Rob Cunningham had previously provided information of the 2007 Spring Fellowship Patch from Ty-Ohni Lodge #95. He has sent along some information about the design on the patch.
The design features the ‘Evergrowing Tree Belt”, which is one of the widest belts known to exist. The belt symbolizes the Tree of Peace at Onondaga under which the previously warring individual five nations buried their weapons beneath as a symbol of their will to unite and follow the code of peace brought by Deganawida and Hiawatha. The tree itself symbolizes the united Confederacy. It is said that an eagle soars above to watch for impending danger and that the trees’s white roots reach throughout the entire world, welcoming anyone with a “‘good mind” to find peace beneath its branches.
This belt is primarily used in speeches and ceremonies to explain “The Great Law,,” a code of Haudenosaunee roles and responsibilities passed down for generations by memory. No written version of the code existed until modem times.
The belt is made of quahog shell with bark and sinew string and is displayed vertically, not horizontally as depicted in the patch. The tree is beaded in an everlasting pattern with the design continuing beyond the end of the belt as a symbol of longevity and strength.
This belt is also known as the Dust Fan Belt,” as it is also used symbolically to help chiefs maintain wisdom and clear vision in the midst of difficult issues or “dust” that they must see through.
