Wampum – Currency, or Sacred Ceremonial Council Beads?
by: David Pike aka Spirit Eagle
Indigenous people of the Northeast have long histories of using Wampum beads primarily for traditional ceremonial purposes. They were used less frequently for trade among the Native populations. These beautiful shell beads were in use for thousands of years, long before the arrival of European settlers. They continue to be used today as jewelry, or as traditional pendants and belts with significant spiritual meaning.
The original term “Wampum” is the Narragansett tribe word for “white shell beads”, which is derived from the root word “Wompi”, come from Whelk shells which were abundant in the Atlantic Ocean. Most of theses beads, in various sizes and shapes, are indeed pure white. They were very difficult to drill and shape with primitive tools. A more prized shell, of white blended with areas of deep purple to nearly black color originated from the Quahog shell. Often, when people today bake or eat these clams raw, they can observe the beautiful colors deeply imbedded in these shells.
Wampum beads were often woven into belts that signified important events among the many local tribes in the pre-European invasion era. They were used to call a council, speak in turn, select, or even depose a chief. They could symbolize spiritual or social events, such as rites of passage, sacrifice, maturity, marriage, or even peace treaties among warring tribes. One particular belt memorialized the Haudaunosee, League of the Pine Tree or Great Peace, of the 5 original Iroquois Nations, who became the 6 Nations after accepting the Tuscarora into their League. This has also been referred to as the “Hiawatha Belt”. In the oral legend of the acceptance of this treaty, all of the participants cast their clubs and tomahawks into a large pit under the Great Pine Tree’s roots, which gave birth to the well known expression, “bury the hatchet”, still used today. The Wampum belt recorded the event in a symbolic pattern. This event, which created a lasting peace among these tribes, also later influenced the events which led to the writing of the Constitution of the fledgling United States of America.
Unfortunately, early European traders exploited Native people by using Wampum as barter for goods or land. They quickly realized that European currency had little value, so they began heavy production of wampum beads to use as currency to further their grip on the new world at the expense of the unsuspecting natives. They were woven into long strands, which were soon developed into specific lengths of value, or “fathoms” called “wampumpeage”, or simply “peage”. These were carried further inland as the settlers advanced into the “new world”. Wampum factories sprung up in New York and New England. Colonists began to use wampum among themselves as currency.
As the settlers continued their exploitation of the indigenous people with wampum, disregarding treaties and agreements, driving them from their homes and ultimately exterminating many, the use of wampum declined among these demoralized people. Wampum became the symbol of how they were “bought out” of their natural inheritance. Only relatively recently has Wampum become revived and used again as it was once intended, as sacred, symbolic beads.
Perhaps this revitalization of Wampum to it’s original stature as symbolic, ceremonial, and meaningful beads may come to symbolize the ascension of Native Peoples back to their rightful inheritance.
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