The Wing or Dust Fan Belt

The windows on the North and South classroom elevations were shaped to depict the Wing or Dust Fan Wampum Belt. This belt, which is one of the widest wampum belts known, measures 31 1/2" by 14 1/2 " wide. It symbolizes an everlasting white pine tree which has growns so tall that all nations of the earth can see it. The nations were to take shelter beneath its branches once their weapons of war were buried beneath its roots. This Tree of Peace is particularly significant to the Onondagas as it was symbolically located within the Onondaga Nation.

The two-fold meaning of the Wing or Dust Fan Belt was; one, to protect the council or confederate chiefs from destructive thoughts and secondly, to shield their eyes from the dust that could impair their clear vision and understanding. At the final council between the Peacemaker and the chiefs, this was referred to as the last belt that confirmed the laws that had been established to bring about prosperity and happiness. Historically, the wing belt was kept at the Onondaga Nation and displayed whenever the League's constitution was recited. Purple beads form the ever growing pine tree which was also symbolic of the life of the confederacy.