Basket Item Number: 2911/12 a-b from the MOA: University of British Columbia

Description

Coiled, circular basket with lid. The basket flares slightly up toward the rim. It is decorated with thin diagonal stripes of imbrication in red and black with small areas of light brown. The base has an encircling strip of alternating red imbrication. The lid is round with a raised globular knob and has thin lines of black and red imbrication, radiating out from the knob.

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.