In the picture, a symbol and various vegetables are drawn. The symbol represents the tribes and the vegetables represent the Three Sisters—corn, squash, and beans. This image is supposed to combine them and to tell the story of the Haudenosaunee. The color also has meaning—purple, for example, represents loss and grief.
The Haudenosaunee believed that the corn, beans, and squash were gifts from the Great Spirit. Researchers have traced this agricultural method to about five thousand years ago. Each individual plant protects and supports the others. They are usually grown together and are a good source of food for the Native people. Intercropping strategies have been a much better way than the standard monoculture fields. The three plants have a perfect diet and food balance for nutrition. Corn provides carbohydrates and beans are rich in protein. Squash is high in vitamins and minerals. The corn provides tall stalks for beans to climb so they are not competing with squash vines. The large leaves of the squash provide shade that retains soil moisture and prevents weeds. Intercropping is insurance to the yield, for if one fails one still has two sufficient crops. All three can be used as dry food storage to last through the colder months.
The Hiawatha Wampum Belt was a purple and white belt which was the first Wampum Belt ever to be created. Ths belt was used to create peace and unity between the five nations (now six Nations). The nations at the time are now known as the Mohawk, Seneca, Onondaga, Cayuga, and Oneida. Hiawatha was once the chief of the Onondaga tribe and helped create the Iroquois Confederacy. In 1722, the Tuscarora nation joined the Confederacy, thus forming the Six Nations. Between 1570 and 1600, Dekanawidah—who was a Huron—persuaded Hiawatha into peace and a new confederation. Wampum Belt was used to create peace and unity when the stories are told. Wampum beads are made out of quahog clams and are usually handcrafted. But wampum beads are sometimes made of plastic due to the lack of production. People sometimes think wampum is a type of currency, but it is not; wampum was an item to be traded among Indigenous people.