Photographs (left to right): Mendon Ponds Park, Mendon, New York; Little River Canyon, Fort Payne, Alabama;

Mendon Ponds Park, Mendon, New York

Wampum Belt Archive

Wenake French Three Missions

ca. 1638

 

Wenake French Three Missions Belt Reproduction Hamell June 03 2020

Original Size:	Rows 15 length: 72.4
Reproduction:	Beaded length: 33.0 inches. Width: 7 inches. Total w/fringe: 57.0 inches.
Beads:	Columns: 207. Rows: 15. Total beads: 3,105.
Materials:	Warp: Deer leather. Weft: Artificial sinew.

Description (Hale):

The belt which bears this name is probably, if judged from its size, its purport, and its history, the most remarkable and memorable wampum-belt in existence. It can only be compared in all these respects with the famous "Penn Wampum belt," which in some points it decidedly surpasses. What my inordinate, Chief Mandorong, knew or believed of it was that it commemorated the acceptance by the Hurons of the Christian religion, in the form in which it was presented to them by the Jesuit missionaries. The belt must have been made by Indians under missionary instructions, and in all probability in the Huron country; but of the precise occasion and circumstances of its presentation to his forefathers, and their acceptance, the chief knew nothing.

The missionary reports seem to supply us with sufficient evidence on these points. In the letter of Father Lalemant, from which the paragraph relating to the treaty with the Tionontatd people has been quoted, we have a lively narrative of the trials and sufferings which befell the two missionaries, Fathers Garnier and Jogues, to whom the duty of commencing this mission to the Tobacco Nation was assigned. The season was winter and the ground was covered with snow, on which they had sometimes to make their rude couches of pine- branches for the night's sleep. The pestilence was raging, and the hostile rumors against the missionaries, as sorcerers who had brought it into the country, excited against them a frenzy of terror. Almost every door was closed against them; and sometimes when they had been reluctantly admitted, they were ordered out in the middle of the night by their terror-stricken host.

The women cried out against them in horror, and the The belt which bears this name is probably, if judged from its size, its purport, and its history, the most remarkable and memorable wampum-belt in existence. It can only be compared in all these respects with the famous "Penn Wampum belt," which in some points it decidedly surpasses. What my informant, Chief Mandorong, knew or believed of it was that it commemorated the acceptance by the Hurons of the Christian religion, in the form in which it was presented to them by the Jesuit missionaries. The belt must have been made by Indians under missionary instructions, and in all probability in the Huron country; but of the precise occasion and circumstances of its presentation to his forefathers, and their acceptance, the chief knew nothing. The missionary reports seem to supply us with sufficient evidence on these points.

In the letter of Father Lalemant, from which the paragraph relating to the treaty with the Tionontatd people has been quoted, we have a lively narrative of the trials and sufferings which befell the two missionaries, Fathers Garnier and Jogues, to whom the duty of commencing this mission to the Tobacco Nation was assigned. The season was winter and the ground was covered with snow, on which they had sometimes to make their rude couches of pine- branches for the night's sleep. The pestilence was raging, and the hostile rumors against the missionaries, as sorcerers who had brought it into the country, excited against them a frenzy of terror. Almost every door was closed against them; and sometimes when they had been reluctantly admitted, they were ordered out in the middle of the night by their terror-stricken host. The women cried out against them in horror, and the our notions, formed a striking text of useful mnemonics for missionary exhortations. The belt contains fifteen rows of beads, the figures white on a dark ground, and must have comprised originally not less than three thousand beads.

Collected by Horatio Hale from Chief Joseph White at the Anderdon Reserve, Ontario.

Dan Harrison (5/16/2020 personal communications)

I'm poring over my sources, trying to get a handle on the history and meaning. Horatio Hale's link to Father Jérôme Lalemant seems to be the key. Chief Mondoron repeatedly gives the impression that he remembers more than he will readily admit to. Very self-effacing, aware of how much has been lost. Lalemant arrived in Wendake in 1638, where he founded the mission Ste. Marie des Hurons (which Chief Roll and I visited a few years ago). That appears to be the most likely occasion for a treaty worthy of being commemorated by such a belt. I'm digging into the Jesuit Relation for more on that- specifically, Thwaites edition, v. 26. No smoking calumet thus far... The symbols suggest that three Huron/Wendat groupings were party to the agreement. One totem is clearly a Deer; another appears to be a Rock. According to James Hunter, Executive Director at the Huronia Museum / Huron Indian Village Midland, Ontario (site of Lalemant's mission), "The ARENDAHRONON, whose totem was the Rock, joined [the Huron Confederacy] about A.D. 1560, and the TOHONAENRATS, whose totem was the Deer, joined about A.D. 1570." (Source: https://www.wyandot.org/wn_early.htm ). So far, so good. The third totem is a bird-- with long legs, long neck, a long bill and a drooping tail. Dr. John Steckley ("Clans and Phratries of the Huron," Ontario Archaeology no. 37, 1982, p. 29-34) lists eight clans among the Wendat in 1650, not long after the proposed treaty date: Turtle, Wolf, Bear, Deer, Beaver, Hawk, Loon/Sturgeon and Fox. The bird form on the belt does not suggest either a Hawk or a Loon; rather, it strongly resembles a Sandhill Crane. This belt may document a regional variant of the clan structure documented by Steckley, or a phratry within a larger clan (bear?). Not surprising, given the disrupted demographics in that place and time. Georges Sioui (1999) documents this rapid change associated with the dispersal, specifically in the number and names of clans (Huron Wendat: the Heritage of the Circle, p. 115-117). My preliminary impression of the belt is that it is substantially intact, despite evidence of some loss at the left-hand end, possibly a smaller and simpler cross shape. The overall message suggests the solemnization of a relationship (three relationships, perhaps) between the Catholic Church, through three Jesuit missions (each symbolized by a Cross superimposed upon a Rock-- a straightforward Christian iconography), with three Huron/Wendat clans or phratries, symbolized by the historically documented Rock and Deer groups, as well as a third clan, possibly symbolized by a Crane. Associating these groups with the first three Jesuit missions in Wendake/Huronia is problematic, however. Hale believes that "the belt must have been made by Indians under missionary instructions;" if so, that raises the possibility of mixed or inaccurate signals. More work will be needed to establish the putative Crane clan of the mid-17th-century Huron/Wendat. We do know that the Wyandot chief Tarhe was nicknamed "the Crane" (although that is not the literal translation of his Wendat name), indicating that the Crane was held in high regard among the Wyandot of the Ohio country in the late 18th century. That's too much of a stretch by itself, though. I'm cc'ing Dr. Steckley FYI. I'd be delighted to get his thoughts, particularly on the iconography of the Crane.

Reference:

Hale, Horatio. 1897. Four Huron Wampum Records: A Study of Aboriginal American History and Mnemonic Symbols. Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland. Vol. 26, pp. 221-247.