Native American Symbol
Flags are a time-honored method to display kinship and camaraderie. They are used throughout the world to both include members of the group and exclude outsiders. There is usually a great deal of thought placed on the design of a flag and the symbols used on it carry great significance.
The flag of the Iroquois Confederacy is one rich with Native American symbol and design. The flag is most appropriately known as the Haudenosaunee flag, as the peoples of the tribes that comprise the Iroquois Confederacy refer to themselves as the Haudenosaunee.
The Haudenosaunee flag is made of white design on a purple background. The simple elegance of its design is a testament to the wise and effective use of every element of Native American symbolism.
Color is a very important element in the language of Native American symbol and the colors of the Haudenosaunee flag are replete with meaning. Purple and white are the colors of the shells on the wampum belt of the prophet Hiawatha.
In spite of its portrayal in early Western movies and television, wampum is not money. It is a very highly honored collection of beads made from shells that are strung on a belt. Each bead represents a memory or experience and is used as an aid in the reciting of the tribe’s history.
These exceptionally revered belts were passed down from generation to generation and exchanged upon marriage. The white beads are crafted from the channeled whelk shell and the purple, sometimes called black, is from the quahog clam.
The Hiawatha mentioned here is not the same person featured in Longfellow’s poem, “Song of Hiawatha.” Instead he was a gifted leader and prophet from the 12th century who was instrumental in uniting the five tribes of the northwestern woodlands. His wampum belt on the flag is a Native American symbol of wisdom and unity.
The tree on the Haudenosaunee flag is a Native American symbol of the Eastern White Pine, native to the area and with needles that cluster in groups of five, representing the grouping of the five original Iroquois tribes. The four squares plus the tree represent the five tribes.
The Native American symbol of the five tribes represents the Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga, Cayuga, and the Seneca tribes. In the 18th century, the Tuscarawas tribe fled north to escape the British invasion of North Carolina. They joined forces with the Iroquois Confederacy, which is why the Haudenosaunee are often called the “Six Nations.”
Please send any comments directly to the author, Joseph Paige.