Some thoughts about the purpose of wampum belts.
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- Опубликовано: 30 апр 2023
- In which I deliver a poorly grounded theory.
You often hear people talk about how wampum belts are meant to carry the words of the past forward to the present. That is certainly one of their purposes, but if that were their primary or sole purpose I think people would have used something else instead.
For example, a birch bark scroll. Either with pictographs or else with something similar to a comic strip.
I might be wrong, but I like how my idea turns a weakness into a strength.
Secondly, people often talk about wampum belts as though they are sacred. That may be, but there were also plenty of mundane examples.
Something else I found interesting, the English word is "belt," the French word translates as "collar" and the Ojibwe word translates as "sash."
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the limitation of usage was dictated by the high cost of the beads. I made some myself, the way the native people did, collecting, cleaning, breaking and cutting the shell, drilling with a stope tip, shaping and sanding them in grooved rocks. Later white traders offered factory made wampum beads and glass imitations. The natural material still was expensive, since the quahog shell only has a tiny area of purple coloring (the expensive beads) versus a lot of white, and you still have to have quite a number of shells due to breakage and flaws in the material. Consider the time consuming manufacture and the fragility of the material, I would say these pieces were a show of wealth and pride, not unlike the tribes of the Northwest Coast when they destroyed valuable copper pieces in front of the neighboring tribes, to show off their wealth.
Watching the time consuming process of making, I had a similar thought. But based on European flags.
Because that's originally what European flags were! Prior to industrialization, a flag was a enormous symbol of your lavish wealth and status. Due to the time consuming and labor intensive process of weaving. A flag would be an enormous and extravagant show of wealth resources. "This is the flag of These Guys. And they are SO wealthy, they can afford to waste vast amounts of textiles on flash and frippery!"
The Hiawatha belt reminds me a lot of national flags in that way. It's just communicating simple facts, it's wildly inefficient. But that inefficiency could have a lot of strong meaning if you're trying to communicate an idea like a whole nation.
"We are this people. We are this wealthy. And we are this united."
I think that would also gel quite well with what Malcolm is talking about. If a single wampum belt is a symbol of one person's commitment, a great BIG wampum belt would be a symbol of MANY people's commitment.
Another great video. The concept of labor time as a mark of value has been seen all over the world, like the processing of cowrie shells into beads for gifts or currency so I don't think this is much of a stretch at all
I like this interpretation very much of the uses of the Wampum as a bearer of value in terms of how much something or someone means to them.
Just found your channel today. Love everything do far. I studied some first nations history in high school/college. It's been about 12 years since those classes and your channel has renewed my interests. Keep up the good work!
Some time ago I read The Dawn of Everything, in which the author's brought up the exchange of wampum belts as an example of how a society could enforce moral order without needing state violence, and this video really helped me understand how that would have worked socially and psychologically, so thank you for that
Great thoughts thanks for thinking about it as well. May I offer what little I gleaned off my grandfather. Location and company of a gathering and especially assemblies of large groups like at a pow wow. Location by shell characteristics; shade, thickness, colour, hue, tone, brightness. Before the rivers and waters got ugly, clambakes were popular, allowing people a chance to mingle and commemorate. By using wampum, a learned eye could extrapolate who, where, and when as we knew what was up, a party, usually peaceful. As near as I can tell, a wampum "Belt" may actually be a mantle to be draped across the shoulders. Possibly a mating thing, a who's who thing, or one of those times a little bling is necessarily created to establish who was in who's circle where, and how many? Maybe a few new belts need to get made and maybe some memories may return. Good day.
Think you've hit the nail on the head from all I've read about wampum. The high production cost is evidence of sincerity in commitment.
Man it'd be cool if we did something similar with wedding ring equivalents in the west, rather than just outsource the labour. It's a lot more personal.
ive seen the term "costly signal" for this idea in game theory. you can make deception less advantageous if deception costs something
Thank you for your videos. I enjoy them immensely.
Excellent explanation.
I would have to say this make sense time plus effort equals comments. You sir are wise man. Thank you once again
I know when I used to make wigs (and now when I do embroidery) - whatever I'm listening to or watching while I make it stays in the piece - at least for some time. That is - I can go back in and look at the stitches and remember what I was learning as I did them - so I wonder if that's a factor as well? All the stories you might hear or tell or the conversations or thoughts you might have as you work get embedded. Especially if they are recalled regularly
In a book I was listening to by Scott Weidensaul my impression of the purpose of wampum was as a currency. That fits together with what you are saying. But maybe a currency that has more value at the first exchange where the meaning is attached to the transaction.
