The Chilkat Blanket is a North American (NorthWest Coast) textile that originally derives from the Tsimshian people, but spread and evolved with the Tlingit people through trade and marriage. The start of the Chilkat Blanket can be linked directly to Tlingit mythology. According to the UN- Textbook of Mythology and Folklore, it is a love story that begins with a chief’s daughter who goes on a journey with her tribe in search of wild celery for early spring. As she ventures she suddenly hears footsteps behind her and a handsome young man joins her. They walked further into the woods to the Bear tribe, which the young man had belonged to. The chief’s daughter realizes she was unhappy there and wanted to return to her people. One day, she was able to reach the shore and glanced at a fisherman who fought the Bear tribe in her honor. …show more content…
The fisherman had defeated the young man and rescued the chief’s daughter but behold! - He was no fisherman at all he was Gonaqadet, the spirit of the sea. As time went on the chief’s daughter grew unhappy again and wished to return to her people to raise her son. Gonaqadet allowed her to return to earth if she wove him a blanket telling of her life and his courtship. In the end of the story a Raven meets with Conaqadet and is given the pattern of the magnificent blanket that the chiefs daughter wove. The Raven then gives the gift of the blanket to all the Tlingit people in order to unravel and learn the art of its weaving. A traditional Chilkat Blanket is decorated with rich, saturated colors and has an abundance of fringe. Typically, only the wealthy could make or own one of these beautiful textiles serving as a symbol of status and prestige. Men and woman played equal parts in the creation of the blankets and both considered it a great privilege to be able to wear one. The men were in charge of designing the pattern and making the pattern board on the loom. The human-like face motif that appears in many of the blankets is said to be representational of the spirit of the crest animal. These motifs of abstracted animal figures or mythological beings were passed down through legends, families and traditions. “The Chilkat Blanket’s abstracted design principle, however, with the crest animal or creature’s body parts dissected and distributed across the design field can make for complicated interpretation” according to George T. Emmons (pg.297). The women’s’ duties were far more labor intensive.
Their duties included gathering cedar bark, preparing the yarns and weaving the blankets, a process that all together would take about a year. In order to spin the woman would have to loosen the wool from the mountain goat hide by wetting and rolling the hide then pushing the wool off with her thumb and fingers. To card the wool she would have to be sitting with outstretched legs with wool piled to one side to draw the wool while feeding it to her other hand. The blanket was then woven on a warp-weighted loom where the weaver usually sat or kneeled in front of it. The blankets were woven entirely with their fingers. No other device was used. This finger-weaving process was called twining. According to the Sheldon Museum and Culture Center, typically the warps of these blankets were never dyed but the wefts contained natural dyes that created yellows, dark browns and green blues. Preparing these yarns is a long, strenuous process, requiring up to six months of preparation, dyeing, spinning, and plying as we saw similarly in the documentary “Weaving Worlds” about the Navajo
weavers. The Chillkat blanket was used not only as a symbol of status, but also for ceremonial traditions. During most winter ceremonial events, a wealthy chief would wear the blanket, do a traditional dance and provide a feast. The “Headdress Dance” was performed specifically with the blanket and was warn as a cape around the neck to allow the bottoms fringe to be in motion. The term “Dancing Blanket” comes from this very dance. A Potlatch ceremony however is where the beauty of the Chilkat Blanket really thrived. A Potlatch was a social gathering where a person of wealth would distribute their possessions to be given away, or destroyed in order to display wealth, generosity and enhance prestige. Even the blanket itself would be given away whole or cut into strips to exceed the status of ownership. The strips were equally as cherished as whole blankets and were often repurposed into ceremonial garments. According to Sergei Kan (pg.194) “the potlatch can be seen as part of the life cycle of an individual, since it always follows the death of some prominent person and is concerned primarily with honoring his memory…This concern with the dead is always present, even though the more apparent function of a potlatch may be to dedicate a new lineage house, to announce the assumption of a dead chief’s title by his successor, or to honor and ennoble the children of the chief.” When a chief has died, the Blanket is first thrown to cover the lower part of the body and then hung outside the grave house on full display. This proves that even in death, the Blanket continued act as a symbol of wealth and prestige.
