Vtg Ojibwe Native American Makuk Birch and similar items

VTG OJIBWE NATIVE AMERICAN MAKUK BIRCH BASKET PRIMITIVE RUSTIC HOME DECOR CABIN VTG OJIBWE NATIVE AMERICAN MAKUK BIRCH BASKET PRIMITIVE RUSTIC HOME DECOR CABIN Click image to enlarge Description GREETINGS, FEEL FREE TO "SHOP NAKED" We deal in items we believe others will enjoy and want to purchase. We are not experts. We welcome any comments, questions, or concerns. WE ARE TARGETING A GLOBAL MARKET PLACE. Thanks in advance for your patronage. Please Be sure to add WDG to your favorites list! NOW FOR YOUR VIEWING PLEASURE… VINTAGE NATIVE AMERICAN BIRCHBARK BASKET NORTHERN COASTAL ABORIGANAL OJIBWE MEASURES ABOUT 12" HIGH BY 8" WIDE HANDCRAFTED / HAND WOVEN -------------------------------------------- FYI -------------------------------------------- A basket is a container that is traditionally constructed from stiff fibers and can be made from a range of materials, including wood splints, runners, and cane. While most baskets are made from plant materials, other materials such as horsehair, baleen, or metal wire can be used. Baskets are generally woven by hand. Some baskets are fitted with a lid, while others are left open on top. Uses Baskets serve utilitarian as well as aesthetic purposes. Some baskets are ceremonial, that is religious, in nature. While baskets are usually used for harvesting, storage and transport, specialized baskets are used as sieves for a variety of purposes, including cooking, processing seeds or grains, tossing gambling pieces, rattles, fans, fish traps, and laundry. History Prior to the invention of woven baskets, people used tree bark to make simple containers. These containers could be used to transport gathered food and other items, but crumbled after only a few uses. Weaving strips of bark or other plant material to support the bark containers would be the next step, followed by entirely woven baskets. The last innovation appears to be baskets so tightly woven that they could hold water. Depending on soil conditions, baskets may or may not be preserved in the archaeological record. Sites in the Middle East show that weaving techniques were used to make mats and possibly also baskets, circa 8000 BCE. Twined baskets date back to 7000 in Oasisamerica. Baskets made with interwoven techniques were common at 3000 BCE. Baskets were originally designed as multi-purpose vessels to carry and store materials and to keep stray items about the home. The plant life available in a region affects the choice of material, which in turn influences the weaving technique. Rattan and other members of the Arecaceae or palm tree family, the thin grasses of temperate regions, and broad-leaved tropical bromeliads each require a different method of twisting and braiding to be made into a basket. The practice of basket making has evolved into an art. Artistic freedom allows basket makers a wide choice of colors, materials, sizes, patterns, and details. The carrying of a basket on the head, particularly by rural women, has long been practiced. Representations of this in Ancient Greek art are called Canephorae. ---- Birch bark or birchbark is the bark of several Eurasian and North American birch trees of the genus Betula. The strong and water-resistant cardboard-like bark can be easily cut, bent, and sewn, which has made it a valuable building, crafting, and writing material, since pre-historic times. Even today, birch bark remains a popular type of wood for various handicrafts and arts. Birch bark also contains substances of medicinal and chemical interest. Some of those products (such as betulin) also have fungicidal properties that help preserve bark artifacts, as well as food preserved in bark containers. Collection and storage Removing birch bark from live trees is harmful to tree health and should be avoided. Instead, it can be removed fairly easily from the trunk or branches of dead wood, by cutting a slit lengthwise through the bark and pulling or prying it away from the wood. The best time for collection is spring or early summer, as the bark is of better quality and most easily removed. Removing the outer (light) layer of bark from the trunk of a living tree may not kill it, but probably weakens it and makes it more prone to infections. Removal of the inner (dark) layer, the phloem, kills the tree by preventing the flow of sap to the roots. To prevent it from rolling up during storage, the bark should be spread open and kept pressed flat. Birch bark can be cut with a sharp knife, and worked like cardboard. For sharp bending, the fold should be scored (scratched) first with a blunt stylus. Fresh bark can be worked as is; bark that has dried up (before or after collection) should be softened by steaming, by soaking in warm water, or over a fire. Uses Birch bark was a valuable construction material in any part of the world where birch trees were available. Containers such as wrappings, bags, baskets, boxes, or quivers were made by most societies well before pottery was invented. Other uses include: In various Asian countries (including Siberia) birch bark was used to make storage boxes, paper, tinder, canoes, roof coverings, tents, and waterproof covering for composite bows, such as the Mongol bow, the Chinese bow, Korean bow, Turkish bows, Assyrian bow, the Perso-Parthian bow...etc. It is still being used. More than one variety of birch is used. In North America, the native population used birch bark for canoes, wigwams, scrolls, ritual art (birch bark biting), maps (including the oldest maps of North America), torches, fans, musical instruments, clothing, and more. In Scandinavia and Finland, it was used as the substratum of sod roofs and birch-bark roofs, for making boxes, casks and buckets, fishing implements, and shoes (as used by the Egtved Girl) similar to bast shoes. In Russia, many birch bark manuscripts have survived from the Middle Ages. Birch bark knife handles are popular tools to be made currently. In India, birch-bark, along with dried palm leaves, were the primary writing supports before the widespread advent of paper in the second millennium CE. The oldest known Buddhist manuscripts (some of the Gandharan Buddhist Texts), from Afghanistan, were written on birch bark. Neanderthals used birch bark to make a tar adhesive through the process of dry or destructive distillation. Birch bark also makes an outstanding tinder, as the inner layers will stay dry even through heavy rainstorms. A wiigwaasi-makak (plural: wiigwaasi-makakoon), meaning "birch-bark box" in the Anishinaabe language, is a box made of panels of birchbark sewn together with watap. The construction of makakoon from birchbark was an essential element in the culture of the Anishinaabe people and other members of the Native Americans and First Nations of the Upper Great Lakes, particularly in the regions surrounding Lake Superior. Birchbark makakoon continue to be crafted to this day as heritage heirlooms and for the tourist trade. Lake Superior-area geology is short in supplies of clay, making pottery scarce for the people who lived there. However, the paper birch grows in profusion in this area, and sheets and panels of its strong, papery bark can be cut and carved from a tree for use. Birchbark boxes played a key role in creating durable packages and utensils for storage and everyday use. Skilled harvesting of the bark, done at the proper season of the year, does not fatally injure the tree. Well-made makakoon were close to waterproof, and could be used to store soluble goods such as maple sugar. This sugar was used not only for a sweetener but as a seasoning, since the North American natives of the time had no salt. Important documents written on birchbark (wiigwaasabak) were placed in makakoon for safekeeping. Anishinaabe initiates of the Midewiwin would often secure their numinous items in a wiigwaasi-makak. Exceptionally well-made makakoon could be used as cooking utensils, although this use declined after the arrival of Euro-American traders in the 1600s with metal pots and saucepans for sale. The makak would be filled with water and the foodstuff to be cooked, and then carefully hung over a campfire in such a way as to heat the water to the boiling point while falling short of combustion. (THIS PICTURE FOR DISPLAY ONLY) ------------------------- Thanks for choosing this sale. You may email for alternate payment arrangements. We combine shipping. 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