Haudenosaunee Wampum Belts, Silver Chain and Treaties

Continued from last week

PART II INTRODUCTION

Just as the councils and procedures of the Confederacy adapted and raised clan and village ways to the level of dealings between the nations of the Haudenosaunee, those same practices and procedures dominated the way the Haudenosaunee dealt with other nations.

The Peacemaker had stated that the Great White Roots of the Tree of Peace should spread to the four directions, bringing the message of peace to the nations of the world. When the Haudenosaunee met other nations, their councils reflected the internal councils of the Haudenosaunee. The ways of the Kayanerekowa were intended to lead nations to peace. When the Dutch, British and French followed the processes prescribed by the Great Law, they were, in effect, placing themselves under the Tree of Peace.

For two centuries, Haudenosaunee ways were the means used to come to one mind in treaty councils between the British and the French and the indigenous nations of this land.

The use of the council processes led to the acceptance and understanding of relationships that were consistent with the processes and the law that lies behind them.

With the British Crown, those relationships have two consistent symbols: the Two Row Wampum, or Kaswentha, and the Silver Covenant Chain.

These relationships were consistent with the Kayanerekowa: they respected the internal lawmaking powers and sovereignty of the nations while linking those nations together in a union of peace and power. There are those who interpret the Great Law as intending that, once the Great White Roots have spread to the four directions, everyone would be “under” the Haudenosaunee. It is more consistent that all should be under the Great Law of Peace: the Haudenosaunee did not require any nation inside or outside the Confederacy to give up its own ways or ceremonies or laws. Nations that used the ways prescribed by the Peacemaker in council were following the path of peace—they were “under” the Kayanerekowa, whether they realized it or not.

If the intent of the Kayanerekowa was to place all nations under the Law, and not, as some would now believe, under the Haudenosaunee, the Confederacy would have no trouble taking part in councils and relationships in which they were equal with other nations—where the purpose of the councils and relationships was to further the spread of peace, power and righteousness.

The message of the Peacemaker was that peace should exist between all nations, and that the means of achieving peace was through the power and vision of ska:nikanikonha, unity of mind. The message was not restricted to the original Five Nations. The Kayanerekowa provides that:

Whenever a foreign nation is conquered or has by their own will accepted the Great Peace their own system of internal government may continue, but they must cease all warfare against other nations.

(Gawasowane (Parker), Dayodekane (Newhouse), p. 53]

From the beginning of the relations between the Haudenosaunee and European nations, until about the 1830’s, each element of council and treaty procedure was knowingly adopted and adapted by both sides from the internal procedures of the Haudenosaunee.

There were several reasons for doing so.

In the beginning, the Haudenosaunee were powerful and the Europeans were relatively weak.

The procedures were a requirement for the Haudenosaunee, while the Europeans had no formal counterpart to offer.

The procedures worked: they worked effectively to bring about peace and consensus, to create the Good Mind and the One Mind necessary for the joint welfare of all the peoples involved. They were dignified and peaceful.

There were times when European leaders or speakers were uncomfortable or unfamiliar with Haudenosaunee ways. These were exceptions. Generally, the treaty councils were conducted—as the written record confirms—by people on both sides who knew and understood the significance of their actions, ceremonies and words.

Did every European leader and speaker understand not only the forms and rituals of the Councils, but also the reasons behind them? Probably not, any more than every Catholic understands the “why” behind every part of Mass. But each one understood that, to hold Council with the Confederacy, the forms and rituals had to be followed, and many of them understood the thinking behind the rituals.

Continued next week