Currency is very much the wrong word.
Hey Malcolm . My father was a status MicMac ( im old , i like MicMac), from Nova Scotia
One old story i was told was that up untill about 1900 , micmac mothers would warn the kids about wandering away from camp by telling them mohawk rangers were sneaking around the campsite . Do you have much info on the time when the mohawk were driven out of their homes by micmac people ? About how long hostilities lasted ?
I found one reference to the british bringing in a group of mohawk rangers to eliminate some or all the micmac in prepetation for a wave of colonists around 1750 i think . Ever heard anything like that ?
Also do you have any information about the jesuits efforts to eliminate ritual cannabilism ? I used to be traditional but am now Traditional Latin Mass catholic , which as you know is the literal eating of the flesh and blood of jesus christ through the ritual of transsubstantiation .My fathers ancestors converted to Catholicism at the summer gathering on the Gaspe peninsula somewhere , round about 1620 . The whole tribe all at once . I recently watched a video on Mary of Agreeda who bilocated over 500 times from Agreeda spain to the desert southwest in the 1500s. She taught the indians about Catholicism , and when the jesuits finally showed up a couple years after she stopped bilocating , there was 10000 indians at the village awaiting the black robes arrival and all 10000 were baptised that day .
It strikese me as interesting that Catholic is the word in latin for universal . Based upon my experiences living in a tent in the front yard of a yanktonnais sioux medecine man , i can see how catholicism fits like a hand in a glove with traditional ways of precolumbian religions . I looked into the NezPerce of Montana and they had a paiute prophet tell them to look for men who didnt marry and wore black robes . These men were going to bring a new way of life and should be waited for . When the protestants showed up first , they declined their offers to join their religion . Im wondering if this is because protestantism dont believe in transubstantiation nor the eating of christs body and blood in a ritual cannibal ceremony ? It seems to me precolumbian peoples understood that if a person was ritually killed and then eaten , then the eater would absorb the powers and spiritual gifts of the one eaten . So eating the eucharist would seem to precolumbian indians as a logical way of getting the powers of the God Man jesus and so would become catholic . What say you about my theory ? Any old stories your ancestors passed down ? Thanks
I am of European descent and the elders referred to Europe as "the other side". This phrase is also used to refer to the land of the dead . 6:18
Interesting info. I don't have any answers to add to it, but, as a Catholic myself, I've often wondered whether certain aspects of the preexisting culture (whether in North America, South America, or Asia) predisposed the locals to be more willing to accept one kind of Christianity or another, (anciently) one kind of Buddhism or another, and so on. The anecdotes you share give a lot of food for thought.
@@WangMingGe Thanks for the info . I noticed through my research that many cultures have the tradition of eating another person to gain their spiritual gifts . For example Japanese officers are recorded at least one time , eating a small portion of a very brave Australian airman who had his head sliced off in a ritual killing in a pow camp . My medecine man buddy told me the Sioux used to eat their captives but have stopped doing it . I've also come across a former high wizard of the church of Satan who said he assisted in 140 abort---s, which is the legal way to sacrifice a person in the US . He described the doctor pulling the pieces of the baby out and throwing them on the floor where they were eaten by the coven members . The breeder women are given spiritual abilities for growing the sacrificed child .
I allows found it confusing as to why Jesus would tell his followers to eat his body and drink his blood. Now in light of how the pagan world viewed human sacrifice , it is a genius level plan to take the devils greatest sacrament and use it against him and turn his followers into loving peaceful Catholics .
The idea of belts being a used as an every day item had not struck me, but now i can see belts being add to every items.
But as many of the items where small, an less visually significant they where forgotten.
Lets say that as tribe men you an me have a fight, a tooth is lost an one of us is kicked out, they spend a year on the out side, hunting and trading an after that year they come back an offer a tool for there return , its a symbolic gift an there's a limit to how much work you can do top a stone tool, but you can always make a wampum bead strap better.
The wampum is work, it is the peace offering, i am sorry about your tooth, take not the just the axe but the whole item.
