Wampum held a special place in the Iroquois
ceremonies. Wampum beads, made of purple and
white shells, were strung together or woven into belts.
Wampum strings were used fro several purposes. Clan
mothers carried special wampum strings to show their
status. A person might carry a wampum string to
remember a loved one. War chiefs had a black
wampum. If the Grand Council became corrupt, the
war chiefs would bring the black wampum to the
Council as a warning to the Grand Chiefs.
Wampum belts were created to symbolize treaties and to tell
stories from Iroquois history. Each belt had a specific
texture that a skilled wampum keeper could read by
running his hands along it. One important wampum belt is
the Two Row Wampum, which records a treaty between the
Iroquois and the Dutch in 1613. The belt depicts two purple
stripes side by side on a white background. The white
represents a river – the river of peace and respect. The two
stripes represent an Iroquois canoe and a Dutch ship
sailing side by side. This symbolizes that each nation has
its own laws and customs, and they will not interfere with
one another. It also shows that the Iroquois saw ( and still
see) themselves as a single, unified group. There is one
broad stripe representing the Iroquois, not five thin ones.
The most sacred wampum belt is the Hiawatha Wampum.
This belt records the Great Law of Peace and the
foundation of the Confederacy. The flag of the
Confederacy, in fact, is a reproduction of the Hiawatha
Wampum. The white tree in the centre represents the Tree
of Great Peace. It is also the symbol of the Onondaga
nation, which hosts the Grand Council. The four squares
represent the other four nations who first adopted the
Great Law of Peace. The squares are connected by a white
line, which shows how the nations are interconnected.
Another white line – the Path of Peace – extends to the
borders of the wampum belt. This means that other
nations are welcome on the Path.
 These belts show that, although the Iroquois come
from different nations, they are politically, socially, and
culturally united. They have COLLECTIVE IDENTITY
– shared belief system – including language, culture,
values and attitudes.
 The League of Nations had a written constitution,
The Great Law of Peace a set of rights and
agreements that all the people had to honor. The
constitution was recorded on 114 wampums.
Canada has a written Constitution that sets out the rules
of Canadian society. The Great Law of Peace is the
constitution of the Iroquois. It describes principles of
good living and tells how the Confederacy should be
organized and run. The Great Law of Peace is so long
that it would take days to recite the whole thing. In
order to help them remember the Great Law. The
Iroquois used wampum belts.
A wampum keeper was responsible for caring for the
wampum and reading it. The reader would pass his
hands along the belt, bead by bead, using their texture
to remind him of the events or treaties it recorded.
Wampum keepers were chosen by the clan and trained
from a young age – to remember the information on
the belt and tell it in a dramatic and poetic way.
Iroquois women made the wampum belts.
In what other ways do societies record their history
and laws?
2. The Two Row Wampum was created to represent
1.
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2.
3.
4.
A treaty with the Dutch
The Great Law of Peace
A traditional Iroquois legend
The Five Nations of the Iroquois