Akwesasne Cultural Center Museum - Part 3

I was touring the Akwesasne Cultural Center Museum in Hogansburg, New York (see also previous two posts) and came to these cornhusk ironworker dolls, a tribute to the long-standing tradition of structural steel or ironwork. Over 300 Akwesasne Mohawks are members in Local 440 even today:

A water drum. I believe that different amounts of water are placed inside to add tone and pitch to the drumbeat. I own a clay water drum, made in Mexico, and I assume this worked similarly:

Ancient pottery and modern pottery:

Moccasins with porcupine quillwork:

Antler carvings of the Three Sisters: Bean Spirit, Squash Spirit and Corn Spirit:

A beaded bracelet:

Deerskin:

The Iroquois headdress was made of a wood splint frame, wrapped in leather. Each of the six nations had a distinctive headdress, adorned with silver and brass bands, cloth, beads, quahog shells and turkey, hawk or partridge feathers. Eagle feathers appeared at the top of each one and a chief's headdress also included deer antlers. I got a photo of all six nations. This was Seneca:

Mohawk:

Oneida:

Onondaga:

Cayuga:

Tuscarora:

Akwesasne Cultural Center Museum - Part 2

I was touring the Akwesasne Cultural Center Museum (see Part 1, posted yesterday) and stopped at these two stuffed partridge to read the sign. It explained that "Akwesasne" means "Land where the partridge drums:"

Everyday items for grinding corn, etc:

This soapstone carving represents the three sisters - corn, beans and squash. The face represents Mother Earth and the turtle shell represents Turtle Island, a term for this continent which originates with the creation story. The artist was Steve Kateroton McComber, a Mohawk:

A Bear Clan pendant, maker unknown, and a Snipe Clan Pendant, by Helen Laughing. Clans are one of the oldest aspects of Mohawk culture and are still important in Akwesasne as part of a person's identity:

This beaded hanging urn, maker unknown, was one of a wide variety of items made for sale in the late 1800s and early 1900s. The use of glass beads began in the 1600s and continues today:

A turtle shell rattle:

Three canoes, from top to bottom: Birchbark (collected in Akwesasne in 1925), Dugout (found on the banks of Earl Creek in 1972), and another, more sophisticated Dugout (purchased in Akwesasne in the late 1800s):

I've always loved dioramas, though they are devilishly hard to photograph. This was part of an extensive diorama which illustrated the layout of a typical village:

More exquisite baskets:

More beadwork and other objects of art:

I didn't notice the detail on this large basket until I got home and was editing photos. Then I noticed the tiny baskets all over its surface, but especially hanging from around the rim:

A horn rattle with bear carving (the bear is on the end of the handle):

Beadwork and Quillwork earrings:

Cloth and beadwork needle case:

Birchbark and porcupine quill box. And yet there was still more to see. I'll post Part 3 tomorrow:

Akwesasne Cultural Center Museum - Part 1

I left the farm and drove to Hogansburg, New York one cold morning. I wanted to take a second look at the Akwesasne (Mohawk) Museum at the Cultural Center. I knew I'd crossed into the reservation when I began seeing giant signs advertising cigarettes at cheap prices. I parked behind the cultural center and entered the museum:

There were signs which explained the exhibits, though I never saw any people. I learned here the story of the creation of the world. Sky woman fell from the sky and waterbirds helped her to land safely onto the turtle's back. A lacrosse player assisted the Sky woman as she fell. The native songs, dances and games help connect the people to the sky world:

Akwesasne Mohawk basket makers pound Black Ash logs to make splint, which is then soaked and the fibers scraped off by hand with a knife. Hand tools are used to split the splint into thinner layers and to cut it into the needed widths. Weaving is only one part of the process and is alternated with drying time, after which the weaves are packed tightly:

Baskets are also woven of Sweetgrass, though it wasn't always clear which were Black Ash and which were Sweetgrass. I suspected that many were a combination:

I remembered from a previous visit that this small basket was called, for obvious reasons, a strawberry basket:

Lacrosse is considered a medicine game which was first played in the Sky World and is now a bridge between earth and sky, a game to lift human spirits and to entertain the Creator:

Carving bone and antler is an ancient Iroquois tradition. This contemporary piece was done by Stan Hill, a Mohawk from the Six Nations territory near Toronto, Ontario:

Baby carriers, also called cradleboards, were individually decorated and came in a wide variety of designs:

The photo below this cradleboard shows how they were used:

Baskets were used for gathering and carrying food and medicine as the people gave thanks for their environment, the natural world:

This very large basket was striking:

There was a wide variety of baskets, expertly and artistically made. I took photos of only a few of them but there were many more to see at the museum. I'll post Part 2 tomorrow: