"Gathering Prayers" Basket w/medicine bundle: Pam Outdusis Cunningham: Penobscot

Description

A beautiful miniature gathering basket by Pam Cunningham, master Penobscot basketmaker. Inside the basket is a small medicine bundle, a coil of braided sweetgrass and a tiny felted wool "lavender" flower.  The basket itself is an older form, square bottom to round top.  There is a neatly wrapped tall ash splint handle.  At the top rim of the basket are porcupine curls (also called "point" curls or simply "twists") are  ash splints as is the rest of the basket.  Curls are added as decorative elements.  There are 10 porcupine curls at top of this basket. The handle has a deep deep purple of narrower ash splint added over the handle and is then wrapped with grass green ash in a lovely X wrap.
For prayers here -(a very short/incomplete version) -  the coiled tidal sweetgrass can be used for smudging, cut a small amount - place it on a non-flammable surface, light it and waft the smoke to offer up your prayers to the heavens/sky.  You must be in a positive/prayerful state of mind.  In the medicine bundle Pam has wrapped herbs - also for praying... among herbs used for this are cedar, sweetgrass and sage.  The small lupine flower of felted hand-dyed wool (all made by Pam) .. is Pam's addition as all prayers should be meaningful to the one praying.  Lavender has many medicinal and spiritual uses.  -  Pam's "Gathering Prayers" basket could be given to one who you are praying for - or it could be for yourself - or the entire world.  Pam is a very spiritual person who takes her heritage and it's customs and beliefs seriously.  The basket itself is made with Pam's prayers - and a blessing.
Gathering baskets have been made by Pam's ancestors for over 200 years.   This miniature one is  2.5" diameter at the top of basket and 1.5" square at the bottom.  It is 1.5" to top of rim and 5" to top of handle.  On the basket bottom Pam has put her maker's mark, a sweet fern unfurling into a turtle - Pam is of the turtle clan and added the year.  In fifth photo of the slideshow you can see Pam's card with her sweet fern/turtle maker's mark.
This mini-gathering basket is made of brown ash, the traditional material of Maine and Eastern Canadian basketmakers.  The rim is wrapped in tidal sweetgrass.
There are more of Pam's beloved basket styles in this ebay store  - you might find strawberries, pinecones, pumpkins, mini-corn, small corn, blueberries, prayer baskets....
Second to last photo is of Pam dancing the Shawl Dance at the 2019 Penobscot Nation Community Day Festival.  Last photo is a pic of Pam's great-grandmother, ssipsis, selling her baskets about 1920.  To make some of her basket forms Pam uses some of her ssipsis's basket making tools - gauges, crooked knives and wooden molds.    Be sure to view some of Pam's other baskets in this ebay store - you might find pumpkins, corn, strawberry baskets or prayer baskets.