The Tohono O’odham tribe has been weaving baskets for at least 2000 years.  Although the reason for weaving has changed through the years the Tohono O’odham are still using the same weaving styles as their ancestors.  Basket weaving for the Tohono O’odham has gone from an everyday essential to a prestigious art form.  Basket weaving for the Tohono O’odham represents an active way of preserving their culture, valuing traditions, and creating bonding ties within the tribe; consequently weaving has transcended into an economic resource.

     Basket weaving has played a large part in the culture of the Tohono O’odham tribe.  Baskets were used mainly for practical purposes in the past.  They were very important in the every day life of the tribe.  It was the women's job in the tribe to weave the baskets.  The baskets were used to haul grain and food.  Many baskets were woven so tight that they were used to hold water and liquor.  Baskets were also very important in ceremonies, such as the Rainmaking Ceremony.

     In ceremonial practices, scared objects were often placed into baskets.  The ceremonial baskets were made especially for different ceremonies and were never used for every day purposes.  Sacred objects were sometimes single fetishes and sometimes collections of objects brought together though the years and kept in a ceremonial basket (Underhill 24).  The proper way to keep fetishes was in an oblong basket of twilled yucca (Underhill 24).  This oblong basket was called a waca, not to be confused with the ordinary coiled basket, which was called a hoa.  It was very important to the tribe not to keep scared objects in regular baskets.  People who owned a fetish kept their basket packed with eagle down, deertails and periodically “fed” the scared object with cane cigarettes and even food (Underhill 24-25).  They could not move the baskets with out a ritual, which was part of the ceremony for food or purification.  If anyone who was not authorized to move the basket touched it, the tribe believed a flood would come.  The ceremonial baskets are very important to the Tohono O’odham tribe for a lot of their religious ceremonies.

     What makes the Tohono O’odham basket so uniquely beautiful is their style of weaving.   The Tohono O’odham tribe has one of the most beautiful styles of basket weaving.  The tight coiled basket and amazing designs make their baskets so appealing.  Some of the baskets are woven so tight that they are used to hold water and other liquids.  A few tribe members believe that the ancient baskets are of better quality then those that are made today.  Terrrol Johnson, founder and president of the Tohono O’odham Basket weavers Organization works with the curators at Arizona State Museum looking at ancient baskets retrieved during archaeological digs.  They admire the workmanship and learn prehistoric designs and patterns “Much of the old work is better quality than modern efforts Johnson concedes”.  Many of the old baskets are made with splits of willow branches that are typically hard to work with.  Most Tohono O’odham weavers today use primarily yucca, bear grass, and devils claw.  The designs in the baskets are not made with any dyes.  All of the baskets are made of natural colors.  The white stitches in the baskets are yucca and the coil is shredded bear grass.  The black is from devils claw, the rusty red is from the root of the yucca plant, and the green is from yucca leaves.

    It has become harder for the Tohono O'odham tribe to gather the necessary materials for basket weaving.  Today tribal members have to travel many miles to gather material for basket weaving, but it is important to the identity of the tribe, so the tradition, although more difficult has been maintained.  In the ancient weaving of the Tohono O'odham the basic material for baskey weaving could be collected with little effort, even though many elements ripened or were unusable during different seasons.  The Tohono O'odham Basketweavers Organization puts together group trips to collect material for them and elders in the tribe who can not travel.  There is little open land to the public and so much development of land that it is getting more and more difficult to find the material needed to make baskets.  Some Materials, such as, devil's claw are now being cultivated in a community garden in Sells, Arizona.

    Basket weaving for the Tohono O'odham has gone from an essential part of life to a hobby.  In ancient times, baskets were used every day for holding food, gathering food, holding water and for ceremonial use.  As time went on and modern inventions came into tribal life, basket weaving became a hobby for many people and a way to keep the tradition alive.  Baskets were sold for very little money and used by people for common things like trashcans.  Then people began to realize the art that went into basket weaving.  Simple baskets took hours and hours of work, both for the weaving and the collection of the weaving materials.  People from all over the United States would go to the Tohono O'odham reservation to buy baskets for very little money and then sell them for hundreds and sometimes thousands of dollars, to people all around the country.  When the O'odham tribe realized how much their baskets were selling for they decided to market the baskets themselves, cutting out the middleman.  In result, sales are the main reason for weaving nowadays, though some baskets still have traditional uses (Wagner 2).  Today O'odham baskets sell to collectors for thousands of dollars.  This has made basket weaving a very prosperous hobby.

