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Apache burden baskets were used in daily life gathering large and small food items when out in the fields.
Today the smaller decorative baskets are used in young girl�s traditional puberty (also known as Sunrise) ceremonies. Baskets are made from vegetation available in the local countryside and are cone shaped. They are decorated with buckskin leather and metal tinkles which are a carryover from the original functionality of scaring off snakes when using them in field work.

Increasingly these baskets have been placed at the front door of a home for people entering to leave their burdens at the door and not carrying them into the home and thus preserving harmony in the home.

This basket was created by master basket weaver Evalina Henry a San Carlos Apache of Peridot Arizona.

Ms Henry has been honored for her craft.
"WASHINGTON, DC -- The National Endowment for the Arts has announced the recipients of the 2001 National Heritage Fellowships. Thirteen fellowships of $10,000 each were awarded in the folk and traditional arts. Among them are �.. basketweaver Evalina Henry, (Peridot, AZ) recognized as the master basketweaver among the San Carlos Apache. Basketmaker Evalina Henry learned from her mother, Cecilia Henry, who made baskets until she was 89. In the late 1970s, people began asking her to make burden baskets for the Sunrise Dance, a coming of age ceremony for girls. "These baskets must be beautiful and intricate, with the young woman's name sometimes woven as part of the design, as well as strong because many sacred objects are placed in the basket as part of the ceremony. The NEA explains. "

Basket size 7 1/2" diameter top, 4 1/2" bottom, 7" long! _______________________________________________________________________