[MUSIC PLAYING] This basket class to me,
it's important on, I guess, several different levels. One, of course, is my family. This is one craft I really don't
know how to do or I've seen. And so I'd seen the
class and it came to me right at a good time. My great-grandmother
was Chiricahua but her skills
weren't passed down. So it's nice to be
able to reconnect with that part of a culture that
was lost to me, to my family. The purpose of our basket
weaving in the old times was to gather the
food because we're known as hunters and gatherers. In the older times,
it was basically for the food
gathering and in order to pick up all the cactus
plants and all the things that we have to go through. So the basket
weaving is important. It's really died
out is the problem and I wanted to learn
how to do the burden baskets because that's
one of our main baskets that they use to gather
because they used it for gathering bigger things. My great-grandmother left the
US and married a Mexican man. She didn't pass the culture
down and it was lost to my branch of the family. So that for me is personal
because, like I said, I'm getting that
little bit back. And to think that that could
happen so many times over is frightening, that this--
these-- I should say "these" because it's not
just this basket-- that these types of things
that our ancestors relied on to survive could just be lost. Nowadays, I've noticed
there's a big demand for traditional stuff like this. There's always somebody
asking, I need somebody to make a cradle board for me. I need somebody to
make a basket for me. I need somebody to make
a tea necklace for me. It's really something
that's dying out. So it's nice that we
have workshops like this to help pass on that knowledge
and hopefully keep it around forever. The material, feeling it
in raw form like this, it's making you be patient. It is asking you to slow
down, like putting a model car together. Everything's already fixed
and all you have to do is read the instructions
and tack on a, b, c, d. But here, there's
no instructions that I can refer to. It's more trial
and error and it's more you have to do the
process and really just sit there and see how things
are going to come out. And you just can't-- there's not
going to be an instruction book for every basket you make and I
guess that's the reality of it. In Arizona specifically, a lot
of different tribes use yucca and they do the coil baskets,
where it's just pretty fast, I guess you could
say, to complete. This is totally different. This is actually
using the resources, I guess, in the area-- so a lot
of willow, the sumac branches, stuff that's grown
in higher elevation. You see traditional
plants and just different things
that are out there and you really don't know. You pass by them every day but
you don't take notice, I guess, until you really
learn what they are. And so that's one thing I'm
going to be looking out for. That looks like a really
good branch I could use. I was surprised
at how very little tools we needed to do this. A lot of it was stripping
bark and the branches with your bare hands, using
your knees, using your fingers. I thought it would
be being able to use certain tools to be able to
scrape out a lot of that stuff. But no, I was really surprised
at how it was very hands-on. When you start, there's the
willow stick, which is thicker. And you make your
slit and then you're trying to separate it in
half and there's balance. So if it starts to
go too much one way, then you have to
push the other way. And if you're not feeling
it and paying attention, if you just want it to hurry and
do it the way you want it to, it's going to strip. You're going to lose the
stick because it's already got its grain in there and
you have to just follow what it wants to do. You can guide it but you
can't make it do something it doesn't want to do. It's my first
basket-- didn't quite know what it would take to
put it together, I guess, and the patience
of making myself pay attention to little
details because at first, when I was pulling the willows
apart, I was just [BLOWS] and it would split not
even 3/4 of the way down. And so making my
self disciplined to learn the process because
I think that a lot of times, you just want, oh, just to do it
and get it done kind of thing. But it was like,
OK, no, you can't. You have to listen
to the instructor. You have to watch
what she's doing and then yourself have to do
exactly how she's doing it as best she can to explain
to you how to do it and learn from her experience. I know by doing that same method
here, by looking and listening real close, and I
know I paid attention and yet I still don't
have the feeling. And I think it's by splitting
and cleaning the stems, I'm catching it now. So being here yesterday
and today has helped a lot. So I like it. I liked it. It's going to benefit
me and my tribe. Well, the basket I
started off with, I had to add some
more of the willow so that's why
that's sticking out. But it's starting to shape
to look like a basket. I don't think we're going
to get very too far today but the hardest part was
definitely starting it. And after you get the
hang of weaving it, I think I'd be able
to finish on my own. To tell you the truth, whenever
I did it from yesterday-- and my fingers are really
sore and I didn't really, I guess, anticipate that
feeling of my hands being sore because I haven't had that
feeling in a really long time. And the smell of the
sumac and the willow combined, it just makes you
think about a lot of different, I guess-- a calming smell. And that's how I think
I'm going to associate now the sumac and the willow. Making the thread,
just this part, took me back to beginning
weaving and that feeling of, am I ever going to get it? And in my mind, I know,
OK, if I keep practicing, eventually, I'll
get to the point where I don't have
to think about it and my fingers will
just know what to do. And right now, my mind is
trying to tell me what to do and that's what messing me
up because I'm not really letting the plant do
what it needs to do. I'm trying to make it
do what I want it to do and I end up stripping
it down to the bark. And then I have to
start all over again. So that was totally new. I am a substance
abuse preventionist and so I do a lot of different
things in the community. And tying things back
to culture and tradition is a really strong
resiliency skill that I'd like to
teach other kids. And now that I know so many
people in my community that have taken this class, it'd
be really good to have them as a resource. And the more connections
you have to your culture and to traditions, it's a great
strength and a resiliency skill for kids and youth. I'm always reminded
that even though we can be separated by so
many thousand miles, there are some things
that are just the same. It doesn't matter what
tribe you're from. Some things are the same,
different materials, different uses maybe,
but still the same. And some things are
entirely different. Because the materials
are different, some things have to be. But like splitting
the sticks, it's the same thing we do with
juncus or tule in California. Before, it was actually a
necessity for the Apache people to be able to carry things while
they work and gather for wood, gather for food-- everyone
basically needed one. And now today, you see
them a lot in ceremonies. You see them a lot in home
decoration to, I guess, identify yourself as
this is an Apache basket. I am Apache. And it's really important
because Apache people are known for baskets. No, I'm just very thankful
that the Heard Museum was able to bring this to us. I'm very thankful that-- I am
such a true believer in things happen for a reason. When something is
put forth for you, it'll either work
out for a reason or doesn't work out for a
reason, things like that. And I think this was
brought to me for a reason. So I'm going to
take that blessing and I thank the creator
for that and the people who were able to put this
type of stuff together.