    Basket weaving is a very important tradition for the Tohono O'odham people.  The O'odham people believe very strongly in keeping this tradition alive.  Passing on the tradition has become a challenge.  With the invention of television, radio, and video games "a close-sitch basket made from bear grass and yucca strips is not much of a draw to kids" (Wagner 1).  Christine Johnson and Juanita Ahil, two exceptional women weavers from the Tohono O'odham tribe have took on the challenge of keeping the basket weaving tradition alive.  These women have succeeded in not only educating people in their own tribe, but they have also taken the time to educate people outside of their tribe.

    Christine Johnson has been weaving since she was six  years old.  When Johnson was young, little girls just picked up weaving.  "In the reservation's natural cycle Johnson went from crawling around among the basketry materials, to playing games with sticks and grasses, to attempting to weaver on her own" (Wagner 1).  When Johnson was young, the children were always around the traditions of the tribe.  Today it is a lot harder to keep the weaving tradition going.  With so many other influences outside the tribe it is so important to keep ancient traditions alive.  Today Christine Johnson is a master weaver.  Her large baskets sell for $500 to $2500.

    The tribe has many organizations to preserve their culture.  Christine Johnson is involved in both the Tohono O'odham Community Action and the Tohono O'odham Basketweavers Organization as a teacher with the Elder/Youth Outreach Initiative.  Through out the Tohono O'odham tribe and in Johnson's own family, weaving is a bonding tie.  She teaches her own huge family of eight children and seventeen grandchildren how to weave and its importance (Wagner 2).  Basket weaving connects them with their family and with their ancestors.  The children learn the history of their own tribe through weaving.

    Johnson does not only educate the people in her own tribe, she also takes her experience and expertise to people outside of the tribe.  Every Saturday through August, Christine Johnson along with other members of the Tohono O'odham Basketweavers Organization, volunteer to do demonstrations at the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum in Tucson, Arizona.  She demonstrates her weaving techniques and talks about the importance of basket weaving in her tribe.  In educating and teaching her family, other tribal members, and people outside the tribe she is keeping a very important ancient tradition alive.

    Juanita Ahil, another amazing Tohono O'odham women, has dedicated a lot of time in preserving the art of basket weaving.  She has spent a lot of her life teaching the O'odham tradition of harvesting the Saguaro fruit and the tradition of basket weaving.  Ahil is well known through out the Tohono O'odham tribe for her many contributions of preserving these two tribal traditions.  Joe Joaquin, a member of the Tohono O'odham tribe, believes that Juanita Ahil has contributed so much to the tribe with the education she freely gives to people in and outside of her tribe.  The O'odham people believe that her work in preserving and teaching the basketry traditions and harvesting tradition deserved to be recognized no only in O'odham community, but also in other communities.  On October 18,1993 the Tohono O'odham Legislative Council sent a proposal to the Cultural Preservation Committee to name the new National Park Service Visitor Center the "Juanita Ahil Visitor Center".  The O'odham people believed that she deserved this honor because she had taken their tribal traditions and showed people who may never have gotten the chance to see how important the basket weaving traditions is to the Tohono O'odham People

    On October 27, 1993 the Cultural Preservation Committee decided not to name the visitor center after Juanita Ahil.  Joe Joaquin, who had worked very hard on the proposal, and other members of the tribe felt very disappointed about the Committee's decision.  To them Juanita Ahil was a role model in and outside of the O'odham tribe.  They felt that her dedication, passion and hard work deserved to be recognized and rewarded.

    The Tohono O'odham people take great pride in their basket weaving. It has been important to the people through out history.  It has gone from an every day essential to a very prosperous hobby and tradition.  Today the art of basket weaving is recognized for its beauty and the time that goes into this great tradition.  Even though basketry has changed through out the Tohono O'odham history, many people today are dedicating their time to keep the tradition alive.  The women who work so hard in preserving this ancient tradition are extremely good role models for women in and outside of the Tohono O'odham tribe.
 
 

Joaquin, Joseph. Personal interview.  10 March 1999.

Morris, Douglas.  Letter to Joseph Joaquin.  27 Oct. 1993.

Tohono O'odham Legislative Council.  Proposal to the Cultural Preservation Committee.  18 Oct. 1999.

Underhill, Ruth Murray.  Papago Indian Religion.  New York: New York Press, 1969.

Underhill, Ruth Murray.  Social Organization of the Papago Indians.  New York: New York Press, 1969.

Wagner, Raina.  "Keeping Tradition Alive."  The Arizona Daily Star.  3 Dec. 1998: 1c
 
 

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