Oh Little Cedar Basket: Honoring Your Elders' Skills, Culture, and Ancestry

In the Pacific Northwest and Coast Salish waters, the cedar tree is sacred. It gives life, medicine, and hope to all who understand the cedar tree is an inheritance from the earth. In Oh, Little Cedar Tree, Ila Barlean shares the process of a child learning to weave a cedar basket. An elder gives the child this task as an honor. Weaving a basket is a rite of passage, marking the transition from being a child to becoming a young adult. The child learns to listen to the elder's teachings and ...