One of the things I found was The clothes worn by the men included loincloths or short kilts which were made from a long rectangular piece of animal skin or cloth which was worn between the legs and tucked over a belt. The men started to wear cotton shirts and shorts, and a headband They wore moccasins made of soft leather. The type of clothes worn by the women of the Hopi tribe were cotton dresses called mantas which were fastened at a woman's right shoulder, leaving her left shoulder bare. Early women’s clothes included a dark blue woollen blanket that was fastened above the right shoulder and tied with a belt at the waist. When Hopi girls reach womanhood, their hair was dressed in two large whorls at the side of the head in a squash blossom.
The Kwakiutl Indian tribe existed before the discovery of North America by the European culture and inhabited the coast of the Pacific Northwest of the United States and British Columbia in Canada. The tribe is rich in tradition and culture and has remained steadfast in their beliefs, history, teachings and artisan skills which have been passed down generation to generation. The artisans in the Kwakiutl tribe mastered the art of creating special ceremonial masks that are not only beautiful and aesthetically interesting to the eye, but also mechanically intriguing in which the masks serve a specific purpose to a theme during different ceremonies that are conducted by tribal specialists during certain times throughout the year.
In the text, one learns of how bags, or toe-sacks as I have always heard, were turned into bed linens, bath linens, undergarments, cookware, and dresses. The fact that women were smart enough to re-use feed bags for necessary household and personal care says a lot about the southern farm-women’s mind. They are already supporting peddlers, making their own money to become economically stable, and now they are making their own beautiful linens. One story of this wonderful invention comes from north Georgia’s Harriet Echols who says “I’d try to go buy feed so I could match the bags with what I had at home… I’d take a bag of every color that I had.” Later in the nineteenth century, cotton bags became a more popular source of bags. Cotton bag clothes were given to those who were not economically stable yet to help in times of need. The Georgia Emergency Relief Administration was one of the most successful relief projects and were “classes for young girls who longed for pretty things but could not afford to buy them and could not make them.” Southern farm women gained much attention for the way that they thought of things; for thinking up the idea of sewing feed sacks to make high-demand linens. Here we are in late 2016, still using the ideology based off of sewing feed sacks. Not only was this idea very unique, but it was also beneficial. This was another clever way in which women found to excel in the economy. If they were only sewing for themselves or their family, they did not lose money because they were using recycled products and in the grand scheme of things were making clothes basically at no cost. If they were selling their linens to others who maybe had no interest or time in sewing, they were using recycled sacks and could have sold their linens so they were actually gaining profit. By these women re-using feed sacks,
Summary The PBS special, “Mill Times”, hosted by David Macaulay, gives a viewer insight into what aided in igniting the Industrial Revolution and changing how textiles are produced. Through documentary snippets and an animated storyline the viewer is able to imagine life before technological changes. Viewers are shown how clothing was produced prior to the mill, the benefits of the mill, the Lowe girls and their working environment, and further technological advancements which aided in making production more mobile and independent of waterways. The beginning of the program shows how laborious and strenuous it was to manufacture any cloth before the waterwheel invention.
One main idea of this book was that with the right mindset anything is possible. This is proven in the book when Louie is in the concentration camp and has to hold up a large piece of wood while having the Japanese guards stare at him. This shows that he had the mindset that he could outlast the guards and that he could overcome any obstacles in life.
In traditional times, men, women and children all wore similar clothing. Pants were made out of animal hide, moccasins made from moose or seal skin, and sleeves made from fur or leather; tobacco pouches were worn by both sexes. Both men and women also wore a loose fur robe, but each sex wore the robe differently. Men wore it draped over the shoulders like a blanket, while women wore the robe wrapped tightly around the body under the arms. Babies were wrapped in fox, swan or goose skins. The skins were tanned by using animal brains, bird liver and oil and also by smoking. Then, in the nineteenth century the clothing of the Mi’kmaq tribe changed and became modernized. The women wore beaded peaked caps and woolen skirts. The men wore clothing that resembled European military uniforms (Nova Scotia 1-2).
Although weaving had caught on and become an important part of Navajo society, it was still considered something that weaver would when she had nothing else better to do with her time. This is why many of the rugs that were woven were done during the long, inactive winter, and ready for use and trade in the spring . As the Navajo women became more proficient with weaving blankets, they would use them for trade between other tribes, although they were not used specifically for this function. After a time these blankets, and more specifically the chiefs blankets became "the unit of exchange by which all other goods were measured " .
