs, fourteen of you altogether, this shall be your duty. You shall keep The Confederate Council Fire (Government) clean all around. You shall allow no dust or dirt to be seen around the Council Fire. I therefore lay a seagull wing near you. Take this wing and sweep the dust and dirt away from the Council Fire. If you see any crawling creature approaching the Confederate Council Fire, I lay a stick by you with which you are to pitch the crawling creature from the Council Fire, and your...
Long ago when the Mohawk People lived in the villages beside the Mohawk River in what is now New York State, the Mohawk Clans lived in separate villages: Bear Clan People lived in one village, Turtle Clan People in another, and Wolf Clan People had their own village where there lived three Mohawk girls. These girls could never meet without quarreling with each other. They quarreled so often that other people began to notice them. Finally, because of this constant friction, an old woman who was...
This belt was one of the Constitutional Memorials and signified the essential unity of the clans “who sat opposite each other about the Fire.” The white background signifies peace, unity, and friendship. It is provided thus: That in the Confederate Iroquois Nation, the people bearing the same name, the same clan, shall recognize one another as relatives irrespective of their nation and shall treat one another as such. Therefore a man and woman of the same clan are forbidden to marry. It is pro...
Continued from last week It is provided thus: A bunch of wampum strings, three spans of the hand in length, the upper half of the bunch being white and the lower half black, and formed from equal contributions of the men of the Five Nations, shall be the token that the men have combined themselves into one head, one body, and one thought. It shall symbolize their ratification of the Peace Pact of the league, whereby the Chiefs of the Five Nations have established The Great Peace. The white port...
Continued from last week Purple wampum used in calling a mourning council or condolence for raising a secondary chief or war chief. Invitation Wampum String Purple wampum, used to call a condolence council for a principal chief White wampum to call a religious council. The number of notches on the sticks tell the number of days before the council. - Okkwehonweneha or Indian Way School - It is provided thus: Any Chief of the League of the Five Nations may construct shell strings or wampum belts...
Continued from last week This belt is the widest belt known. It represents an ever-growing tree. It is provided thus: I am Dekanawidah and with the Five Nations Confederate Chiefs I plant the Tree of The Great Peace. I plant it in your territory, Adadarho, and the Onondaga Nation, in the territory of you who are The Firekeepers. — I name the Tree, The Tree Of The Great Long Leaves. Under the shade of this Tree Of The Great Peace, we spread the soft, white feathery down of the globe thistle as...
Continued from last week Hiawatha (Ayonwatha) Belt The Hiawatha (Ayonwatha) Belt, a broad dark belt of wampum of thirty-eight rows, having a white heart or Great Tree in the center, on either side of which are two white squares, all connected with the heart by white rows of wampum shall be the emblem of the unity of the Five Nations. The first of the squares on the left represents the Mohawk Nation and its territory. The second square on the left and the one near the heart, represents the... Full story
Continued from last week Invitation wampum for a civil or religious council is still used. A small stick attached to the wampum strings and covered with notches tells the number of days before the council is to be held. When a Head Chief or lesser Chief of the confederacy dies, a runner is sent to each nation carrying proper wampum strings. He walks from one end of the reservation to the other, and every once in awhile he will give a certain call (Kwee!). If he gives the call three times, one...
To most people a wampum belt means any beaded belt made by Indians. Glass beads were introduced by white traders, and with these the Indian people did beautiful embroidery work. Before the introduction of glass beads, embroidery work was made with porcupine quills. The long hair from the bell or chin whiskers of moose was also used. With the introduction of the crude glass bead, the far more artistic porcupine quill and moose hair embroidery became a lost skill. The true wampum bead was not mad... Full story