Friday, December 19, 2014

Ancient Ways Calumet Pipes

A calumet is a ceremonial smoking pipe used by some indigenous American nations. Traditionally it has been smoked to seal a covenant or treaty, or to offer prayers in a religious ceremony.A common material for calumet pipe bowls is red pipestone or catlinite, a fine-grained easily worked stone of a rich red color.

War Clubs: Gunstock Club

The Gunstock club was so-called because these weapons resembled the shape of a a musket or rifle body and carved in the shape of a European gunstock. Gunstock clubs were widely used across North America in the late 18th and 19th centuries, both as weapons and status symbols. They were often made with hard wood or whale bone and embellished with carvings on the handle. 

Squash blossom whorl

The squash blossom or butterfly whorls worn by Hopi maidens. To make this hairdo, a young woman's mother would wind her hair around a curved piece of wood to give it a round shape, then remove the wood frame. Only unmarried young women wore this complex hairstyle.

Birchbark canoes



Birchbark canoes are most commonly associated with Native Americans of northern regions, where these Birch trees can grow large enough for use as canoe making material. These canoes require an enormous amount of work gathering the materials is just the begin.

Tuesday, September 30, 2014

Navajo sand paintings

                                                                                   Navajo sand paintings are made for ceremonies usually made by medicine man and his helpers. These sand painting are then destroyed after the ceremony is compeleted. Navajo sandpainting ceremonies are held to cure illness and ensure general well-being.
Navajo sand painting, called  Father Sky Mother Earth
http://www.susanstevenson.com/Journal/2009/December/18317HomeOfTheBearsP.jpg
Forever Home of the Bears.