Grass Bag
date: label: Accession Date
content: 23 Sep 1902
name: label: Collector
content: Israel C. Russell
label: Donor Name
content: Israel C. Russell
notes: label: Notes
content: From card: "Carrying basket and yoke of coarse grass. Twined weaving. Yoke, bowl shaped carved from wood, with seal hide thongs."
label: Notes
content: Photo and description in Fienup-Riordan, Ann. 2007. Yuungnaqpiallerput, The Way We Genuinely Live: Masterworks of Yup'ik Science and Survival. Seattle: University Of Washington Press, p. 163. Tassiitaq Issran-llu Backpack Yoke. Backpack yoke and basket Annie Blue [from Togiak] observed: "This is a yoke that one would place in front of the chest and use to carry a woven bag on the back. These help to keep one from hurting her chest when carrying heavy objects."
label: Notes
content: Source of the information below: Smithsonian Arctic Studies Center Alaska Native Collections: Sharing Knowledge website, by Aron Crowell, entry on this artifact https://alaska.si.edu/record.asp?id=294 , retrieved 11-23-2021; see web page for additional information: Grass bag, Yup'ik. Storage baskets for food and clothing are woven from taperrnaq, the coarse rye grass that grows by beaches and on coastal hillsides. Women harvest the grass in fall after it loses its green color. This basket has a strap and carved wooden yoke for carrying loads on the back. Large woven grass baskets were traditionally used to hold clothing, to gather plants on the tundra, and to store food supplies such as fish, berries, and greens. Adding a shoulder strap and wooden chest yoke turned the bag into a backpack for carrying heavy loads. The artistically finished yoke on this basket resembles a pair of snow goggles or slit-like eyes, while other examples were carved with human faces or in the shape of wings. Grass has always been a very significant resource for residents of southwestern Alaska. In the past it was used in dozens of ways-for insulation, as a packing material, and as a fiber for weaving baskets, boot liners, mittens, rope, mats, and sails for kayaks and umiaks. Grass for baskets is harvested in the fall and sometimes in spring after it has wintered over under the snow. When a Nunivak Island girl gathered her first bunch of grass, usually at age seven or eight, the event was marked by a small ceremony in the qasgiq [men's community house]. Brentina Chanar remembered that during seal hunting season women could not work on baskets, or even bring grass into their houses. This was one of many traditional restrictions on women's activities that were thought to help open the spiritual path between animal and human worlds. Today, woven grass baskets-made with interlaced vertical (woof) and horizontal (warp) strands of twisted grass-less commonly made than in the past, although some women weave a colorful contemporary version using strands from nylon rope. Another style of basket, called mingqaq, is constructed from coils of grass, primarily for sale.
label: Record Last Modified
content: 23 Nov 2021
label: Specimen Count
content: 1
place: label: Place
content: Yukon River (Lower), Alaska, United States, North America
topic: label: Topic
content: Ethnology
culture: label: Culture
content: Eskimo, Yup'ik
setName: label: See more items in
content: Anthropology
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: NMNH - Anthropology Dept.
identifier: label: Accession Number
content: 039927
label: USNM Number
content: E217807-0
objectType: label: Object Type
content: Bag / Yoke
physicalDescription: label: Length - Object
content: 53 cm
label: Width - Object
content: 25 cm
label: Diameter - Object
content: 42 cm