POMO BASKETMAKING

POMO BASKETS ARE MADE BY PLAITING, COILING, AND TWINING.  ELSIE ALLEN MADE A PLEDGE THAT SHE WOULD CARRY ON THIS POMO TRADITION OF BASKETMAKING.  EACH BASKET HAS MANY DETAILS AND DESIGNS THATHAVE MEANING.  EACH WEAVER HAS NO PLANS BUT USES HER DREAMS TO DESIGN  THE BASKET.THE GOOD OR BAD FEELINGS OF THE BASKETS ARE  RELEASED THROUGH A FLAW IN THE DESIGN CALLED A DAU.

THE MATERIALS THEY USE CAN BE HARVESTED EACH YEAR .  THEY PICK MOSTLY REDBUD, SEDGE ROOT, AND WILLOW SHOOTS. THE MATERIALS ARE DRY CLEANED, SPLIT, SOAKED AND DYED.  SOME OF THE MATERIALS ARE BOILED OVER A FIRE AND SET IN THE SUN TO DRY.  BOTH WOMEN AND MEN MAKE BASKETS. THE WOMEN MAKE BASKETS.  THE WOMEN COILED TWINED AND MADE FEATHERED FEATHER BASKETS. FOR COOKING  AND STORING FOOD.  AS WELL AS FOR CEREMONIES.  THE MEN'S BASKETS ARE THE BABY BASKETS WITH WILLOW AND WEIRS AND BIRD TRAPS.

AN OLD STUDY OF POMO BASKETS WAS BY SAMUEL BARRETT.  SUSAN BILLY IS NOW A GRANDMOTHER.  SHE HAS BEEN WEAVING SINCE 32 YEARS AGO. HER GREAT AUNT WAS ELSIE ALLEN AND SHE LEARNED BASKETMAKING FROM HER WHEN ELSIE WAS 74 YEARS AGO.  WEAVING BASKETS IS NOW A CRAFT BEING REJUVENATED.  THERE WERE OVER 17 LANGUAGE GROUPS WITH 20,000 FOLKS HERE FOR OVER 10,000 YEARS BEFORE SETTLERS CAME.  THE ABUNDANT GAME AND EDIBLE GAVE THEM PLENTY OF TIME TO WORK IN THE ARTS AND CRAFTS. SO THEY DEVELOPED A RICH BASKET WEAVING CRAFT..THE POMOS WERE GUIDED BY THEIR HEALERS HEADS OF FAMILY AND CEREMONIAL LEADERS SPIRITUALITY INFUSED THEIR CRAFTS AND BASKETS WERE CONSIDERED SPIRITUAL.  THEY TENDED EVERYTHING IN THEIR LAND SO THAT IT WOULD BE REPLENISHED  FOR YEARS TO COME.  THEY TALKED TO THE PLANTS AS THEY COLLECTED THEM - SEDGE ROOT, WILLOW, AND REDBUD. THEY TOOK ONLY WHAT WAS NEEDED.  THE POMO SUFFERED GREATLY AS ANGLOS MOVED ONTO THIS LAND.   FROM EARLY 1800 TO 1860'S THEY WERE KILLED, ENSLAVED OR INFECTED WITH VARIOUS EUROPEANS AND RUSSIANS.

BY 1920'S THE WEALTHY ANGLOS CAME TO HOT SPRINGS IN THE AREA SOUGHT POMO BASKETRY.  THE MEN FARM LABORERS MADE $1.50 PER DAY FOR DOING RANCH WORK.  BASKETRY COST ABOUT 2 MONTHS OF WAGES!  MABEL MC KAY WAS A MEDICINE WOMAN AND BASKET MAKER ARE LIVING THINGS.  SHE HEALED PEOPLE BY SUCKING WORMS OUT AND WOVE  BASKETS BASED ON HER DREAMS.  THE GRACE HUDSON MUSEUM HAS SOME AWESOME BASKETS SOME ARE MINISCULE,  AND OTHER LARGE ENOUGH TO HOLD TO HOLD 500 POUNDS OF ACORNS.

THEY MADE BASKETS FOR ALL KINDS OF OCCASIONS - FISHING, CARRYING HUGE LOADS, COOKING, CARRYING BABIES, AND FOR CEREMONIES.  THEY WERE GIVEN AS GIFTS.  MABEL'S BASKETS HAVE SPECIFIC HEALING PROPERTIES.  POMOS MADE 7 TYPES OF BASKETS FOR ACORN MUSH.  THEY MADE 22 TYPES OF BASKETS !  MEN MADE THE HEAVIER BASKETS AND WOMEN MADE FINE BASKETS FROM BIRTH, DEATH, CHILDHOOD, PUBERTY, MARRIAGES, FEASTING, AND HEALING.  THEIR ART IS INTERNATIONALLY KNOWN.  FROM 1890'S TO 1929 THEY HAD A GOOD MARKET FOR BASKETS.  THEY COULDN'T KEEP UP WITH DEMAND.  MOSTLY OLDER WOMEN WERE WEAVING BASKETS.  THEY FORMED A CLUB TO PROMOTE THEIR CRAFT, DEMONSTRATE THEIR WEAVING.  IN 1929  THE STOCK MARKET CRASHED AND BASKET MAKING PLUMMETED.  TODAY THE POMO LIVE ON 17 RANCHERIAS IN SONOMA, MENDOCINO, AND LAKE COUNTIES.

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OILED TWINED