Bahti Indian Art - Tohono O'Odham Basketry

Tohono O'Odham
Basketry

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TOHONO O’ODHAM BASKETRY

      The Tohono O’odham is a tribe of the Sonoran Desert region of present-day southern Arizona and northern Sonora, Mexico. Formerly known as the Papago   (which was an English mispronunciation of a Spanish mispronunciation of another tribe’s name for them)   Tohono O’odham is a Uto-Aztecan word meaning 'Desert People' and is their name for themselves.
      A Tohono O’odham "hoh" or basket is made from a coil of bear grass (Nolina microcarpa, called moho in their language) sewn with bleached white yucca (Yucca elata, tokway).   Other materials used include green or yellow-green unbleached yucca, black from the seed pod of the devilsclaw plant (Martynia parviflora, eehuk) and on occasion, red from the root of the Spanish or Shin Dagger (Yucca arizonica, oh’eetock).
      There are two styles:   the split-stitch, which is used for utility or storage baskets;   and covered stitch baskets, for those which are subject to more wear, like baskets for parching or winnowing.

(C)   BAHTI Indian Arts, 1977--2007

A bird (doves, according to the weaver) basket, 7.5 by 1 inch,   $145.   Next is a turtle basket, 9.5 by 1.5 inches,   $150.




Sisters Frances and Delores Stevens brought in these basket at the end of August.   The green and white (and black) eagle basket is 6.25 by 1 inch, with 2.5 coils per inch,   $60.  
The four petal blossom pattern is woven with red yucca root, measures 4.5 by .7 inches, with a very fine coil count of just under six coils per inch.   $125.
The very fine black and white star pattern was woven by Natelia Antone, a young T.O. weaver whose mom, Doris Jose, consistently makes some of the finest maze baskets we handle.   It is 5 inches across with an impressive 7 to 8 coils per inch!   $110.

TOHONO O’ODHAM BASKETRY
MAZE PATERN

      The Tohono O'odham maze pattern, sometimes referred to as the Maze of Life, is a pattern found as a petroglyph in many areas of the Sonoran Desert that is the traditional home of the O'odham and their ancestors, the Hohokam.
      The design is generally believed to represent the path that I'itoi --Elder Brother-- took to his home near the base of Baboquivari Peak in order to evade anyone who might follow him.   Their relatives, the Pima ( Akimel O'odham ), are recorded as having said that it was the floor plan of a home built by Se-eh-ha to confound his enemies.
      In recent the past century the story has evolved into the maze as a symbolizing the path of life.   There is some disagreement as to whether the figure is entering or leaving the maze.   The version that has the figure entering goes on to say that the small 'nook' near the center where one sits and reflects upon one's life before completing the journey.
      Regardless of the version, the design lends itself well to the path-of-life interpretation as while it has no shortcuts, there are no dead-ends either, and the entire path must be followed in order to complete the journey.

Copyright 1997-2007 Bahti Indian Arts


Two great maze baskets by two great weavers:
The black and white one by Doris Jose is 5 inches across and has an exceptional 8 coils per inch.   $300.
The larger red, black and white maze basket by Delores Stevens measures 9.5 by 1.5 inches with 4 coils per inch and nice tight stitches.   $675.



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