Basket Item Number: 2911/5 from the MOA: University of British Columbia

Description

Rectangular basketry tray, made of woven cedar root over a cedar wood base structure. The tray has a wrapped handle on both ends. The interior base of the tray has an imbricated diamond pattern in the centre, made of dyed dark red, black and light brown bark, with rectangles of dark red imbrication in each corner. Along the outside edges are small panels of the dark red imbrication.

Narrative

Lutia Bidin was the mother of the donor, Rina Honderich. The Bidins had immigrated to Canada in the early 1900s, and moved from Deroche, BC to Woodfibre, BC c. 1918. Rina remembered women from Squamish canoeing over to Woodfibre to trade with her mother. Her mother would trade things like knitted socks, clothing and mats that she had made, for baskets that the Squamish women had made. Each would make a pile and when both sides agreed the exchange would take place. The baskets were used during the daily life of the family.