H4327.6

• north american indian

Basket. Description: Pomo, twined for eating mush. History: This collection was obtained from Mrs. Marty McCloud ca. 1928. She lived on a reservation between Healdsburg and Geyserville. The baskets were made by her or members of her family. Also of interest: donor's father, Mr. Homer Wallace, was the first registered birth in Oakland on April 16, 1882 at the site of the old Court House. Remarks: More historical information in donor file. "Fits with possible style made in Southern Pomo area. Reference: Lowie Collections from Anderson Valley are characterized by thin bands of redbud, sedge root, and are plain twined." (Bruce Bernstein and Craig Bates. From the History Information Station: "Object: Eating basket, plain twined of redbud and sedge root. This basket was made by Mrs. Marty McClound , or another member of the McCloud family, who were North Central California Pomo. It dates to the late 19th or early 20th century. History: The Pomo made mush, soup, and bread from acorn meal. They used this tightly woven basket to hold an inidividual serving of this nourishing food. Mush is the most commonly prepared acorn dish, as it feeds a large amount of people, and even the infants may eat it. Correctly prepared. acorn meal has a sweet taste and is usually eaten plain. However, the Sierra Miwok sometimes flavored their mush with mushrooms and tree fungi; the Paiute added incense cedar pounded to a powder; the Luiseno added meat; still others added dried fish, sweet grasses, leaves, roots, and a selection of other greens. Sometimes a hot rock was used to 'scorch' the cooked acorn to add flavor."

Used: eating