Mat

Mats made from inner cedar bark served a variety of uses such as; dividers for privacy, eating, sleeping, keeping out drafts, protection of canoe cargo, drying berries, covering food boxes, gambling on, given as gifts. Some women gave birth on a clean mat and bodies of the deceased would be wrapped in a mat and then placed in a mortuary box. Mats were used ceremonially by all Northwest Coast people with some variations.

domestic

The mat is woven in a simple plaiting technique 2 edges are finished by folding the warps under and securing the ends with a row of twining.

Square cedar bark mat with a checkerboard-like weave. Six bands of dark brown-grey stripes with two solid stripes running along either end.