On a recent trip to Charleston South Carolina to celebrate my 14 wedding anniversary I learned about sweetgrass. Sweetgrass baskets use to be called slave baskets until one day someone took a negative and turn it into a positive, so the name was changed to sweetgrass baskets. I also learned that the art of making sweetgrass baskets is passed down to the next generation just like crocheting.
Sweetgrass baskets are almost identical in style to the shukublay baskets of Sierra Leone, where learning to coil baskets "so tightly they could hold water" was an important rite of passage in West African tribes like the Mende and the Temne.
This basket-making tradition came to South Carolina in the 17th century by way of West African slaves who were brought to America to work on plantations. West Africa resembles South Carolina in both climate and landscape, and rice had long been cultivated there. In slaves, plantation owners gained not only free labor but also a wealth of knowledge and skill.
One such skill was basketry. Using a type of marsh grass known as bulrush, slaves coiled sturdy, intricate work baskets called fanners. Fanners were used for winnowing, the process of tossing hulls into the air to separate the chaff from the rice. Other work baskets held vegetables, shellfish, and later, cotton.
is interesting to note that early baskets were made not from sweetgrass but from bulrush, a tough plant well-suited for heavy plantation use. Further, Bulrush – or russia as it sometimes called – isn't botanically a bulrush at all. It is actually a needle rush (Juncus roemareanus). Many Lowcountry residents will recognize this as the tall, dark marsh grass that grows alongside our green Spartina. It is a native plant that takes root in mud of a slightly higher elevation. According to local botanist Karl Ohlandt, sometimes the difference in elevation can be as little as an inch or two.
In fact, it wasn't until the early 1900s that artists began to employ other plant materials, including pine needles, saw palmetto fronds, and, most notably, sweetgrass. This important addition allowed for greater flexibility, which in turn allowed for more sophisticated designs like loops. Other assets of sweetgrass are its pretty, pale green color and its pleasant scent, which many compare to the smell of fresh hay.
Sweetgrass grows in the moist, sandy soils near oceans and marshes. Although nondescript much of the year, you can easily recognize it by its vibrant purple plumes in the fall, which eventually fade to white. It's harvested in the spring and summer by "pullers" who slip it from its roots and place it in the sun to dry.
One thing that makes sweetgrass baskets special is that they aren't made with typical weaving techniques like plaiting or twisting, which are common in other parts of the world. Instead, Gullah artists employ the West African tradition of coiling. Dried sweetgrass is bundled together and coiled in circles. Thin strands of palmetto fronds hold the piece in place, and bulrush and pine needles are then added for decoration and strength.
I found sweetgrass baskets and their history interesting, I hope you liked this short post and find it interesting