Bandouliere Bags Essay

Bandouliere bags played an important role in Cherokee and southeastern native life. They were symbols of prestige and wealth and were often used for religious ceremony or given as political gifts. These bags were never completely commodified, and their production all but ceased when the tribes in the Southeast were moved onto reservations in Oklahoma. Beadwork held prestige due to its time consuming nature and cost of production. Each tribe and region has their own way of working with beads. Although there are some similarities, color choices, design and the role beading played in the community greatly differs between them. In the Cherokee tribe bandouliere bags were mostly crafted by women for use by men in the tribe. In the Southeastern region,

A majority of southeastern art was lost when they were removed from their homes and moved onto reservations. It is through portable objects that were collected or bought by westerners that southeastern art survives. The main example this paper will be drawing from is a bandouliere bag titled only as Shoulder Bag made by the Cherokee people in the 1830s during the height of bandouliere bag production. It measures 20 x 23.5 cm and is currently held by the University of California in San Diego. A bandouliere bag is a bag that is worn crossbody with a large panel and a small pocket. The beadwork typically covers the strap as well as the front panel. Depending on the region the strap ends with different fringes and shapes. Almost universally, the beading pattern across the strap changes into a similar but distinctly different pattern when it reaches the top of the arch and travels back down. Most bag designs have a strong sense of balance but actively avoid symmetry. They also typically operate within a limited color pallet with certain colors being associated with different tribes. Although the most well known form for southeastern beadwork is the bandouliere bag, beadwork was also used in clothing such as belts and beaded panels. In some regions such as the Great Lakes bandouliere bags became objects to display artfully designed beadwork and lost their function as a