Chapter 10: Wampum and the WDS

The possibility that strings sometimes recorded as ornamenting white dog were solely ornamental rather than conveying any symbolic meaning may be considered. The use of strings to validate a message sent by or to people in Core Area suggests that their function in WDS may have been same. Wampum, which became important commodity in some native trading systems (Becker 2008b, 2010), had a variety of uses that became culturally embedded within each of Iroquoian and other Core Area tribes soon after 1600 CE.15 Wampum was used as ornamentation, for wergild, and in diplomacy. Diplomatic presented or received by colonists was carefully described, being important aspect of treaties and interactions. Wampum exchanges were diligently recorded in minutes that were essential parts of these meetings. The native view from this period is found in treaty minutes, and their statements and claims were often, at best, contradictory.The claimed use of in any rituals among any of Five Nations Iroquois is a subject of growing interest. In 1875, Horatio Hale began to collect data at Six Nations Reserve at Grand River, Ontario. Fortunately for our study of WDS, much of his information concerns death rituals. Hale (1883: 73) states that after a death, a delegation goes to dwelling of deceased, bearing in a pouch some mourning wampum (see Becker 2013). Mourning and condolence wampum, generally in form of short strings (see Fig. 12), are often noted in records. A case of a colonial emissary shortening mourning period through presentation of a large condolence gift (Becker, manuscript D) reveals much about function of in context of condolence rituals. In research parallel to that of Hale, William Beauchamp (1888: 195) suggested that the public confession of sins upon a string of wampum reflects an introduced religious custom. Similarly, Beauchamp (1895b: 314) observed that use of strings in condolence activities is a late (post-1800) innovation. The use of wampum, while ancillary to death rituals after 1800, is certainly not ancient nor essential aspect of these rites.Recent studies of how was used in past reveal patterns of innovation and change, along with some ideas regarding how and why these changes took place. These transitions and transformations of past may provide significant insight into present processes of change involving use of tobacco and tobacco smoke in native rituals and modem uses of wampum, both new and old.Lewis Henry Morgan (1852: 73; see Holmes 1883: 241) stated that White . . . was hung around neck of white dog before it was burned. The early reports, however, make no mention of being used in WDS. This suggests that both and concept of removal of sin became part of this ritual at some point after 1800.16 All of later reported examples of this ritual note that sacrificial victim's body, as well as all ornaments placed on it, were burned.17 The confession of sins at Midwinter Feast and use of in this ritual remained strong into 1960s. Tooker found that Tonawanda Seneca continued to talk about white dog during Midwinter Feast, at which they placed a string of (white?) on a bench in Council House. A confessor picked it up to confess sins, replacing on bench when he has finished (Tooker 1970: 42; Fenton 1941: 161).Beauchamp (1895: 211, see also 1888: 198) recognized at early date, about time when ritual sacrifice of dogs was ending, that WDS had been a late innovation among Seneca. The projection of this ritual into native past was a part of inventing tradition for these natives on part of outside population that came to surround them (cf. Hobsbawm 1992). The assumption that native customs that may be quite new have a long history may be a false inference. …

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