Mission Basket Essay

The Baskets of the Luiseño People: From Past to Present The Luiseño people of the San Diego region in Southern California, also known as Mission Indians, are distinguished as six different tribes known as the: Pechanga, La Jolla, Rincon, Pala, Pauma, and Soboba. The Luiseño people lived a hunter-and-gatherer way of life; the sea life along the coast, the acorns from several species of oak tree, berries, and animal products provided adequate nutrition for the Luiseños. The way in which these items were gathered had been through the use of coiled baskets. Luiseño coiled baskets are seen as one of the hallmarks of the pre-contact period prior to Spanish colonization in 1769. Although baskets are seen today as a curio

As stated earlier, the deer grass was the most common plant material to use for the coiling. For the patterns, Juncus or split sumac, would be used using a “pierce and penetrate” method which would be sown to the “underlying coil.” According to Justin F. Farmer, “an important diagnostic trait of the mission basket would be the Bound Under Fag End Stitch, or BUFES” (Farmer 10). The fag end stitch is the beginning strand of the basket that the weaver subtly blends into the coiled basket as a whole. The strand is also kept short, and even on rare occasions, cut away to make it less conspicuous. It is also worthy to note that a great majority of mission baskets are made to go into a clockwise direction. The time spent by the weaver to produce a good quality basket had proved rather tedious, and according to Farmer, “depending on whether the weaver uses juncus or sumac, it could take the exact time to weave the basket as it does to process the materials” (Farmer 13). Although, at times, some baskets were weaved quickly using the seeds of the juncus plant; and were called, “throw away

According to Linda Tuhiwai Smith from IPinCH, her podcast, Decolonizing Research, focuses on the decolonization movement going on in aboriginal nations, such as in New Zealand, which is seeking to deconstruct the effects of colonialism that had been imposed on native youth through western education. The effects of colonialism, has always been an ongoing project, but through statements made through artistic means, it is possible to regain sovereignty for aboriginal nations. James Luna, an artist who is of La Jolla Luiseño Indian, and Mexican American descent, has made a strong statement in regards to the health of the native people. Luna performs a ceremony through use of sand, rocks that are formed into a circle (aligned with the spot light that is provided on stage), a Luiseno coiled basket filled with acorns in remembrance of Luna’s California Indian heritage, sugar packets, medical needles, and a can of spam to demonstrate how the current way of life of the Luiseño Indian is radically different from the traditional Indian way of life because of colonial influences. The American Indian is twice as likely to develop diabetes because the food their ancestors relied on for nourishment had been replaced by processed, cheap food that leads to the