Why Were Wampum Belts Important To Native Americans?
AncientPages.com | May 10, 2018
A. Sutherland - AncientPages.com - Wampum belts existed long before the European contact with the Native Americans and were used as the official tribal records, to keep historical records, to commemorate important events such as festivals or served as public records of treaties.
On one such wampum belt recorded the so-called 'Great Law of Peace', the oral constitution of the Iroquois Confederacy, a symbol of unity among the Five Nations (the Mohawk, Onondaga, Oneida, Cayuga, Seneca), which later this constitution with the sixth nation (the Tuscarora) being added about 1142.
The eastern Algonquians who lived along the coast of New England and neighboring Iroquois Indian tribe used wampum for ceremonial purposes. However, it is supposed the Iroquois were the first who started to manufacture the valuable beads for wampum.
They made the belts, strands and ribbons of beautiful, polished shells in many colors.
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