[misc.headlines.unitex] WAMPUM RETURNS TO ITS ROOTS

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. Main St Suite H, Charlottesville, VA 22901 804-979-4427 


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