jdmann@labrea.stanford.edu (10/25/89)
ONONDAGAS REJOICE OVER WAMPUM BELTS
ONONDAGA NATION INDIAN RESERVATION, Syracuse, NY - In a log cabin
longhouse on the Onondaga Nation south of Syracuse, a dozen wampum belts
were returned to their owners Saturday. After the sacred ceremony, round
dance and planting of the white pine, Chief Oren Lyons stood beside the
table where the history of the Iroquois was displayed, locked in 12 glass-
covered boxes. "You're looking at the democratic foundation of perhaps the
world," he said. "And I think it belongs to the world."
The state had held some of them for more than 90 years. And on the 11
square miles that remain for the Onondagas, the belts were welcomed home
with great ceremony. About 2000 people watched the ceremonies to welcome
the belts, many of which the Iroquois have been trying to retrieve ever
since they turned some of them over to the state for safekeeping at the
turn of the century.
Hiawatha, the oldest belt, sat in its modern box near the center of the
wooden tables pushed together to display the wampum in the Longhouse. Its
purple and white beads were strung together about 500 years ago to mark the
founding of the Iroquois Confederacy, whose Great Law is considered by many
to have directly influenced the U.S. Constitution.
Onondaga Chief Irving Powless gave a simple speech. "This is a great
day," Powless said. "It's been 92 years since they've been here. The sun is
shining and the people are smiling, so it's a great day."
The skies later turned gray, and blustery winds swept into the area, but
that couldn't dampen the celebration.
Mohawk Chief Jake Swamp presided over planting a white pine tree in a
hole dug in the ground across from the south door to the Longhouse. A
similar cermony is commemorated on the Hiawatha belt. In the 1450s
Hiawatha, a Mohawk chief, presided over a tree planting here when the
Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga, Cayuga, and Seneca nations agreed to organize
into a confederacy. Hiawatha directed that the tallest pine tree be
uprooted and all weapons thrown into the hole before the tree was
replanted. There has been peace among the Iroquois ever since.
"The symbolism tied to this tree can help people around the world if
they understand its meaning," Swamp told the crowd at Saturday's cermony.
Swamp, noting that trees help present the destruction of Earth's ozone
layer, made a plea for the environment. "Today there is much alarm," he
said. "We must recognize that the trees are dying before our very eyes.
That our waters are dirty. That our fish are dying."
After the planting it was time for celebration. Hundreds of people
packed into the Longhouse for a traditional round dance. While 12 men sang
and pounded drums in the middle, groups of people joined hands and danced
around them. Five groups formed to circle around each other.
It was clear Saturday the Iroquois weren't the only people celebrating
the return of the wampum. The Director of the State Museum in Albany -
which had custody of some of them since 1898 - compared the belts with the
Bill of Rights and Declaration of Independence. "This is a day when all the
people of the State of New York rejoice," said Martin Sullivan, Director of
the Museum.
Secretary of State Gail Shaffer - representing Gov. Mario Cuomo - marked
the occasion along with a contingent of state officials. "For many years
our people have really not understood one another," Shaffer told her hosts,
adding the return of the belts signaled "a new era of equity and justice as
well. Just as we borrowed from you in our own Constitution... we have much
to learn from you and your values," she said.
The wampum belts - made of perforated beads woven into geometric
patterns - were exchanged by Indian chiefs after signing treaties or at
other significant gatherings. They are sacred to American Indians who have
traditionally passed history along to their young in oral presentations.
On Saturday, parents brought their young children into the longhouse -
many too young to understand what was happening - just so they could be
part of the historic event. It was in a similar longhouse on Onondaga
Nation that the Five Nations Iroquois Confederacy was founded, as
commemorated on the Hiawatha Belt. The Confederacy later expanded to six
nations with the inclusion of the Tuscarora.
During the colonial period, it was the Iroquois who had the greatest
political clout. And it was the Iroquois who established a democratic form
of government that some historians say was used as a model by Benjemin
Franklin and the Founding Fathers of the U.S. Constitution. It was their
form of government that allowed the separate nations to maintain their
identity, yet be united in a common council and share in common ceremonies.
Each nation elected delegates on the council.
Now the Iroquois have dwindled to fewer than 12,000 in NYS, and all but
a few thousand acres of their land have been taken away. About 850 people
live on the 11-square mile Onondaga reservation near Nedrow. Some of their
elders dressed in traditional headgear and clothing.
Everyone want to see the wampum belts as young men wearing white arm
bands unloaded the wampum belts from a blue Dodge van with official NYS
emblem on the door.
Chief Lyons said the belts would be transferred Saturday evening to a
vault at Onondaga Savings Bank in downtown Syracuse. The NYS museum had
seven of the belts in its custody since 1898 and four others since 1928.
The final belt was added to the collection in 1949.
