|
|
|
 |
| |
Oneida Tribal Belt
Made by the Oneidas, this belt records the territories of the
Six Nations joined as one. Six rectangles represent the territories
of the Six Nations: Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga, Cayuga, Tuscarora
and Seneca. Six diamonds represent the council fires of each
nation.
|
|
|
Wampum beads are
made of seashells in two colors. White beads were
fashioned from the central columnelia of the whelk and
from sections of the outer shell which were thick enough
to make a bead. Purple beads, also referred to in literature
as black, were made from the small purple shells of the
quahog clam. The Dutch colonists of New Amsterdam learned
early that these beads, made by the Indians of the area,
were in great demand by the Indian of the interior. The
Dutch evidently shared this information with the English
of the New England. The word wampum seems to derive from the
Europeans'
understanding of the names of the local Indian groups --the
Wappinger in the area of the
New Netherlands and the Wapenaug of New England. Other English
colonists called the beads
waumpumpeake or simple peace, apparently an Alogonquian word
which meant "a string of white beads".
|
Although the Indians
never adopted the practice of using wampum for money, the starved
colonists used wampum in trading among themselves. As the American
colonies expanded and formal political relations between whites
and Indians increased, the exchange of wampum belts attesting
to the nature of those relations became fixed in the protocol
of the times. During Sir William Johnson's tenure as Indian
Superintendent for the Northern Province representing the English
King from 1755 - 1774, "wampum diplomacy" reached its apogee
under Sir William's careful tutelage, and the structure of forest
diplomacy developed. Wampum belts became the mnemonic vehicle
for all important speeches worthly of record. Red, green and
blue dyes became important attributes used to color the wampum
beads. As diplomacy became more complex, a greater number of
belts were needed to convey ideas to be presented at councils.
As many as twenty were needed for one council meeting. After
1747, belts were even used in the condolence ceremony, where
previous strings of beads had been considered sufficient. When
the death of an important council member occurred, the condolence
ceremony became the business at hand, and shell beads were exchanged
to attest to the sincerity of the sympathy professed.
|
|
|
|
