Photographs (left to right): All Mohave Desert, California/Nevada

Wampum Belt Archive

 

Huron Belt

Behold the Handmaid of the Lord

1674

 

belt

Hamell 9/29/2024

Original Size:

unknown

Reproduction:

Beaded Length: 112.0 inches. Width: 11.0 inches. T/length w/fringe: 136.0 inches.

Beads:

Rows: 22. Columns: 702. Beads: Polymer: 15,444.

Materials:

Warp: Deer leather. Weft: Artificial Sinew.

Description:

Received 1674 at Lorette. Stolle report this belt or a similar one was seen at Notre-Dame at Loreto, Italy together with a second one, briefly mentioned by Philippus Bonanni, reading “Ecce Ancilla Domini, Fiat Mihi Secvndum Verbvm Tvvm” (3), (ibid. 1992: 89; Bonanni 1709: 225; Lainey 2004: 69). Both belts were lost, when the chapel at Loretta was destroyed by fire in approx. 1860 (ibid. 2004: 68; cf.: Feest 1992: 89). It is a quote for the Vulgate text of the Gospel of Saint Luke. "Behold the Handmaid of the Lord." Mary's resonse: "Let it be done to me according to Thy Word."

Reference:

Bonanni, Philippus. 1709. Mussaeum Kircherianum sive Musaeum a P. Athanasio Kirchero incoep-tum… Roma: Georgius Plachus.

Becker, Marshall J. and Jonathan Lainey 2004 Wampum Belts with Initials and/or Dates as Design Elements: A Preliminary Review of One Subcategory of Political Belts. American Indian Culture and Research Journal 28(2): 25-45. Beckett,

Feest, Christian. 1992 North America in the European Wunderkammer Before 1750. With a Preliminary Checklist. Archiv für Völkerkunde 46: 61-109.

Stolle, Nickolaus, V. 2016. Talking Beads. Hamburg, Germany