Native American Hopi Made Burden Basket

Description

Native American Hopi Made Burden Basket by Dorleen Gashweseoma Lalo

Burden baskets are traditionally carried via a strap across the forehead. The basket rests on the woman's back. This frees her hands for picking fruit, berries, gathering sweetgrass, or carrying a child in a cradleboard. This larger basket has an open weave in the bottom that Dorleen began to incorporate in her baskets only after actually holding one of her grandmother's early baskets while she was a guest at the Smithsonian in Washington, D.C. Dorleen uses sumac and is one of the only basketmakers who still gathers and weaves baskets with this material. At the end of the day these baskets are hung outside the home; visitors are asked to put their burdens in the basket as they enter and then gather them when they leave. Many times, the visitors will find that the troubles have been taken on the wind while they visited.