Distinctly Dutch - New York State Museum

their family’s long history in
basket making. Three hours go
by quickly, with occasional interruptions
as these and other family
come and go in the course of
daily routine. The interview
proceeds intently, yet
probingly respectful,
and slowly
a dialogue
emerges,
alternating
conversations
in
Mohawk
between
Florence
and Salli and
English translations
for the benefit
of the other two, less
fluent in Mohawk, and me.
The women gradually chronicle
for me the making and meaning
of this Globe Basket. At points,
their narrative is enriched with
the names and basketry styles
and techniques learned throughout
Florence’s life, first in
childhood from her grandmother,
and then from other female
relatives and neighbors. Other
stories emerge: of economic
necessity, exceedingly low prices,
and changing basket forms and
function geared to non-Indian
tastes over more than two
centuries; of periodic boat
crossings of the St. Lawrence
within living memory to sell
stockpiled baskets to non-Indian
stores. Ernie listens quietly to our
conversations in the adjacent
den; later he is persuaded to
join us for photographs.
I am instructed that Mohawk
baskets and design elements
tell us stories, and must have
purpose, even if only decorative;
otherwise, to take the life of
a tree is selfish. Following the
traditional rootedness and
interweaving of story and spoken
language within craft and
production, Florence decided a
few years ago to create a series
of globe-shaped baskets woven
from sweetgrass and black ash
to represent key messages
associated with Mother
Earth. Each unique
variant’s form,
story, and
name—“Hair
of Mother
Earth,”
“Friendship,
Peace and
Respect,”
“Striped
Gourd,”
“Onenhakenhra:
White Corn,” “Globe
Thistle,” “Onenhakenhra
Spirit”—illuminates in
Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) and
Mohawk worldviews, essential
values, relationships, and
obligations human beings have
in sustaining this Earth, now
and into the future, to the
Seventh Generation.
I learn the Museum’s Globe
Basket is of the “Striped Gourd
variant” and in intended
meanings and making demonstrates
the Benedicts’ traditional
collective and individual
commitments to expressing,
living, sharing, and passing on
Mohawk culture. The viewer is
visually and figurativelypresented
with a striped gourd, prompting
remembrance of traditional
stories about three special Life
Givers or Kionhekkwa (“The
Three Sisters”: corn, beans, and
squash-gourd-pumpkin), which
in Haudenosaunee worldview
and agricultural practice work
in tandem to sustain life physically,
emotionally, and spiritually.
As Salli writes (2008a:20), for
contemporary Mohawk people,
the actual striped gourd is still
used for multiple purposes:
“… as a container for holding
our food or water, or
for supporting our fishing
nets … [and] in making
music, so that we can sing
the songs that are our
thanksgiving tribute to the
Creator and all elements
of Creation … so that
the World will have the
resources we need to
survive. Everybody sing!”
I discover that from idea to
completion, this Striped Gourd
basket’s creation was a traditional
collaborative effort, requiring
more than four months of coordinated
work by five people.
Salli designed it. Kevin Lazore,
another Mohawk from the
Sugarbush area of Akwesasne,
harvested, debarked, pounded,
and prepared splints from a black
ash tree, as he does for many
basket weavers. (In earlier
generations, male family
members did the arduous preliminary
preparation of black
ash. Ernie, now 91, still assists
the Benedict women in gathering
and preparing sweetgrass.)
From the pounded splints,
Florence then wove the large
central basket, while Rebecca
and Luz made the roughly
27 dozen miniature baskets
that stripe its curved sides.
I am informed the thin gold,
green, and brown strands that
ring the globe’s lid and rims and
completely form the miniature
baskets are made of native
sweetgrass (Anthoxanthum
nitens), harvested from a wild
patch tended by Florence and
Rebecca. The sweetgrass’ colors
will ripen and change over time,
as the long strands of grass age
after cutting; its pleasant aroma
will always return, strong and
fresh, when dampened with
life-giving water. Later, in going
For Further Reading:
Writings by or About
the Benedicts
Benedict, Ernest. 1999. “‘I
would say when you search after
truth, truth is that which you will
find that is dependable and is of
use to you.’” In In the Words of
the Elders: Aboriginal Cultures in
Transition, Peter Kulchyski, Don
McCaskill, and David Newhouse,
eds., p. 95–140. Toronto:
University of Toronto Press.
_____. 1995. “’Through these
stories we learned many things.’”
In Native Heritage: Personal
Accounts by American Indians
1790 to the Present, Arlene
Hershfelder, ed., p. 111–112.
MacMillan Publishing Company.
_____. Editor, Akwesasne
Notes, 1994–1996.
Benedict, Les and Richard
David. 2003. “Propagation Protocol
for Black Ash (Fraxinus nigra
Marsh).” Native Plants: 100–103.
Benedict, Rebecca and Charis
Wahl. 1976. St. Regis Reserve.
Don Mills, Ontario: Fitzhenry &
Whiteside.
Benedict, Salli. 2008a.
“Akwesasne Basket Making: An
Enduring Tradition.” In North by
Northeast: Wabanaki, Akwesasne
Mohawk, and Tuscarora
Traditional Arts, Kathleen
Mundell, ed., p. 11–15. Gardiner,
Maine: Tilbury House, Publishers.
_____. 2008b. “The Globe
Basket Series of Akwesasne
Basketmaker Florence
Katistsienkwi Benedict.” In
North by Northeast: Wabanaki,
Akwesasne Mohawk, and
Tuscarora Traditional Arts,
Kathleen Mundell, ed., p. 16–23.
Gardiner, Maine: Tilbury House,
Publishers.
_____. 2007. “Made in
Akwesasne.” In Archaeology of
the Iroquois: Selected Readings
and Research Sources, Jordan
E. Kerber, ed., p. 422–441.
Syracuse: Syracuse University
Press. [Originally published in J.V.
Wright and Jean-Luc Pilo (2004).]
_____. 2000. “Tahotahontanekenseratkerontakwenkakie.”
In Stories for a
Winter’s Night, Maurice Kenny,
ed., p. 146–148. Buffalo, NY:
White Pine Press. [Also published
in Jerome Beaty and Paul Hunter
(1999) and Simon Ortiz (1983).]
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