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Christine
"Cookie" Barrett is a well known Abenaki basketmaker. Christine's family has been making and selling baskets since the 1900's, for many generations! Many of the baskets were sold to tourists to supplement the family income.
Christine gathers sweet grass and black ash to make her baskets. Christine enjoys creating and sharing the Abenaki craft; a part of her heritage. She looks forward to the day she will pass her artistic abilities to her granddaughter, Krista Rose.
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Christine
"Cookie" Barrett, a well known
Abenaki basketmaker, and her
granddaughter, Krista Rose |
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Abenaki Baskets
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A
short distance behind the sugarhouse and barn are the Medicine
Caves. The late Abenaki Chief Leonard "Blackie"
Lampman's grandmother, Martha born in 1868, visited the caves
throughout her life. The area was well known to the native
inhabitants as having an abundance of herbs used to make
medicines. For some families, it was known as a healing
place.
"A five minute hike through the sugarwoods and you will be
at the caves. When you enter the Medicine Caves, close your eyes
and feel the presence of a magnificent, past history. |
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One spring day, some Abenaki were out in the woods gathering food. They noticed a liquid dripping from a maple tree. They dipped their fingers in the liquid and tasted. The liquid was thick and sweet. These Abenaki shared their discovery and soon the entire village went to the woods to try this new food. They enjoyed it so much, that they were soon visiting every day.
One day, Gluskabe, an Abenaki spirit, visited the village and found it empty. His search for the villagers found them lying on the ground underneath the trees with their mouths open, drinking this syrup. He warned them that they were enjoying the syrup too much. Upon returning, he found them lying on their backs drinking the sweet liquid and getting lazy and overweight. Gluskabe decided to do something about this. He changed the liquid to be like water, but with a hint of sweetness. Gluskabe told them that if they wanted to make the syrup, they would have to collect it, boil it and work hard. And so it was that the process of sugaring began.
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For more information on Abenaki history and events contact:
Louise Lampman-Larivee
PO Box 57, Swanton, VT 05488
Phone: 802-782-1771
Email:
twinsage52@hotmail.com |
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