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25. Wooden Bowl

Wood was sacred in the traditional Meskwaki culture. Trees were important Manitous and referred to as grandparents. Wooden things such as bowls and spoons retained a spiritual power. Even today among traditional Meskwaki when a person dies he or she is buried in ceremonial dress with a wooden bowl and spoon.

Carving a bowl from a knot or burl of a tree was a highly specialized skill. Experts believe only a few master carvers produced what was needed by the entire tribe at any one time. A carver might chose a tree to use for a sacred bowl and wait for years (even 10-20 years) for the knot to grow large enough for the planned use before cutting it down. Tribe members always knew when a tree had been picked out and respected the carver's selection by leaving the tree untouched. A carver would honor the tree with prayer and an offering of tobacco before chopping it down.

Some Meskwaki bowls have the figures of animals or people carved into their rims, others have irregular undulating edges. Meskwaki carvers seemed less fixated on symmetricality than other native woodworkers and the finest bowls retain a sense of their origin.

26. wooden spoon - next

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