  Case No. 5: The art of making basket cradles is almost lost today. However, the wooden cradle is still made and used extensively by many tribes; this is especially so in the Pueblo tribes. The following illustrates the use of baby cradles by some basket making tribes: Hoopas, of California, used a sit-down type cradle—the baby is seated in, and tied to, the cradle; Hopis, of Arizona and Frazier River, of Washington, used the cradle for putting the baby to sleep holding the cradle in their arms; tribes such as Mono-Paiute and Pomo, of California, and Ute of Colorado, used the cradle by placing it on the mother’s back. There are more than six hundred Indian dialects. The Ute word for cradle is Ahcacon. When asked, what the Indian word for “cradle,” or “baby board” is, it is impossible to answer. Because of the many dialects it is easily understandable that there are numerous words for this object, just as the word would be different in Spanish, Swedish, German or Russian. (See Plates |
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