The Hiawatha Belt

The Hiawatha Belt

 

belt

 

The Hiawatha wampum belt is comprised of thirty-eight rows, with a heart represented by a great tree in the center. On either side there are two squares, all are connected with the heart by white rows of wampum. The belt is the symbol of unity among the five original Nations.

 

The first square on the right represents the Mohawk Nation, Keeper of the Eastern Door. The inner square on the right represents the Oneida Nation. The white tree of peace in the middle represents the Onondaga Nation. The Great Peace is lodged in the heart, meaning that the Haudenosaunee council fire is to burn at Onondaga, serving as the capitol of the Haudenosaunee. The inner square to the left of the heart represents the Cayuga Nation. The last square, the one furthest to the left represents the Seneca Nation, known as the Keepers of the Western Door.

 

The two lines extending from each side of the squares of the belt, from the Mohawk and Seneca Nations, represent a path of peace that other Nations are welcome to travel in order to take shelter beneath the Great Tree of Peace.

 

 


Two Row Wampum Belt

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© 1 October 2001, Portland State University http://www.iroquoisdemocracy.pdx.edu/html/covenantchain.htm

 

 

Mohawk Language

Mohawk (Kanien’kéha) is an Iroquoian language spoken by around 3,350 people of the Mohawk nation in the United States (mainly western and northern New York) and Canada (southern Ontario and Quebec). Mohawk has the largest number of speakers of the Northern Iroquoian languages; today it is the only one with greater than a thousand remaining. At Akwesasne, residents have begun a language immersion school (pre-K to grade 8) in Kanien’kéha to revive the language. With their children learning it, parents and other family members are taking language classes, too.

 

Mohawk has three major dialects: Western (Six Nations and Tyendinaga), Central (Ahkwesáhsne), and Eastern (Kahnawà:ke and Kanehsatà:ke); the differences between them are largely phonological. These are related to the major Mohawk territories since the 18th century. The pronunciation of /r/ and several consonant clusters may differ in the dialects.

  Underlying Phonology Western Central Eastern
seven /tsjata/ [ˈd͡ʒaːda] [ˈd͡ʒaːda] [ˈd͡zaːda]
nine /tjohtu/ [ˈdjɔhdũ] [ˈɡjɔhdũ] [ˈd͡ʒɔhdũ]
I fall /kjaʔtʌʔs/ [ˈɡjàːdʌ̃ʔs] [ˈɡjàːdʌ̃ʔs] [ˈd͡ʒàːdʌ̃ʔs]
dog /erhar/ [ˈɛrhar] [ˈɛlhal] [ˈɛrhar]

 

for more info click here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mohawk_language