Native American Crafts

Native American bone chokers originally were made from bird legs. They were seldom used as just ornamentation. They were used as physical protection for the throat from a possible knife attack. The jugular vein is in the neck and is lethal if cut. They were also used in conjunction with physical protection as a spiritual protection for the voice. Because most birds are noted for the sounds they make or for their singing quality. The spirit of the bird could be invoked to protect the person’s voice from ailments, jealousy or fatigue.

From ancient times to the present, Native Americans have created baskets. In fact, basket weaving is one of the oldest crafts developed by man.

Native American Indian baskets range from very simple to elaborate and colorful works of art that took great skill to make. This artwork often involves secret techniques that have been passed down from generation to generation among Native American Indian mothers and daughters.

It is not uncommon for a well-crafted basket to contain over one hundred thousand stitches! 

The shaman’s rattle is a most sacred instrument. The rattle is believed to embody the sacred forces of the cosmos through its sounds, structural features, contents, and connection to the spirit world. The gourd rattle is described as the sound of Creation. The creation stories tell of the first sound, a shimmering sound, which went out in all directions; this was the sound of “the Creator’s thoughts.”

Silver jewelry can be created many ways. Pure silver is generally too soft for jewelry making, so it is combined (alloyed) with other metals. All the terms used to describe the various creation processes can be confusing. Here is a guide to sort it all out.

One look at the elaborate turquoise bracelets, engraved silver belt buckles and ornate squash blossom necklaces featured in “Glittering World: Navajo Jewelry of the Yazzie Family,” and it’s clear that by bypassing accounting, Mr. Yazzie is giving the Navajo nation a much richer gift. The exhibition until early 2016 shows about 330 pieces of jewelry made by 15 members of the Yazzie family, with a focus on work by Lee and his younger brother Raymond.

The most popular jewelry styles from the Southwest are made by the Navajo, Hopi, Zuni and Santo Domingo tribes. While individual artists may make jewelry in a style usually associated with a particular tribe that may not be their own, these are the general, most common differences in the jewelry styles created by these Southwest tribes.

Indian fetishes are Southwest tribal miniature carvings that some say are imbued with spirit forces.Fetishes are hand-carved objects, which represent the spirits of animals or the forces of nature. From the earliest times in North America, the Indians have used fetishes in an effort to master the arbitrary and unpredictable forces beyond their control. The earliest fetishes are called Ahlashiwe or stone ancients by the Zunis. They were naturally formed stones that seemed to resemble people or animals, sometimes made more realistic with the features accentuated by a carver.

Whether woven by a Native American or mass-produced by American woolen mills on a Jacquard loom, the blanket is a constant of Native American life and it is inextricably tied to the tradition of trade in the Southwest. To this day, the rituals tied to blankets are part of Indian life from birth to death: […]

Whether woven by a Native American or mass-produced by American woolen mills on a Jacquard loom, the blanket is a constant of Native American life and it is inextricably tied to the tradition of trade in the Southwest.