Native Goods Stories

Museum store staff and volunteers act as “storytellers” to educate visitors about the items for sale. Below is a sample of a story that you might hear when you visit the Native Goods store.

When is a basket not a basket?

Native American cultural tradition is reflected in many of its arts. This is particularly true of the Hopi Indian Nation where basket making is a craft that mirrors many aspects of Hopi culture. What a lay-person may consider to be a basket may well turn out to be one of several unique objects that are produced for specific cultural use or display.

The villages on Third Mesa in Hopi, such as the village of Hotevilla, produce a variety of woven plaques know commonly as "pay-backs". These baskets are also known as wicker plaques and have unique technical characteristics that distinguish them from other basket arts world-wide. Hopi basket designs quote from nature, Katsina Society, clan symbols and elements of daily living.

Their many uses are equally unique. A payback may be given in recognition of ceremonial favors offered at the request of the giver. As a matriarchal society, the person bearing this obligation is most commonly the woman who is head of the family. Each year requires a number of annual ceremonies within the ceremonial cycle, while other ceremonies such as weddings or coming of age ceremonies may occur only upon request. It is up to the families requesting these ceremonies to acknowledge the time, effort and esoteric skills of each member of the community who participates in these ceremonies.

Because of the value placed on ceremony and the recurring need to host many of them each year, payback obligations often outstrip the ability of the ceremony's requester to fulfill these obligations immediately. Accordingly, payback obligations will be remembered by both the giving and receiving parties for decades until they are fulfilled.

The small number of weavers and the enormous community need for these items to recognize important "community service" lends high value to these scarce "baskets". Not surprisingly, the common protocol regarding the sale of such baskets restricts their distribution off the Hopi mesas. A basket should be used at least three times (received and displayed for a year by the recipient - then used to "pay back" their own outstanding obligations) before the third recipient of the same plaque may consider trading or selling it outside Hopi.