The Wampum Belt & an Openness to Learning

Lots of United Church folk have participated in the Kairos Blanket Exercise (KBE), an experiential teaching tool that explores the historic and contemporary relationship between Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples in the land we now know as Canada. Developed alongside Indigenous elders and educators the KBE has been offered thousands of times in churches, schools, and community centres.Part of the presentation is about two-row wampum, a wampum belt that symbolizes a treaty agreement betwween Indigenous peoples and European colonizers.

I'm currently reading the book Nation to Nation: A Millenium in North America by Kathleen DuVal. She explores the value of beaded wampum as a form of currency when many European countries had not yet developed standardized currency or accepted gold and silver as literal "coin of the realm." There was no paper money either. Wampum was a sort of legal tender and it was also symbolic of much more in terms of identity and reciprocity. 

Duval points out that when the Dutch supposedly purchased Manhattan from the Munsees in 1626 for $26 worth of beads it was actually a transaction involving wampum. It was the basis for an agreement allowing the Dutch to establish a trading post but the Munsees continued to live there. Rather than this being an example of naive "savages" making a bad economic deal it was meant to establish a good-faith relationship. I've never heard this explained before and it is reminder of the way history is often written by colonizers.

Those of us from European backgrounds, including religious institutions, have so much to learn about relationships with Indigenous peoples and the opportunities are there, if we open to exploring them. 

In August of 2012, at the 41st General Council, The United Church of Canada acknowledged the presence and spirituality of Aboriginal peoples in the United Church by revising the church's crest. 

The crest changes include incorporating the colours often associated with the Aboriginal Medicine Wheel. The Medicine Wheel, which reflects respect for diversity and interdependence, is often represented in the four traditional colours of yellow, red, black, and white, which incorporate important teachings from the four directions, the four stages of life, and the four seasons. The placement of these colours will vary according to the traditions of the nation. 

The Medicine Wheel teaches us to seek balance in the physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual aspects of the circle of life. The crest changes also include the addition of the Mohawk phrase "Akwe Nia'Tetewá:neren" [aw gway--  nyah day day waw-- nay renh], which means "All my relations."