It’s not exactly the same thing, but it does kinda seem like treating wampum belts as just pneumonic devices is kinda like treating the Bayeux Tapestry as just a factual account of history. It’s based on a historical event, but it’s mainly there to communicate a feeling about that event rather than strictly facts. The facts can be known much more easily by just having someone tell you.
I always heard because of their value was for great treaties and trade but this comes from an outsider perspective from a different tribe. According to sources like Mooney on the Cherokee we had fought against the Seneca and afterwards had a Wampum given to us to signify the friendship thereafter when the war had ended.
In a subsistence economy your time is your money and these sorts of less practical labor-intensive projects become a means of exchange. In a capitalist mindset you make an exchange in order to acquire a service, in a socialist mindset they give you a service because you need it and then you give them a gift to show you appreciate it. Then when they need something from you, you give them a service and they give you a gift for it. It's a familial relationship, like if my sister is moving, I help her move because she's my sister, and if she has the means she'll do something nice for me then, and then when I need help, she'll help me, and I'll do what I can for her.
I’m curious, for the belt you’re making in the video, how were the beads sourced?
They're glass beads from a local craft store called Iroqrafts. Glass beads are very cheap.
wampun was always something i did not give much consideration of. i thank ye..
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Hodinohso:ni Governance & the Great Law of Peace - Conversations in Cultural Fluency #4
Six Nations Polytechnic
I'm a big fan of Rick Hill's work.
Hey what happened to your Philosophical examination of the two dogs parable video?
Doing more research, I have come to doubt it’s provenance. I can’t have a video up if I doubt it’s contents.
@@MalcolmPL I respect that. It was one of yours I enjoyed most of all, so after you do more research I would love to see a remastered version in the future.
@@mathiasgreyjoy1611 It's a very frustrating thing. The story quite effectively illustrates a common element of indigenous philosophy, particularly Iroquoian philosophy, however if it's origins are 1950s euro-america, it might also end up giving people the wrong impression.
Egyptians: *uses pictures to tell stories*
Anthropologists: "Hm yes, literate society"
-
Indigenous people of Canada: *uses pictures to tell stories*
Anthropologists: "Nah"
Well, for one they did not just use pictures to tell stories. They used pictures to write words. There is a fine but significant difference between the two.
If you took any piece of hieroglyphic scripture and tried to interpret them as a pictographic storytelling device, you would not be able to make any sense of it. They only make sense if you read them as symbols standing for words. As well, we have the Rosetta stone and other such documentations giving us a good idea of what the hieroglyphic symbols meant.
We have far less material on indigenous people pictographs and it may well have been that they used them to codify words, not depict a story. I wish we could know. But even then, surviving examples suggest that either there were very few words in the story or that they were more akin to comic strips than scripture.
Mi'qmaq hieroglyphs/writing system like 🧍
...So Wampum belts could be a sort of contract collateral ?...handwoven Turkish Rugs are much the same...an intrinsic symbolic cultural value...and a prized trade asset that could be liquidized if necessary...
:)
Might we call this a proof-of-work currency?
Only if you would also call pottery and clothing "proof-of-work currency."
@@MalcolmPL were they as much an object of trade as wampum belts were though? They had other more predominant uses.
Wampum belts were not objects of trade. Beads were traded, not the belts. Belts could only be given.
As a trade good the value of beads was determined by their labour value and use value, the same as everything else, not by the abstraction and standardization that characterizes currency. A bead might be worth more or less depending on the individuals involved in the exchange, and any two beads might be worth more or less depending on the craftsmanship and the pattern in the shell.
I like your interpretation better. And after all, wampum must have been the local version of proto-currency so a method of storing money in a neat way while adding bling is a no-brainer. In the old world, coins were connected to form decorative chains or decorative-ceremonials armors.
Did any native peoples make use of Amber for bead work?
I'd marry anyone who made me a belt of over 1000 beads of amber :)
I have never heard of amber being used in the region.
@@MalcolmPL Ah that's shame :( .Im not sure on its distribution in north America. I think there are sources of it in Mexico but I've never seen any Mesoamerican or Pueblo items made of it.
There’s some in New York but I’ve never heard of it being used.
@@MalcolmPL That's very odd.
Saio’tenhserí:io tiataté:ken
Iah tewake’nikonhraien:ta’s.
I apologize that I don’t speak the language, can you translate so that I might learn those words?
@@MalcolmPL - good work brother
@@teioronhiathephillips477 Nya:weh ko:wa.