We came across this Los Angeles Times newspaper article, saw that it was published nearly exactly 68 years ago — Sunday, Dec. 20, 1953 — and needed no better excuse to share this with you:
(This image is from a photocopy of a microfiche, so please bear with it.)
“Morongo Indian Woman, Nearly 100, Passes On Skill in Basket Weaving
Banning, Dec. 19 [1953, no author byline given] —
“Indian basket weaving — an art as old as the Southland hills — has seemed doomed in recent years to oblivion. But the art is being revived at the Morongo Reservation near here.
Margarita Pablo, now nearing 100 years of age, is passing her knowledge on to two younger women who aspire to carry on the craft, Marjie Saubel Martin and Dorothy Lugo.
Mrs. Martin, some seven decades her teacher’s junior, has been shy about admitting her ambition and has secretly practiced basket weaving in her own home. When she was a young girl her mother taught her the rudiments of basket weaving. But she never had become skilled in it and she has hesitated to show her work or seek advice.
Willing teacher
Margarita, whose beautifully woven baskets once helped supply her family with meat and with flour for tortillas, knows all the answers to her young friends’ questions, and is willing to give this information, although her old hands are too crippled now to do much of the actual work.
The basic material for the baskets is reeds that must be sought out and gathered on the desert surrounding the Indian village. The reeds are first dried and then water-soaked in handmade pottery basins. When pliable, each reed is drawn through a device that makes all of uniform size and quality. After that, there comes the tedious task of splicing the reeds into long, smooth strands which are to be wrapped about coarser grasses and spiraled from the base outward in the weaving process.
Although the browns and tans in the baskets are natural colors dependent upon the age and sun-exposure of the grasses, the black frequently used for design is a dye made from mud.
Designs conventionalized by the ability of the weaver are sometimes the things she has loved, such as the sun, moon and stars, or the things she has seen in rocks and sand, such as the lizard and buzzing rattlesnake.”
In our copy of this clip, the caption information is separated from this photo and the information truncated. The caption partly says: “At right she gives lessons to two younger wome[n, Doro]thy Lugo and Marjie Saubel Martin. Mrs. Martin learned … of the art as a girl from her mother, now seeks to gain skill …”
More of Her Legacy
Thank you to Cahuilla Elder Margarita Pablo for passing along this important cultural knowledge, for sharing much more knowledge, and for giving other gifts:
According to history shared by Malki Museum when the museum opened in 1965 on Morongo Reservation, and also shared by museum co-founder Jane Penn, “Margaret Pablo, niece of Yginio Gabriel, chief of the Wanikiks of Wanapeahpa [Whitewater Canyon], confided in her own niece, Jane Penn, that she would like to leave her artifacts in Mrs. Penn’s keeping to be displayed for the public to view. These items included mortars, an olla she had used to soak reeds in before making distinctive baskets, and other materials.
“Mrs. Penn’s cousin, Victoria Weirick, also of Wanikik and Kawasic (Palm Springs) descent, did the same thing. She gave Mrs. Penn baskets, mortars, and a herb cook pot that had been used by Mrs. Penn’s father, William Pablo, to prepare herbs for medicinal purposes. Pablo was a famed Indian policeman and for many years was one of the best known Southern California medicine men [in Cahuilla, a puul]. Mrs. Penn received these items in 1958 and added them to her own collection, which was kept on display in her small home …”
Thanks to these Elders, who are still teaching us.
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