Navajo Elder Tree Four Seasons Basket - Elsie Holiday (#426)
$2,495.00
Artist: Elsie Holiday
16" x 2 3/8" deep
Rounds: 27
Winter, spring, summer and fall, that just about covers it all. Elsie Holiday has woven a basket that embraces the four seasons in grand fashion. She is a master artist when it comes to basketry. Her quality of stitch, symmetry and design make her one of the best weavers ever. In the Navajo culture, Changing Woman (aka Mother Earth) controls the seasons and all green growing things. The Tree of Life symbolizes the Native American connection to the past, personal progress and the embracing, cultivating nature of tradition and culture. There is a whole lot of meaning woven into this basket.
About the artist:
Considered one of the best Navajo basket weavers, Elsie Stone Holiday married into the famed Douglas Mesa family of weavers. Weaving baskets has become almost an addiction for her. "When I go two or three days without weaving I get anxious to get started again," she says. She weaves 12 hours a day, 5 days a week. "Sometimes I think, 'How long can this last?'", she wistfully states, but for now she is content with her art, finding immense satisfaction in creating premier quality baskets.
Related legends:
Seasons & Months
The traditional Navajo year follows the rhythm of the seasons as natural, cosmological order directs specific activities associated with each month for all forms of life on earth. The year begins with Ghaaji' (October), which marks the "dividing of the seasons": hai not only means "winter" but also means "the parting of the seasons," signifying the division between winter and summer? More about this legend