Contact with Europeans brought changes in the style and the material of some Indians’ clothing. Indians were encouraged to adopt English styles of dress as part of the process of their conversion to Christianity. Many, however, found the European style of clothing a nuisance. Wood says: “... their chief reasons they render why they will not conforme to our English apparell, are, because their women cannot wash them when they bee soyled, and their means will not reach to buy new when they have done with their old; and they confidently beleeve, the English will not be so liberall as to furnish them upon gifture: therefore they had rather goe naked than be lousie....”[198] Often, articles of English clothing were worn for special occasions.[199] Some Indians began selling all their skins to European traders and using cloth to make their traditional garments.[200] The cloth which they preferred was a blanket material called “duffils” or “trucking cloth”.[201] Whatever the style and material of their clothing, however, the Wampanoags preferred to wear only the loincloth when they were in their own houses.[202]
Ornament: Copper or brass, breast-plates, necklaces, bandoliers, etc. are often mentioned by explorers who visited the New England coast prior to the establishment of permanent settlements.[203] A change in fashion apparently took place among the Indians of southeastern New England during the early historic period, however, for colonial writers describe the same types of ornaments as being made of shell.
Breast-plates were solid sheets of copper or brass hammered thin and flat.[204] They were about a foot in length and half that wide.[205] Sheet copper was also made into tubular beads. These were about four inches long and a quarter of an inch in diameter. They were made by bending the sheet of metal around a stick from which the pith had been removed to form a hole for stringing.[206] Tubular beads were strung together (long axes parallel) to make bandoliers. Bandoliers were worn diagonally across the chest or sometimes as belts around the waist.[207] Similar fillets made of shorter copper beads were probably worn as headbands.[208] Tubular copper beads strung end to end were worn as necklaces.[209] Gorgets and pendant earrings were also made out of copper and brass.[210]
By the time the Pilgrims arrived, shell ornaments apparently had replaced the metal ornaments which earlier chroniclers said were worn by everyone, for none of the colonial writers mentions Indians wearing copper or brass ornaments.[211] Most shell ornament was based on beadwork, although shell, along with bone and stone was used for ear pendants—cut-outs of birds, fish, and other animals.[212] By at least 1647 wampum was the most popular style of shell beads.[213]
Wampum served as “money” and as ornament. It was introduced into Plymouth colony as an item of exchange in 1627 by the Dutch, for although it was common among Indians to the south, it was virtually unknown as an item of trading value to Indians around Plymouth and farther north.[214] Important people in the tribe had a few ornaments of wampum prior to 1627. Altham describes Massasoit in 1623 as wearing a belt of shell beads that were probably wampum.[215] After a slow start in Plymouth, wampum increased in popularity until it was common to see Indians wearing bracelets, necklaces, headbands, and belts, woven in various designs of small purple and white beads.[216] Collars, caps, and ear pendents were also made of wampum.[217] The beads were strung end to end as well as being woven in bands.[218]
The wampum made in southern New England was fashioned from the shells of the quahog, or hard-shelled clam (Venus mercenaria).[219] Bead blanks were first roughed out from the whole shell then drilled with a stone (later metal—introduced by Europeans) drill. Beads were then strung together and ground into their final shape with an abrasive stone.[220]
There were other, less popular, styles of shell beads and beadwork.[221] Sometimes small discoidal beads (probably quahog and periwinkle) were used instead of the tubular wampum for beadwork, as necklaces, bracelets, and hair ornaments. Like wampum, these beads were white and purple in color.[222] There were also large tubular shell beads that were strung for necklaces.[223]
Bone and seeds were also used for beads,[224] and early explorers report necklaces of variously colored stones.[225]
Besides jewelry, the Wampanoags used painting and tattooing as means of personal adornment. Tattooing was done by two techniques. A sharp instrument was used to pierce and lift a small area of skin, and black pigment was inserted into the wound. By repeating these small incisions close together, decorative lines were formed. This form of tattooing was done on the cheeks; the patterns were zoomorphic “... as Beares, Deares, Mooses, Wolves, &c., some of fowls, as of Eagles, Hawkes, &c....”[226] The other technique of tattooing was accomplished by “branding” with a hot iron. Geometrical shapes were applied to the arms and chest by this method.[227]
Body painting was done in red, yellow, white, and black. Red powder was sometimes put onto the hair.[228] The body and hair were prepared for painting by a thorough greasing; the grease provided a bond for the pigment.[229] Different colors might be used on various sections of the face, or a single color might be used for the whole face.[230] Both men and women wore paint. Paint was worn for mourning, for war ceremonial or festive occasions, and for games.[231] Warriors used lurid coloring to make them appear more terrible to the enemy.[232] Painting the face black, with soot and ashes, was a symbol of mourning.[233] There were undoubtedly many other associations between styles of painting and specific events or social groups, but they were not recorded by seventeenth century observers.