jdmann@cdp.uucp (David Yarrow) (10/14/89)
/* ---------- "NYS REGENTS TO RETURN WAMPUM" ---------- */ /* Written 7:30pm 10/13/89 by David Yarrow(jdmann) in gen.nativeam */ Source: Syraucse Herald, Friday, Oct 13 by Erik Kriss AFTER NINE DECADES WAMPUM RETURNING TO ITS ROOTS TODAY ALBANY, NY - A 91-year separation ended today as Onondaga Indian Nation received its historic wampum belts back from NYS. Concerned about their sale to collectors, the Onondagas turned the belts over to the state of NY in 1898. Today, Onondaga's top chief took custody of 12 belts during a w%aemony here. Chief of Chiefs Leon Shenandoah and Chief Irving Powless Jr. joined top state education officials at the State Education Building for a noon ceremony to sign documents turning over the 200- to 300-year-old belts to the Onondagas. The ceremony ends a 2 1/2 year effort by the Onondagas to get the wampum back. The state has had custody of most of the belts for the last 91 years. The Board of Regents, trustees of the Dept., were expected to approve the agreement at their monthly meeting today. Eleven wampum belts, which the state can't connect with the Onondaga Nation, will remain in NY's custody. Shenandoah, after signing the document in the rotunda of the Education Building with Regents Chancellor Martin Barell and Education Commissioner Thomas Sobol, planned to speak in Onondaga, with Powless translating into English. Reached at his home on the Onondaga reservation Thursday evening, Shenandoah - chief of the Grand Council of the Six Nation Confederacy of the Iroquois - said he hadn't yet decided what he would say today. Also scheduled to appear is Katharine Crane, heir to former Albany mayor John Boyd Thacher, whose widow bequeathed four belts to NYS in 1927. Crane is conditionally waiving her rights to the wampum. Wampum belts - made by stringing or weaving together small, short, tubular purple and white beads - each tells a story or commemorates an event. State officials say belts served as Native American records of events, ideas, contracts, pledges, treaties, or compacts. Four of the belts to be turned over to Shenandoah today commemorate major U.S. historic events or political ceremonies of the Iroquois. * The Washington Covenant, longest belt, at more than six feet, is reputed to commemorate a peace covenant among the 13 original colonies and the Six Nations of the Iroquois. * The Wing, or Dust Fan, widest belt, is a symbolic eagle wing used by the presiding chief in Iroquois confederate councils. * The Totadoho is believed to represent a chain of friendship. Totadoho is one of Shenandoah's titles. * The Hiawatha symbolizes the formation of the Five Nation Iroquois League by Hiawatha and Peacemaker. The belts came into the state's hands in large degree as a result of greed. Onondaga Thomas Webster sold four belts bequeathed by Thacher to General Henry Carrington in 1892 for $75 with the understanding they would be preserved in the Smithsonian Insitution in Washington, D.C. But Carrington resold the belts to a collector, and Thacher bought them the next year for $500. Onondaga chiefs and Board of Regents sued to recover the belts in 1897, but the lawsuit was dismissed. The next year, Onondaga chiefs, concerned about wampum sales to collectors, turned the belts over to NYS and elected University of the State of NY wampum keeper. A decade later, the chiefs named the State Museum director and his successors as wampum keeper, or "ho-san-na-ge-da." State officials have kept the belts in display cases and in a vault in the State Education Building. They were backed with linen in 1956. The belts have been available to scholars and reserachers, but haven't been on public display for several decades. State officials explained the delay in turning belts over to Onondaga Nation by citing concern the precious items would be kept in a safe place and continue to be accessible to researchers and scholars. Officials also noted they had to negotiate with the Thacher heirs. According to today's agreement, the chiefs agreed the belts will: - never be destroyed, dismantled or restrung to change their meaing. - be stored in a secure, fireproof vault under the tribal wampum keeper's supervision, whenever they are not in use. - never be sold or transferred to any one or any entity outside the council of chiefs. - be available to state education officials and public for academic research under "reasonable" guidelines and criteria developed by the council. Each belt has a name. Seven were turned over to the state in 1898: Wing (or Dust Fan), Treaty, Alliance, Remembrance, Totadoho, Council Summons, and Caughnawaga. Four were bequeathed by Thacher in 1927: Hiawatha, Washington Covenant, First Pale Faces, and Champlain. The other one, Beauchamp ("Path"), came to the state in 1949. State officials say wampum belts date to the 15th century and the 12 belts the Onondagas will take with them were made between 1650 and 1800. ============================================================= COMMENTARY: This is a profound event in the ancient history of these people. Hopefully it signals a shift in their spirit and fortunes, too. The four belts kept by Thacher are very interesting: HIAWATHA commemorates the founding of the Confederacy by Peacemaker and his spokesman Hiawatha. By Onondaga Lake Peacemaker taught Haudenosaunee to "bury the hatchet" and plant a "tree of peace." Today, in profound irony, more Russians than Americans know the true story of Hiawatha. Perhaps now this belt is in council again, people will honor the legacy of Peacemaker, a virgin-born messenger from Creator who taught the Path of Peace. WASHINGTON COVENANT records the first treaty between the U.S.A. and Six Nations, prepared at George Washington's specific request. This 1776 treaty assured Haudenosaunee neutrality in the Revolution, and the U.S.A. agreed to protect Haudenosaunee from seizure of their lands. Perhaps now that this belt is back in council, the U.S. will begin to honor its terms once again. The other two Thacher belts describe first contacts with Europeans. **************** - prepared by David Yarrow, the turtle, for SOLSTICE magazine ***** SOLSTICE: Perspectives on Health and Environment, is published bimonthly at 201 E. 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