Clothing for both men and women initially was deerskin for shirts and skirts. The men later wore cotton or velvet shirts with no collars, breeches below the knee, and moccasins. Women gradually wore the "squaw dress", made of plain dark blankets.
When I found out I qualified to be a candidate for the NJHS, I knew I had to take this chance. This group is made up of people who depict leadership, character, citizenship, academic success, and service and I would love to join. These characteristics wouldn't just be valuable for a candidate to have, but for everyone to have to exceed in life. If I were to be in the National Junior Honor Society, it would give me an opportunity to ameliorate my future and motivate me to do better.
Growing up is a natural part of life. Everyone grows up. The loss of childish innocence and blind faith in what is said is one chief mark of growing up. Loss of innocence, however, presents itself in many forms, even to adults, and with it brings a greater understanding of the world at large. In literature, authors use the process to explore society and humanity. Through the characters’ loss of innocence, the authors of both To Kill A Mockingbird and Of Mice & Men discuss ideas of prejudice, family, and courage.
Hair weaving dates back as far as Ancient Egypt and throughout history. Egyptians adored a good hair weave. It was considered a form of self-expression and common practice for them to trim their hair and create dazzling wig out of it. The men on occasion wore more dashing styles of wigs than the women. Women more so used weaving methods because of their diminishing hair. This practice is still used today for men and women who suffer from different types of hair loss.
No one is quite sure when and where crochet got started. The word comes from croc, or croche, the Middle French word for hook, and the Old Norse word for hook is krokr. The author says, “crocheting that we know now was first seen in the 16th century in france. It was then known by “crochet lace”. But of course there isn't a real source as to who was the first to pick up a hook and some thread and actually crochet anything. In that time period the wealthy would always dress themselves in expensive lace gowns, jackets, headpieces so the poor would try and imitate them by crocheting the “rich man's lace”. (Marks) Moving forward to around 1837 – 1901, crochet patterns were available for flowerpot holders, bird cage covers, lamp mats and shades, tablecloths, purses, men's caps and waistcoats, even a rug with footwarmers to be placed under the card table for card players.From the years 1900 until 1930 women were crocheting afghans, car rugs and other things. From 1960s and 1970s crochet took off and can be seen today as three-dimensional sculptures, clothing, or rugs and tapestries that depict abstract and realistic designs and
David Almond explores the theme of imagination throughout his novel Skellig. From the first sentence to the very last, the theme of imagination was expressed through subplots and ideas. Questions and theories arose when Michael discovered Skellig in his garage. There were many situations throughout the novel where the reader has to think, ‘can this situation get better? do I believe that it can get better?’ David Almond activates the readers mind further by adding in winged creatures, both real and mythological, this allows each readers imagination to experience different thoughts about each activity in the novel. David Almond ties in belief and disbelief into the theme of imagination, complemented with excellent imagery, to create a vivid picture of the story in the readers mind. The story relates to David Almond more than most readers know. He had an ill sister when he was a child and Michael’s new house is very similar to the house that David Almond bought, right down to the toilet in the dining room.
Women of the tribe were the weavers from the start for practical reasons. Traditionally, the tribal women were in charge of domestic affairs. They therefore became in charge of basket making because it was their form of storage for household goods. This invention was their solution to the need to have unbreakable containers for their constantly moving lifestyle. The tribes roamed and needed containers that would be easy to carry, useful in storage, and that would not break. Basket weaving became the perfect solution. Baskets do not break, as pottery can, so they are easy to travel with. It was not until tribes began to remain stable that pottery came about since there was not the need for unbreakable containers and dishes (Underhill 20). The variety of shape and size meant that baskets could be used for almost any household task. For instance, baskets can be made three feet tall to hold grains, or they can be made only inches tall to store personal belongings. Some other utilitarian uses are trays, s...
Weaving is a common thread among cultures around the world. Weaving is a way of producing cloth or textile. Today we have machines that weave large-scale textiles at cheap prices. Production of cloth by hand is rarely engaged in today’s Westernized societies. Not many people are thinking about how the fibers are actually constructed to make their clothes. However, in other cultures across the world the tradition of weaving still exists. By comparing three cultures that continue weaving as a part of their tradition we can see similarities and the differences between them. The reasons that each culture still weaves vary, as do the methods and materials. The desired characteristics of the cloth also vary around the world as each culture values different aesthetics.