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Wampum other than Belts Archive

 

Haudenosaunee

Requickening Address

condolence strands

CONDOLENCE CEREMONY
(after Tooker, E. The League of the Iroquois: 1980 in Handbook of North American Indians pp. 438-439)The Requickening Address is named for its symbolic power to restore life, as well as, for its power to lift up the minds of those depressed by grief, consist of a number of words or messages, each of which is accompanied by a string of wampum. As is usually the case in Haudenosaunee ritualism, not all speakers list exactly the same items or matters in precisely the same order, nor does each speaker deliver exactly the same order, nor does the speaker deliver precisely the same address each time he speaks it. Nevertheless, the same general form is evident in all such addresses.With one or two exceptions, each word or section of the Requickening Address describes the first a particular hurt that has arisen as a result of the grief occasioned by the loss through death. Next mention is made that this hurt is affecting those present, and then that the hurt is now either removed or healed and the person or situation restored to its former condition. Then, given a wampum string (some such strings are two or three strings tied together) to those addressed, the speaker says the word (the attesting wampum) is on its way to them.In the Requickening Address as customarily delivered on the Six Nations Reserve, 15 such matters or words are so discussed. With the exception of the last three sections, the order is generally the same. This order phrased in terms of intent of each word and a name commonly given to the accompanying wampum string.The tradition Requickening Address of the New York Onondaga is slightly different and consists of seven sections, each of which is accompanied by a bunch of wampum, that is, three strings of wampum attached at one end. Nevertheless, the topics mentioned (herein) are much the same  as those in the Six Nations version.

Wampum Condolence

  1. To wipe away the tears (wampum string called the Tears or the Eyes).
  2. To remove obstructions from the ears (the Ears).
  3. To remove obstructions from the throat (the Throat).
  4. To restore the disarranged organs of the body and remove the yellow spots from inside it (Within his Breast).
  5. To wipe the bloodstain from the mat (the Bloody Husk Mat Bed).
  6. To dispel the darkness and cause it to be day (the Darkness of Grief).
  7. To cause the sky to be beautiful (the Loss of the Sky).
  8. To replace the sun in the sky (the Loss of the Sun).
  9. To level the earth over the grave (the Grave Cover).
  10. To bind the bones together by the 20 strings of wampum given for murder (the Twenty Matters or Twenty is the Penalty for Homicide). Sometimes this is called the inserted matter; it is omitted in the address when given at the Tenth-day feast for a deceased chief. IN the Condolence ceremony (at least ideally), the wampum string that accompanies this message is not returned by the bereaved side but is kept by them until the next Condolence ceremony. If, however, in the next Condolence ceremony the same side is the bereaved moiety, it is returned to the clear-minded so it can be handed to the mourners, who again keep the string.
  11. To gather together the scattered firebrands and rekindle the fire (the Council Fire.)
  12. To raise up the minds of women and warriors and cheer them (the Creator’s Assistants-Matron and Warrior).
  13. To dispel the insanity caused by grief (Anything can Happen on Earth. Even Insanity).
  14. To restore to its place the torch that has been carried through the Longhouse of the Confederacy by the person notifying them of the death (the Torch).
  15. To restore the chief by raising him up and again name him (the Federal Chief).