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Wampum
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Wampum is a string of creamy white colored shell beads fashioned from the North Atlantic channeled whelk (Busycotypus canaliculatus) shell, and is traditionally used by Indigenous Americans, First Nations peoples, Native Americans, hobbyists, business people, and traders, who regarded it as a sacred or trade representative of the value of the artist's work. Wampum is also used for engagement, marriage, and betrothal agreements, as well as for ceremony and condolence ceremonies.
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Encyclopedia
Wampum is a string of creamy white colored shell beads fashioned from the North Atlantic channeled whelk (Busycotypus canaliculatus) shell, and is traditionally used by Indigenous Americans, First Nations peoples, Native Americans, hobbyists, business people, and traders, who regarded it as a sacred or trade representative of the value of the artist's work. Wampum is also used for engagement, marriage, and betrothal agreements, as well as for ceremony and condolence ceremonies. Wampum beads (creamy white colored spiral growth) are made from the channeled whelk shell. Sewant beads (black or dark purple) are made from the Poquahock, commonly known as the quahog, quahaug, or Western North Atlantic hard-shelled clam.
Description
The term "wampum" is derived from a word—"wampumpeag"—in one of the Eastern Algonquian languages meaning "white strings [of beads]" (c.f. Maliseet: wapapiyik "white-strings [of beads]"; Ojibwe: waabaabiinyag "white-strings [of beads]"; Proto-Algonquian *wa·p-a·py-aki, "white-strings [of beads]"). Traditionally the white beads come from the inner spiral of the whelk, the north atlantic white channeled whelk shell. Sewant or suckauhock is often confused for wampum. Sewant is the black or dark purple shell bead from the quahaug or poquahock clam shell of the western North Atlantic Ocean. Wampum beads are traditionally made by rounding small pieces of the shells of whelks, then piercing them with a hole before stringing them. Suckauhock means the black-purple beads from the quahaug/quahog shell. The terms for the black and white beads, often confused, are wampi (white) and saki (black). The wampum belt was usually different color beads or patterns, sometimes they were colorful. In some Native American groups it was their money.
In the area of present New York Bay, the clams and whelks used for making wampum are found only along Long Island Sound and Narragansett Bay. The Lenape name for Long Island is "Sewanacky", reflecting its connection to the "black" wampum. By the time of the arrival of the Europeans, the Pequots reputedly used their dominance of tribes around this area to gain control of the sources of the beads.
Perhaps because of its origin as a memory aid, loose beads were not considered to be high in value. Rather it is the belts themselves that are wampum. Belts of wampum were not produced until after European contact. A typical large belt of six feet in length might contain 6000 beads or more. More importantly, such a belt would be a great sanctity, because it contained so many memories. Wampum belts were used as a memory aid in Oral tradition, where the wampum was a token representing a memory. Belts were also sometimes used as badges of office or as ceremonial devices of an indigenous culture such as the Iroquois. Wampum is also considered the end product of whelk and quahog, i.e. the belts to show leadership.
When Europeans came to the Americas, they realized the importance of wampum to Native people. While the Native people did not use it as money, the New England colonies used it as a medium of exchange. Soon, they were trading with the native peoples of New England and New York using wampum. The New England colonies demonetized wampum in 1663. Meanwhile it continued as currency in New York at the rate of eight white or four black wampum = one stuiver until 1673, when the colonial government issued a proclamation setting the rate at six white and three black to one penny. This proclamation also applied in New Jersey and Delaware. The black shells were considered worth more than the white shells, which led people to dye the latter, and diluted the value of the shells. The ultimate basis for their value was their redeemability for pelts from the Native Americans. As Native Americans became reluctant to exchange pelts for the shells, the shells lost value. Their use as common currency was phased out in New York by the early 1700s.
With stone tools the process is labor intensive, and the shells were available only to coastal nations. These factors increased its scarcity and consequent value among the European traders. Dutch colonists began to manufacture wampum and eventually the primary source of wampum was that manufactured by colonists, a market the Dutch glutted.
Among coastal tribes farther south, similar shell currencies known as roanoke or peak were used, but it ended up being tobacco that served as the main alternative medium for exchange in the English colonies there for some time in the 17th century. Robert Beverley, Jr. of Virginia Colony, writing of the natives in 1705, describes "peak" as referring to the white shell bead, valued at 9 pence a yard, and "Wampom peak" as denoting specifically the more expensive dark purple shell bead, at the rate of 18 pence per yard. He says that these polished shells with drilled holes are made from the "Cunk" (Conch), while another currency of lesser value, called "roenoke" was fashioned from the Cockleshell.
Wampum is part of the Coat of arms of New Brunswick.
Wampum as transcription
The American William James Sidis wrote in his 1935 history;
"The weaving of wampum belts is a sort of writing by means of belts of colored beads, in which the various designs of beads denoted different ideas according to a definitely accepted system, which could be read by anyone acquainted with wampum language, irrespective of what the spoken language is. Records and treaties are kept in this manner, and individuals could write letters to one another in this way."
Wampum is also used for storytelling. The symbols used told a story in the oral tradition or spoken word. Since there was no written language wampum is a very important means of keeping records and passing down stories to the next generation. Wampum is also durable and so could be carried over a long distance. The Wampum Belt is an important symbol in the polar cult.
Modern references
- Musician Tori Amos composed a short piece entitled Wampum Prayer on her Scarlet's Walk album, which is thematically very Native-oriented. The song briefly addresses the Trail of Tears, as well as the importance of prayer to the Aboriginal American peoples.
- The loyalty card program at Foxwoods Resort Casino is known as the Wampum Card
See also
- Quipu South American strings with knots used as memory aides
- Shell money
- Commodity money
- Fiat money
- Wampum is also the name of a popular shareware database management system based on dBASE III used on IBM-compatible PCs in the 1980s and 1990's.
Footnotes
External links
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- - includes comprehensive year-by-year data on wampum policies throughout the 17th century
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