Saturday, March 17, 2007

Sweetgrass baskets



I stopped at the roadside stand of Lillie and Annette, two Gullah women who craft baskets out of pine needles and marsh grasses. Here's Annette holding the lidded basket I bought:



May the road rise to meet you.
May the wind be always at your back.
May the sun shine warm upon your face.
And rains fall soft upon your fields.
And until we meet again,
May God hold you in the hollow of His hand.
----Irish blessing

7 comments:

Sandie said...

I love that blessing. YOur photos are both really pretty! She has a beautiful smile. You can never have too many baskets!!

Dalissa 365 said...

Those are gorgeous baskets. I actually had weaving in college and part of it was learning to weave baskets. There is definiteloy a craft and certain amount to learn to make them actually look good. I can't say any of mine looked especially aesthetic. What is a gullah?

Ianqui said...

The juxtaposition of the baskets with the credit card signs is kind of funny. I don't know if you intended that, but I like it.

Jess said...

Wow, those are remarkable. Every semester I see a none credit course at our community college on how to make baskets and I'd love to take it some day!

my15minutes said...

Dalissa, from Wikipedia: The Gullah are African Americans who live in the Low Country region of South Carolina and Georgia, which includes both the coastal plain and the Sea Islands. The Gullah are known for preserving more of their African linguistic and cultural heritage than any other black community in the United States. They speak an English-based creole language related to Jamaican Creole, Bahamian Dialect, and the Krio language of Sierra Leone in West Africa. Gullah storytelling, foodways, music, folk beliefs, crafts, farming and fishing traditions, etc. all exhibit strong influences from African cultures. Gullah "sweetgrass baskets" are almost identical to coil baskets made by the Wolof people in Senegal.

Jess, Annette said she started when she was five, and she can recognize one of her baskets anywhere (although none are ever signed....each one is unique, although I certainly can't detect the singularity).

Ianqui, yes, I liked that juxtaposition too.

Sandie, the blessing was in honor of St. Patrick's Day, but should I suppose apply to anyone we meet, right?

Dancingirl said...

Nice that you did the blessing on St. Patrick's day. I love pine needle baskets, and they have some huge ones! I hate to think how much they are. So glad you got a picture of Annette.

Dalissa 365 said...

Thanks for the info. It's very interesting!