|
|
 |
|
|
|
Facing Their World: Native Cradleboards in the Eastern Woodlands
|
|
|
Mohawk, Mid 19th century, 541.PMC.45
|
Among the Native people of the Eastern Woodlands region of North America cradleboards have been used to transport and protect infants for hundreds of years. While each tribe had distinctive styles and decorations the purpose, construction and use remained constant. Some of the oldest writings about Native peoples describe mothers and their children.
In 1623 a Jesuit missionary named Father Gabriel Sagard who lived among the Huron people wrote home “during the day they swath their children upon a little wooden board…” (Sagard, 127).
A cradleboard is roughly 25-30 inches in length and 10 inches wide. It consists of three main parts known as the backboard, headbow, and footboard. The backboard is where the baby lies, the headbow is suspended overtop the baby’s head, and the footboard is where their body or feet rest.
A cradleboard also has bindings of cloth and leather to make the cradle warm and comfortable as well as attach the baby to the board. When the mother wants to carry her child she slips a carrying strap over her forehead and the baby hangs against her back.
A cradleboard was very important to a Native baby’s development. It helped their backs, arms and legs grow straight. The cradleboard was also a family affair. The father made the basic board while the mother and her female relatives decorated it. Often cradles were handed down over generations.
By being raised for its first year in a cradleboard a Native infant had all it needed for physical and social development. From its “little wooden board” the child could then face the world from the same perspective as the rest of its family.
The Mashantucket Pequot Museum and Research Center collections hold eight Eastern Woodlands cradleboards. This online exhibit illustrates and describes some of the key features of these cradles. For more information about cradleboards please see the recent Crosspaths article by Head Curator Stephen Cook.
This online exhibit was prepared by Rebecca Hayes, a graduate research intern from the Cooperstown Museum Studies Program.
|
|
| |
|
|
|
