A person could do so much with this week’s Photo Hunt! I decided to use “support” as a verb. Here’s a photo of the Hiawatha Belt. This is not the real belt, it’s a replica of one, and we saw it at the Children’s Museum in Utica, NY. You can read about our visit to the Museum here.
Why do I have a wampum belt for Photo Hunt? The original Hiawatha Belt was made of wampum, which were beads made from clam shells, found in the Atlantic Ocean. These beads were extremely precious to the Indians of Upstate New York. They used the beads to make wampum belts, which were binding contracts or treaties. Nowadays people use hidden spy cameras to enforce treaties, but back then, people kept their word with a binding contract!
This wampum belt is the contract– the covenant– that the five individual Iroquois tribal Nations (Seneca, Cayuga, Onondaga, Oneida, Mohawk) agreed to. They agreed to support each other and to have peace with each other. This peace lasted for about 500 years, until the American Revolution. Only the Oneida Indian tribes joined the American patriots and they gave us their support. They suffered horrible losses, but they believed in our cause.
How did your Photo Hunt go today?
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July 12th, 2008 at 9:37 am
That belt certainly looks like it can support your stomach. It’s amazing that it’s made from small little clam shells. Have a great week.
July 12th, 2008 at 9:40 am
The world could do with that kind of faithfullness to a given word today.
July 12th, 2008 at 9:40 am
What a nice take on the theme, thanks for the history lesson.
July 12th, 2008 at 11:07 am
Very interesting. I’ve never seen it before. Thanks for sharing.
July 12th, 2008 at 11:22 am
What a great story behind the belt! Perfect choice for this week’s theme.
July 12th, 2008 at 11:42 am
Interesting read. thanks for sharing
Pearl - happy weekend and do drop by when you have the time
July 12th, 2008 at 12:04 pm
I learned something today..thank you
July 13th, 2008 at 10:32 pm
This is interesting way to sign treaties. Thanks for the drop!