Kiishik Naakniiganke - Cedar Mat Making

[Music] the way on a way your head well it still goes back to what my grandma said she said basket-making is in a way isn't a hobby it's a way of life and so I think about that with all natural fiber weeding it is a way of life the cedar is a medicine that helps out of emotional mental spiritual and physical the four aspects of humaneness and cedar helps you if you have challenges or triumphs when it comes to physical limitations or triumphs in that way and when are we most vulnerable but when we're sleeping we're very very vulnerable that's when your body is resting and you go into that dream state and you need that medicine to protect your your body and there also it was like what we had made it for us young Galen Eagan his feast man which feeds you physically and so the food is offered from the earth right directly on her and then the mat and then the food on top of that and that's what nourishes human takes care of you physically so everyone got to make an individual map probably to place a copper cup or something like that on it and kind of practice at how we're gonna create the big Hungate naka negan or feast man this is going to outlive us this is going to be around long enough for your family to inherit or maybe it'll go with you actually my first time ever leaving we're really making anything with my hands and it was a pretty incredible experience because you're connecting with something so much deeper than yourself and something that spans just so much longer than I can even think to it in this kind of way especially when I was doing I was doing it very efficient and people were speaking the language just really incredible and it just makes you to this other place that transcends time and space that makes you feel really connected to your attention in our culture epitome games go epitome it's about being fun games full webinar and MOG a7r snow in explain no magic at the keys you're gonna get oh na na na cleaning oh no sir oh so now things about peace get tying beams go webathon mobile knocking even get a get a and [Music] I met it took a lot of effort to build and it still has a few holes but still it's perfect we're using this for special occasions I talked about stirring up blood memory all the time and the people that came together some of them got really addicted to it they really liked it and enjoyed it and they kept coming back so each time that we had a gathering and there were three main gatherings where they were making their knock the little mat and getting their skills down and then towards the end we had honed it down to the last 20 or so people that we're the hardcore Weaver said really were enjoying it and they couldn't wait until we met again these right here these are the warp running them up getting the warp all ready and lined up and once I think she wants to do it about three and a half feet or so once we get all the wort and we'll need and then we will I'm not sure if we'll start with the sell but she kind of talked about that but I'm not positive kind of sounded nuts which did the salvage first and it kind of makes sense I guess because we have to have everything place so that's not going to move you know all these fibers as we start to put the weft in and we the weft end so we're just in the warp lined up right now ways that bark wants to be so if you're going with with the bark and doing what it wants and it's pretty similar after the outer bark has tared away from the inner bark and peeled away then the inner bark can be split many times it has lots and lots of layers to it so just like wig wasps or birch bark that has lots of little paper layers or bass wood that has lots of little paper layers if you know how to get at it you can peel it away and peel it away so after the bark had been seasoned for a whole year taught them how to split it which was a little challenge it's like splitting black-ass and if you're not used to it then you know so it all got split and then we sized it by cutting it cutting cutting cutting cutting cutting cutting lots of prepare lots of cutting and cutting all the pieces so that they're basically the same and then we laid them out and it's under 2 over 2 and they're 2 over 2 and in a barricaded way so that's called at well we've whoever's finishing that up needs to sit right here and finish it because I'm gonna make a decision under one under 2 over 1 over 2 and then the rest of the weave is just under over under over to the niche ok bye to the lead Weaver makes the decision how so you'll insist on when you if you get lost in there count back for and do the next one look as the fourth one down because the pattern repeats itself every 4 we're not doing anything fancy we're not putting you know we're just gonna do a 12 so here's our first one so I started by over one over to do that oil line and I'll take it down this far okay then you're gonna then you're gonna finish it because if you understand the beginning and the ending of a particular project then the middle all just falls together but if you don't set it up correctly with the right amount of numbers and with the right outlay and plan laid up ahead of time then it's just not it's not gonna work out very well for you you'll have all kinds of issues along the way historically you know before contact we weren't sleeping like directly on the ground we had little little racks that we would use to sleep on and you put bow down and he laid the cedar bark mat down and then you can put the rest of your bedding down and that's what where you sleep everything is connected in some way shape or form and it's so evident in so many aspects of our life but this was one way for us to come together as a people to create these feast myths that can be used by anybody in the community there are certain rules I suppose and that is it's not a table covering so it's not to be on a table but right on the ground where traditional feasts usually take place and in that aspects we make those feasts so that our ancestors can come and enjoy the food with us and they'll recognize what's going on because they'll be things during their time on earth they'll be able to recognize all there's still native people on this topic doing the old face and they'll come and be part of that and I think that kind of part of the blood memory that kind of stirred up inside of the people so this part right here that we're doing is the twining it's not the weaving but it's to secure the rough edges here so what I'm doing is I have two strands here and one goes over and one goes under each piece and then when you switch to a new piece you twist it so that now the one that was over is going under and the one that was under is now going over so it's like a figure eight and make sure that it's tight to the edge of the mat that all of these pieces are tight together and all of these pieces are tight together so that it holds it all in place I'm starting it off right so the pattern starts off as either like under one and then you go over to under two so this first one is under one the second one is under two then you go over one over two so that's that's your first your first pattern and then after that it's just over 104 over two under two all the way so it's all very very exciting the way everything came together if you try and plan some of those things it doesn't always work out in the same way but when it does work out in a good way what we say in a good way then that tells me that the community was ready and that it was time for this to actually happen you wait on a way your head I put a paw up take one mission sheet oh yeah perhaps not a lot had changed we our hands and our bodies were going through the same motions but the feeling behind what we were doing and why we were doing it absolutely the same and that is what it felt so good and I think the reason why so many people kept coming back and going back and recognizing in the tree for the gifts that it has to offer and putting that same on down and spending all that time with the fiber and sizing it up and getting to know that tree both in life and what it's left for us to use all of that feeling goes into that man and I think that people won't understand eventually that time we make our medicine work again is that we've got to bring these old ways back there's a place for it [Music] when y'all had anyway your head [Music] so you're welcome to try and learn that song and when we're working especially when we're working as a community it's good to sing that that song together it helps us get in all one mindset and what that song said is life is really good today why we're making this mat good you

Channel: LTBBOI Tribal Historic Preservation Office

Views: 2,232

Rating: 4.9384613 out of 5

Keywords: cedar weaving, native american, indian, little traverse bay bands of odawa indians, odawa, annishnabe, petoskey, harbor springs, michigan

Id: 9Z3hPg9nbYM

Length: 13min 20sec (800 seconds)

Published: Thu Aug 02 2018