The wampum was at the heart of the denomination, in which the names and titles of the deceased were passed on to others. Deceased persons with high offices are quickly replaced and a wampum bearing the name of the deceased is placed on the shoulders of the successor, who can shake it and refuse the transfer of name. Receiving a name may also transfer the deceased`s personal history and previous obligations (e.g. .B. the successor of a person killed in the war may be obliged to avenge the death of the former holder of the name or to take care of the family of the deceased person as his own). [16] The Iroquois used Wampum as a testimony of a person or as a certificate of authority. It was also used for official purposes and religious ceremonies, and it was used as a means to bring peace between tribes. Among the Iroquois, each chief and clan mother had a specific set of wampum that served as official testimony. If they continue or are removed from their station, the cord is passed on to the new driver. Runners carrying messages during the colonial period introduced the wampum, which showed that they had the authority to carry the message. [14] Wampum are traditional sacred shell pearls of the forest tribes of eastern North America. Wampum include white mussel beads made from the channeled wavy snail shell of the North Atlantic; and the white and purple pearls of the quahog or hard-shelled shell of the western North Atlantic. Woven wampum belts were created to commemorate contracts or historical events and exchange them in personal social transactions such as weddings.

In colonial North America, European settlers often used wampum as a bargaining chip with Native Americans. When Europeans came to America, they took Wampum as money to trade with the natives of New England and New York. Wampum was legal tender in New England from 1637 to 1661; It remained as currency in New York until 1673 on the price of eight white wampum or four black wampum, which corresponds to a stuiver, meaning that white had the same value as the copperduit coin. The colonial government of New Jersey issued a proclamation setting the rate at six whites or three blacks on a penny; this proclamation also applied to Delaware. [19] Black shells were rarer than white shells and were therefore worth more, which led people to dye white shells and dilute the value of black shells. [20] The simplest are wampum beads made from various white and purple mollusc shells that have been and are used by various Native American nations in northeastern North America for decorative or ceremonial purposes. Contrary to misconceptions, Wampum was not "Indian money". Before the European contact, Wampum clearly had value as an object of trade between the different indigenous peoples. But it was later, after the European colonization of America, that wampum was used as currency. The Seneca Nation has ordered replicas of five historic wampum belts, which were completed in 2008. The belts were made by Lydia Chavez (Unkechaug/Blood) and made with pearls made on the territory of the Unkechaug Indian Nation in Long Island, New York.

Wampum was strung on string or woven into bracelets, necklaces, necklaces, belts and later belts that served as physical representations of political chords. Some models symbolized events, alliances, or kinship relationships between different peoples, and Wampum could be used to confirm relationships, propose marriage, atone for murder, or blackmail ransomed prisoners. Pearls and belts also confirmed contracts and were used to recall oral traditions. Many communities had wampum keepers who protected the belts and interpreted the history they contained. wom′pum, n. the North American Native American name for shells or pearls used as currency. – Wampum peag (wom′pum pēg), lit. "mounted white pearls", wampum cords. The term wampum is a shortening of wampumpeag, derived from the massachusett word or Narragansett, which means "white chains of shell pearls." [8] [9] The reconstructed form of proto-Algonquin (wa·p-a·py-aki) is thought to be "white strings". [10] In New York, wampumperlen from the time before 1510 have been discovered. [4] The Shinnecock Indian Nation tried to preserve a traditional Wampum production facility called Ayeuonganit Wampum Ayimꝏup (where Wampum was made). [26] Part of the original site, Lot 24 in what is now the Parrish Pond Subdivision in Southampton, Long Island, was reserved for parks.

[27] Etymology: abbreviation of wampumpeag; incorrectly analyzed as "wampum" + "pear"; from `wamp` ("white") + `umpe` ("chain") + `ag` (plural suffix), in relation to the string of white shell pearls and not to individual pearls. Wampum, tubular shell beads joined into ropes or woven into belts or embroidered ornaments formerly used by some North American Indians as a medium of exchange. The terms Wampum and Wampumpeag were originally adopted by English settlers, who derived them from one of the Eastern Algonquian languages; Translated literally, Wampumpeag means "white cords (shell beads)". The Unkechaug Nation in Long Island, New York, has built a wampum factory that produces traditional and contemporary pearls for local artists such as Ken Maracle, Elizabeth Perry and Lydia Chavez in their traditional belt and contemporary jewelry creations. The factory has been in existence since 1998 and has helped to revive the use of wampum in contemporary local life. Wampum is a traditional shell pearl of the eastern forest tribes of the Native Americans. It includes white mussel beads handcrafted from the channeled wavy snail shell of the North Atlantic and white and purple pearls from the quahog or West Atlantic hard shell mussel. Before European contact, wampum strings were used to tell stories, ceremonial gifts, and the recording of important treaties and historical events, such as the two-row Wampum Treaty[1][2] and the Hiawatha Belt.

Wampum was also used by the indigenous tribes of the northeast as a medium of exchange,[3] strung together in lengths for simplicity. The first settlers understood it as a currency and adopted it as such in trade with them. Eventually, the settlers used their technologies to produce wampum more efficiently, leading to inflation and eventually its obsolescence as money. Various species of wavy horned snails have been used to create the white wampum, including the canal whelk (Busycon canaliculatum), the pimple whelk (Busycon carica), the thinning whelk (Busycon sinistrum) and the snow whelk (Busycon laeostomum). Due to the hardness and fragility of the natural shell materials used, the production of real shell ampum was and still is a difficult and time-consuming process. When I set out to come back, he put the white wampum around my neck – a promise of truth, my darling, my Algonquin. Wampum belts and other wam pump artifacts continue to be important to Indigenous peoples and any treaties or agreements they may represent. The designs and colors of the pearls used in the wampum belts had meaning, so the belts themselves were mnemonic devices that could support the memory of history, traditions, and laws with which the belts had been associated. Each chief and clan mother of the Haudenosaunee Confederacy has one or more Wampum strings that serve as a certificate of his office. These, as well as the authority of the post, are passed on to their successors.

Runners who carried messages also wore wampum to signal the truth and importance of the message they were carrying. .