1/8

I decided to attend the Native American Festival because I am 1/8 Cherokee Indian. In my family, we focus more on our ancestry coming over on the Titanic so I was hoping to gain some insight onto my heritage. Today I got a taste of Native American culture and crafts. There were Cherokee tribes, and Sioux tribe descendants there. I asked how long it took to make their crafts, and these were the results.

TABLE 1: The Basket Weaver

The basket weaving process takes 2-3 days to complete. First, they must cut down a small tree. After shaving it into long equal reeds, they must work quickly with the wood while it is still green in color. If they chose to stain it darker, they will dye the wood upon cutting it. After weaving the basket into a pattern, the wood must be left to dry.

TABLE 2: The Dream Catcher

The dream catcher is a tool used to keep away evil spirts and catch all bad dreams. Each one takes anywhere between 4-8 hours to make.

TABLE 3: Jewelry

Native American jewelry is not only stunning, but it gives clues about which tribe they came from based on things like color and stitch pattern. Most jewelry takes about 2 days to craft.

(The final image shown is two men in traditional dress.)