Glengarry Hat; Iroquois Snapping Turtle, wampum beads/wool: P St John, Mohawk

Description

This is a Glengarry hat made by Paul St John, Mohawk.  It is of vintage black tradewool, it has Iroquois beadwork designs around the sides and a snapping turtle of beads on the top. The early Iroquois beadwork design on the sides is a very old Iroquois design representing water and mountains - it is said the water is Lake Champlain and the mountains are the Adirondacks.  The snapping turtle represents the turtle clan of the Mohawks, "Turtle Island" in the Iroquois creation myth and Mother Earth.  Wampum beads in tubular shape are around the cap sides below the beadwork design.
This is the 2nd Glengarry hat by Paul that includes the snapping turtle - This one has wampum beads  (1st did not) and a different bead design on the sides.  The ribbon on the 1st snapping turtle Glengarry was brown grosgrain ribbon.
Mohawks are one of the five original tribes of the Iroquois Confederacy - which then consisted of Mohawk, Onondaga, Oneida, Cayuga and Seneca.
This hat is 10.25" long, sides are 4.5" high and the top is 5" across at widest.  ---- The snapping turtle on the top of this Glengarry is 4.75" long
Iroquois and
Wabanaki
traditionally made Glengarry hats,   Here vintage white glass seed beads are used to make traditional beaded water/mountain design on the sides and the snapping turtle on the top of the hat. Below this ancient design are
wampum
beads, tubular in the shape that the treaty belts were made from.  There are 12 of these
wampum
beads on each side of the hat, 24 in all.   Hat is lined with calico cotton in a vintage red w/black floral design and bottom edges are bound with red silk ribbon and there is a bow at the back - as was done on many vintage Glengarry hats.
Wampum
is a traditional shell bead of the Eastern Woodlands Tribes of American Indians. It includes white shell beads hand fashioned from the North Atlantic  channeled whelk  shell and white and purple beads made from the quahog  or Western North Atlantic hard-shelled clam. Wampum was
used by North American Indians as money, ceremonial pledges, and ornaments.The white/purple shells were of greatest value.  Wampum is still valued as a decorative commodity- it is strikingly beautiful.
GLENGARRY HATS:  In the 19th century Iroquois (also called
Haudenosaunee)
and Wabanaki beadworkers
made a number of items that were European influenced which were used by Victorian non-natives and Natives alike.  The Glengarry hat is a hat style that was worn by Scottish and British troops. Thousands of these plain Glengarry hats were purchased/traded for then embellished by Native beadworkers who took this hat form and added traditional designs in beadwork.   Glengarry Native beaded hats are one of the most sought after NE beaded collectable items - here you can see why that is so.
You can use this as part of your regalia, or as a purse or shopping bag or as a beautiful display piece.
Paul St. John now lives in Maine, near his mother's  Passamaquoddy/Maliseet/Micmac relatives.  He is an enrolled Mohawk and grew up on the Mohawk lands in New York, his father's tribe.   2nd from last photo in slideshow is of Paul St John and a friend.  Last photo is of his Mohawk grandmother, Amelia St John who taught him beading.
Paul St John also makes birchbark, porcupine and coiled sweetgrass baskets, beaded knife cases, barrettes and moccasins among numerous other traditional crafts such as dolls, Iroquois water drums, rattles and much more - check out his work in this ebay store.