Native American Trade Beads

Some of the most beautiful bead work in the world is done by Native Americans. Not only is this form of art work beautiful but has spiritual and cultural meanings. In the days before contact with the Europeans each tribe had unique items, such as handmade beads, that they traded with other tribes for necessities and food. It may have taken days, or longer, for a group of people to travel far enough to trade beads for grain or other food supplies. Prior to the possession of horses this was not a trip they could take whenever they wanted. They had to carry their packs themselves, or if they had them, could use dogs to share the burden.

Not all their beads were traded. The most valuable were used for beading their own clothing, pouches, moccasins, robes and ceremonial objects. The items made were for particular individuals to keep for life then handed down to future generations. A woman's wedding dress could have taken as much as twenty pounds of beads just for the yoke and possibly a year to make. The dress was then worn on special occasions and often the woman was buried in it. The spiritual connotations of the work done on the item were far too sacred and valuable to use as a trade item. It was the actual work that was held sacred, not the item. The work was done with vows and prayers attached to it for the person the item was made for.

In the late 1400's, when trade from trappers and other Europeans entered into the trade routes, tribal women began using glass beads. Beads from other parts of the world were introduced to the tribes and became very sought after. Still, however, it was not always easy to obtain the beads since it was not often that a trader would come through. Since it could have taken years to collect a certain type, size and color, these beads were considered very valuable. Most of the valuable beads collected were considered family heirlooms because of their rarity and spiritual meaning, for instance, turquoise was associated with the sky, or to promote healing and good luck, amber was thought of as pieces of the sun that had fallen to earth and amethyst was for peaceful energy.

Then, as now, each tribe preferred certain colors and types of beads. In the old days, before European contact, beads were made from bone, animal teeth or claws, shells (such as the Heishi beads), turtle shell, wood, stone, quills, and today the method of making and using the beads is done in much the same way as the ancients did.

The shells that the coastal tribes used for making beads were used as trade by diffusion, in other words, they were passed on from tribe to tribe inland and even further east. The shells were broken into flat tiny pieces, drilled and strung then the entire strand was rolled on a sandstone until they were shaped into rounded beads. Since many were broken in this process, the strands did become valuable because of the difficulty of making them, the smaller the bead, the more difficult it was to keep them whole.

There are many pictures of Native American women in pre reservation days showing they wore several strands of Heishi beads along with other bead necklaces. As an example, there is a famous picture of Hattie Tom, Chiracahua Apache, wearing the Heishi strands wrapped around her neck several times. I clearly shows, as many other such pictures, just how much the Native American woman valued her beads.

Color and design when doing bead work was of great importance to each individual tribe. A particular design, done in consistent colors was often handed down from Grandmothers to their daughters and granddaughters. The method of beading was also different among tribes. The Sioux, for instance, preferred the "lazy stitch" which uses one thread and causes the beads to form loose flowing wavy lines since only every seventh or so bead was anchored to the fabric using the same thread the beads are strung on. The Blackfoot used the "Overlay" method where two threads are used, one to string the beads and one to anchor the strand to the fabric every second or third bead, which creates straight, firm lines.

Until recently, the beautiful bead work of the Native American was not recognized as an "art form". Now, however, it is as desirable an art form as fine silver works or basketry.

For detailed instructions on any bead stitch you can contact Shayla at her Beadwork site here at BellaOnline.

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