Wampum Belts

The Culture Corner has brought to the readers a component on Wampum Belts. To date we have covered the Covenant Chain, the Two Row Wampum Belt, the Hiawatha Belt and the ever growing Tree Belt.

This week we have some interesting notes/tidbits about theWampum Strings and belts. Also the Circle Wampum will be revised.

The Wampum Belt information comes from Tehanetorens (Ray Fadden) who has left us many cultural and historical documents.

For all students, all levels, remember the Haudenosaunee culture, history and traditional teachings are great subject areas for essays and term papers. Indian Time is an excellent resource for you.

Notes

While reading a wampum belt, special care was made to hold the belt correctly. Usually when the message or speech was half finished, the speaker would turn the belt over.

A certain amount of wampum could ransom a murderer or captured prisoner.

A clan, one of whose members had been killed, could hand a wampum belt to a noted warrior. If the belt was accepted by the warrior, it meant that he would take over the responsibili­ty of getting revenge for the clan and thus uphold their honor, the honor of the members. If the warrior let the belt fall, it mean that he would not accept the responsibility.

White wampum was the emblem of something good, of peace and purity. Purple wampum meant more important affairs of a civic nature.

A belt painted red was a war belt. If such a belt was sent to a nation, it was an invitation for them to join in the war. If the belt was taken, it meant that the nation would accept the invi­tation. If at the council it was thrown to the ground, it meant that the nation would not join in the war.

Wampum is still used in the ceremony of raising up a new Chief and in the Iroquois Thanksgivings and Kariwiio Cere­monies.

Every Chief of the Confederacy and every Clan Mother has a certain string or strings of wampum that is their certificate of office.

Invitation wampum for a civil or religious council is still used. A small stick attached to the wampum strings and covered

First Grand Council with Peacemaker holding white wampum belt.

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 call after another, it tells the people that a head Chief has died. If he gives the call once at certain intervals, it means that a War Chief has died. His walk ends at the Council House, and there he tells the chiefs the sad news, showing proper wampum strings.

Because of the scarcity of wampum, only wampum strings are used today. Most of the old belts are lost. Many, through one way or another, have found their way to the show cases of museums. A few individual Indians have hidden away some of the old wampum belts.

“It Is Provided Thus:”

Wampum belts are formal records of momentous events. This book includes belts established as part of the Great Law, wampum belts which serve as official record of subsequent Iroquois Confeder­acy religious, political, and social history, and additional commen­tary. The phrase “It is provided thus:” as used by Tehanetorens denotes the instructions and symbols formulated by the Peacemaker and Hiawatha (Ayonwatha) and provided to the the people by the Peacemaker at the establishment of the Confederacy.

The Charter of the League of The Five Nations

This is a record of the foundation of the Confederacy when it was formed around 1452 (or much earlier) by the Great Peacemaker and his helper Ayonwatha (Hiawatha). Of all Iroquois wampum records, this is the most sacred. Each of the fifty strings represents one of the chiefs of the original Five Nations, the Mohawks, Oneidas, Onondagas, Cayugas and Senecas. When the Confederacy was formed, the Peacemaker had each of the fifty chiefs join hands in a circle, and he ordained that all should be of equal rank and carry individual titles. So that they should never forget their titles and their positions in the Council House, this wampum record was made.

The First Chief of the Wolf Clan of the Mohawks, Sarenhowane, was appointed to keep this sacred wampum. During the Revolution­ary War, the keeper of this particular wampum circle was a noted Mohawk warrior called Dewaserageh (Two Axe). For safe keeping, Two Axe placed this wampum, along with others, in a brass kettle and buried it under a bush beside Osagundaga Creek which runs into the Mohawk River. For eight years it was thus hidden. When the Revolu­tionary War was over, Mohawks returned and dug it up, carrying it with them to Grand River Lands where it was used to renew the Council Fire of the Six Nations. When the ceremony was over, it was again given to the hereditary keeper.

The large circle formed by two entwined strings means, respec­tively, The Great Peace and The Great Law (Kaianerekowa) that was established by the Five Nations. The fifty wampum strings represent the fifty Chiefs of the Confederacy. The longer wampum strings stand for the seventh Onondaga Chief who bears the title of Hononwiyendeh, who was appointed Keeper of all of the other records of the League. It serves as a guide when the record is read and shows the arrangements of the Chiefs in their proper order. White wampum means purity and peace which also means that Chiefs must never go to war. This sacred wampum is placed as in the above order with all of the fifty strings turned in toward the center. There are fourteen Chiefs representing the Onondagas, eight representing the Senecas, nine for the Mohawks, nine for the Oneidas, and ten for the Cayugas, who were thus to the right of the Onondagas. It was in this same order that the Chiefs took their seats in the Council House.

The Mohawks, if they were introducing a question, referred it first to the Chiefs of the Senecas who sat on their right. When the Senecas decided, the Mohawks referred it to the chiefs of the Oneidas and Cayugas. After their decision, the Mohawks laid it before the Ononda­ga Chiefs, who could express an independent opinion only if the other nations had disagreed.

It is provided thus: There are now the Five Nations League Chiefs standing with joined hands in a circle. This signified and provided,that should any of the chiefs of the League leave the council the League, his crown of deer antlers, the emblems of his chieftain­ship title, together with his birthright, would lodge on the arms of the Union Chiefs whose hands were so joined. He forfeited his title, and the crown fell from his brow, but it remained in the League. A further meaning of this is that if at any time one of the chiefs chose to sub­mit to the law of a foreign people, he was no longer in but out of the League, and persons of this class shall be called “They have alienat­ed themselves,” (Tehonatonkoton). Likewise, such persons who sub­mitted to laws of foreign nations forfeited all birthrights and claims on the League of the Five Nations and territory. You, The League of Five Nations Chiefs, be firm so that if a tree shall fall upon your joined hands, it shall not separate you or weaken your hold. So shall the strength of your union be preserved.