Onkwátherékó:wa Big Basket

A project initially conceived for September's International Powwow united generations of basketmakers and may have produced Akwesasne's largest ever fancy basket.

"The idea was to develop, we can't really call it the world's largest basket, but it could be Akwesasne biggest basket, fancy basket specifically," said Gail McDonald, who helped come up with the project and is also the Akwesasne Heritage Complex Project Director.

What has become known as the Onkwátherékó:wa Big Basket is 21 inches across at the base, 17 inches high and 26.5 inches across the top. That compares to the "regular" size of around eight inches in diameter.

But it's not the size that matters, McDonald said.

"The focal point for how important basketmaking is for culture and economy," she said in a phone interview.

She said it also gave them a chance to discuss issues that have an impact on the tradition.

"Basketmakers have concerns and shared concerns for emerald ash borer and that sort of thing," she said, adding that about 21 people took part. "It gives us an opportunity to connect as well with people who are moving these cultural developments forward.

"One of the things I think we did find is that there is a lot of interest in basketmaking for sure, a lot of experienced basketmakers and people who want to learn ... in terms of our culture and the significance of it, it plays a big role."

The basket is not 100 percent finished yet.

"The basket couldn't be completed because it takes time to set and reposition things," McDonald said, adding that it is done from the base up to the lid. Other basketmakers were invited the week before Thanksgiving to finish the cover and do decorative embellishments.

In an email she said, "We hope to have it completed with the assistance of additional basketmakers in the next couple weeks ... all basketmakers are volunteering their time to this project and we greatly appreciate their participation."

The basket will likely travel to viewing locations around Akwesasne until it finds a permanent home.

"After we do the unveiling, we've had a number of requests from public locations where we can display the basket until it gets a permanent home," McDonald said in a phone interview, adding that it may be officially unveiled in February. "We're thinking maybe some kind of arts fair that would go along with the unveiling, so we're just in the middle of planning that. It could go into our community building, the new administration building, the Traveling College ... it's intended to travel around until it finds a permanent home."

She says she wants the basket to be housed at the Heritage Complex Facility, which is still under development. It would house the Akwesasne museum, archives and a welcome center.

"We're getting museum quality display case to put the basket in so it can be protected without damage, fading," McDonald said. "Eventually the basket will find its new home in the new heritage complex facility that I am working to develop over the next couple of years."