Beadwork In Native American Culture

Beadwork: A Native American Trade Native American beadwork is one of the most well known trades in its culture. Beadwork in the Native American culture dates back to prior to the Europeans coming to America. They focused on weaving and beadwork as mostly for the purpose of clothing. Indians would dress in buckskin and fur that were then decorated with large beads. Shirts, moccasins, dresses, leggings for special occasions, breechclout and headdresses were all of the clothing items they would wear and decorate with beads. (Hunt 52, 72) Each tribe created their own symbols which would be displayed on all of their clothing, indicating which tribe they belong to as well as a sort of pride for their tribe. After the arrival of Europeans, treaties …show more content…
As a result of this move to reservations, a particular union was formed, similar to that of the quilting bees, these groups of women would gather and fellowship with each other. They were able to create a sort of community where they could belong to. (Dean 5)
Today these communities of bead workers are still around. Ellen Moore, who wrote Navajo Beadwork: Architectures of Light, interviewed 23 Navajo headworkers who do beadwork as either a full-time or part time job. (Moore 86) These workers sell their work through trade posts, markets, and special collectors. Prior to the arrival of Europeans, Native Americans would paint their beads, to create their colorful designs but now there are vast amounts of colorful glass beads available in different shapes and sizes. The beads themselves are found in different sizing, 10-22, but the most used size of glass beads is 16. With this size one is able to create dense detailed work. (Moore 87) Currently, there are hundreds of manufacturers of these glass beads, but according to these interviewers, most prefer the