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A Sweetgrass Basket Tradition That You'll Never Forget
Any vacation to the Lowcountry of South Carolina will show you things only found in the lowlands and marshes of this particular state. You'll find that the art of creating sweetgrass baskets is typically something that is only found in the Lowcountry. As a part of Gullah tradition that is passed down from generation to generation, the tradition of creating hand-woven baskets continues. You can see these intricate masterpieces along Highway 17, set up on stands for passer-by's to see, as you cruise down the Carolina coast. While traveling to Charleston, especially if you've never seen the sweetgrass baskets, ornaments and plates, make sure to take the opportunity to discover this art form.
Southern culture has included sweetgrass basket weaving for nearly 400 years. South Carolina slave owners, who were also farmers began to bring over Africans to work the cotton, indigo and rice fields in the 1600's, this is when the craft of making the baskets began. Initially, for the purpose of harvesting crops, it was the men who would weave the baskets on the plantations. For the generation of additional revenue, women were enlisted to weave baskets to be sold to neighboring plantations.
During this period, the most common baskets were large storage containers that could be used for vegetables, fruits and grains. One other type of relatively typical basket for those days was the winnowing basket which helped keep the grain of rice and the chaff separated. Along with being fashionable and useful for many things, these baskets also separated pests from stored grains. The purpose of these baskets was strictly functional.
But after the Civil War ended and Emancipation took place, a change in basket weaving occurred. It ended up being during this specific period that the focus of baskets switched from being used to aid in agriculture and harvest to being applied to assist with storing more compact stuff and to show some thing in a beautiful manner. When women got involved, they took the art form to a new level and began weaving smaller baskets for additional functionality like serving food and holding household items. The alteration in functionality proceeded over time, as basket weaving wasn't any longer a farming requirement but a pleasant art form. After a while, the baskets began to sell on the street, in little stores as well as on the pages of catalogs.
Creating a sweetgrass basket requires precision like no other. Each basket reflects its creator's skills and style. And the value of each basket increases with time. In the event that these kinds of baskets are maintained properly, they should carry on indefinitely. Museums, such as the Smithsonian, store baskets in their exhibits which usually are more than one hundred years old. Their enduring properties are thanks to the sweetgrass habitat - low-lying swamplands.
Whenever taking a vacation to Charleston, go to the stores and stands of the sweetgrass basket designers. The work of the sweetgrass basket makers carries on a 300 year tradition. The Charleston Market is a good place to locate a portion of this West African culture. The ladies who interlace the baskets present gorgeous ornaments, baskets and trays for a person to search through. They are gorgeous, yet functional, and a bit of a culture which has gotten smaller over time. While you're vacationing and as you're in the general area of the Lowcountry of South Carolina, don't forget to remember that there are an abundance of selections for places to stay, which include hotels, motor inns, bed breakfasts and including Bluegreen resorts and other Bluegreen resort options.
MIND MELD: Writing Tools and Exercises (SF Signal)
[Do you have an idea for a future Mind Meld? Please let us know!]
November is National Writing Month, the month of Nanowrimo. In celebration,
this week's question involves Nanowrimo and other writing exercises:
Q:What is the value of writing exercises such as Nanowrimo? Can you recommend
any other formalized techniques to work on the craft of writing for aspiring
genre writers?
Here are the answers from this week's panelists:
Karen Lord
Karen Lord is a writer and research consultant in Barbados. Her debut novel
**Redemption in Indigo** won the 2008 Frank Collymore Literary Award, the 2011
William L. Crawford Award and the 2011 Mythopoeic Fantasy Award for Adult
Literature, and was nominated for the 2011 World Fantasy Award for Best Novel.
NaNoWriMo makes you stop thinking about writing and start writing. The act of
writing regularly and under every kind of condition (inspired, bored, happy,
cranky) is what produces good writing in the end. Practise, practise,
practise. Trial and error. Imitate the classics, then deviate from the norm.
Every kind of cliché comes down to the same thing: keep writing until it stops
being awful.
Then, when you're comfortable with how and what you write, push yourself ...
Pokemon Indigo - Never Forget (Won Audience's Choice, Best Composition)
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