=============================================================
COMMENTARY: The Longhouse was filled to capacity - for the first time
since it's construction - as Tadodaho - Chief Leon Shenandoah - led the
opening Thanksgiving prayer. It was standing room only - and none of that
to spare. After days of dark cold rain, the sun came out long enough for
the celebration to take place. Many whites joined with Haudenosaunee, or
People of the Longhouse, popularly known as the Six Nations Confederacy of
the Iroquois League. There was even a Buddhist monk.
Return of these sacred and political documents represents a major shift
in the "balance of power" in North America. Onondaga Lake, once the source
of peace and democracy, and Onondaga Nation, Firekeeper of the Confederacy,
capitol of North America's oldest democracy, are once again in custody of
that heritage. After 200 years, recognition of Haudenosaunee sovereignty
and legacy is bringing honor and respect to their ancient traditions.
As ever, the reporter incorrectly explains the birth of the Confederacy.
It was Peacemaker, virgin-born messenger from the Creator, who taught them
to "bury the hatchet" and planted the Tree of Peace. After reciting The
Great Law of Peace, Peacemaker announced his work finished, and vanished.
Haudenosaunee insist this happened many centuries ago, not in the 1450s.
His spokesman was an Onondaga named Hiawatha, whose wife and daughters
were killed before The Great Peace was established. Since lineage among
Haudenosaunee is traced through mothers, Hiawatha was adopted by Mohawks.
Mohawk Chief Jake Swamp recited the true history of the Confederacy,
then led a long prayer in Mohawk that the Tree of Peace would grow and
offer shelter to all humanity and "all our relations" - meaning all plants,
animals, insects and other natural life. After this everyone placed a
handful of dirt in the hole to help plant the tree.
There is some dispute over how NYS gained custody over the belts and why
it has taken Onondaga Nation decades to recover them. But this did not mar
the celebrations - the belts were home, the dispute is history.
Comments by NYS Secretary of State Schaffer are especially notable. She
recognizes contributions of Haudenosaunee to American government, showing
this awareness has spread to some places in NYS government. And also hints
at who some of the whites are who pressured NYS Regents behind the scenes
to return the wampum.
In truth, the influence of Haudenosaunee on early American colonists was
far more extensive than conventional history admits. For nearly 40 years,
beginning in 1740, Haudenosaunee chiefs instructed many U.S. Founding
Fathers in the arts of Union, Liberty and Peace. The original call for
colonial unity was Ben Franklin's Albany Plan of Union in 1754; at that
time Ben invited a Mohawk chief to describe to colonial representatives
Haudenosaunee government.
Also present was NYS Senator Nancy Hoffmann of Onondaga County. Although
not there in official capacity, Senator Hoffmann joined hands with Leon
Shenandoah, Tododaho, or Chief of Chiefs of the Six Nations, in dancing and
feasting as personal friend of both Leon and the Nation.
The reporter incorrectly states Onondaga Nation is "11 square miles,"
and thus perpetuates a legal fiction perpetrated 200 years ago.
First, in the 1930s 300 acres were illegally removed when the U.S.
Geological Survey suddenly claimed land leased by Onondaga Nation to
Ephriam Webster, the first white settler in Onondaga Valley. This lease was
confirmed in an 1817 treaty between NYS and Onondaga Nation, yet 120 years
later the leased lands were presumed to be U.S. territory.
Second, NYS violated U.S. law in each treaty made after 1790 by refusing
to have treaties ratified by U.S. Congress (1790 Trade & Intercourse Act),
or have U.S. Commissioners present during treaty talks (1793 Trade &
Intercourse Act). Thus the 1790 Salt Treaty the only standing agreement
between Onondaga Nation and NYS, and means Onondaga Nation is acutally 90
square miles, which now includes 80% of the City of Syracuse. It also means
Onondaga Nation and NYS have joint possession of Onondaga lake, North
America's most polluted inland body of water and the site where Peacmaker
planted the Tree of Peace to found the Confederacy.
And third, NY, as a state, has no legal right to extinguish sovereign
Iroquois title. Only a sovereign (ie. the U.S.) has the right to extinguish
the title of another sovereign, so all the treaties are "lease agreements,"
not "sales of title." So the Salt Treaty term expires this year.
Notably absent were officials from the City of Syracuse and County of
Onondaga. It is only 10 minutes from downtown Syracuse to Onondaga Nation,
and City Hall is built from Onondaga limestone mined at Onondaga Nation,
yet neither joined in the celebration.
Perhaps this "land claim" is why the City and County shunned their
neighbors' celebration.
Onondaga Nation opened an account and rented a vault at Onondaga Savings
bank to store the wampum. In return, Onondaga Nation recieved a free Apple
IIGS from the bank. Chief Irving Powless will ask Onondaga Council to buy a
modem, and Onondaga Nation will join our electronic universe.
- prepared by David Yarrow, the turtle, for SOLSTICE magazine
***** SOLSTICE: Perspectives on Health and Environment, is published
bimonthly at 201 E. Main St Suite H, Charlottesville, VA 22901 804-979-4427
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