Iroquois Crafts by Carrie A. Lyford

Author:Carrie A. Lyford [Lyford, Carrie A.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780936984025
Barnesnoble:
Goodreads: 5535384
Publisher: R. Schneider
Published: 1982-06-01T00:00:00+00:00

The first use of wampum was probably for personal adornment. Wampum beads were used in necklaces, collars, head bands and armlets and were sewed on articles of clothing.

Up to 1693 the Iroquois also used wampum as money, either in strings or loose. It served as currency between the Indians and the Dutch and English colonists. Enormous quantities were used to pay the tribute demanded from the Iroquois by other Indian tribes.

The Iroquois strung wampum on cords for use in minor tribal transactions and wove it into belts to convey messages, record treaty stipulations, carry on condolence ceremonies and for other religious and social purposes.

Wampum is mentioned in the legends of the Iroquois, many stories having been told of a wampum bird with which the legendary hero Hiawatha seems to have had an obscure connection.

Wampum Strings or Strands. Both the discoidal beads and the cylindrical or true wampum beads were strung on nettle fibers or sinew to form wampum strings, several of which were usually tied together at one end in a bunch, bundle, or sheaf. Sometimes a special color arrangement was observed in stringing the wampum in order to convey on inter-tribal message or to serve as a record in some minor tribal transaction. A string of invitation wampum was provided with small sticks or wooden handles at the ends, so notched as to indicate the number of days before the event. A wampum string was sometimes bestowed by the clan matron when announcing the permanent name of an adult.

Wampum Belt. Probably nothing which the Iroquois made has been of such universal interest as the wampum belts used as seals of friendship when their treaties were ratified. It was said that “the Whites should never regard an Indian Council as serious, or regard it as a dangerous thing unless the notional wampums were brought forth and displayed.”

Wampum belts were woven of cylindrical beads with a special technique on long strands of sinew, leather, vegetable fiber, or string. The various vegetable fibers on which wampum was strung included slippery elm (Ulmus fulva) fiber, dogbane (Apocynum cannabinum. L.) or black “Indian hemp” sometimes called amyroot, swamp milkweed (Asclepias incarnata), and the hairy milkweed (A. pulchra), also called white “Indian hemp,” toad flax (Linaria linaria), and Indian mallow (Abutilon-avicennae) popularly known as velvet leaf.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.