River Cane Harvesting, Splitting and Peeling

Season 6 • Episode 4

River Cane Harvesting, Splitting and Peeling

Chickasaw Culture Keepers

From art to weaponry to water purification, river cane is one of the most versatile and important plants found in Chickasaw culture. In this episode of Thrive: Traditions, demonstrators Donna Iti Tupa and Lori White Buffalo share how Chickasaws in both the past and present harvest and prepare river cane for its various uses.

Donna and Lori traveled to the homelands to harvest river cane from the same stands their ancestors took care of, finding their way by boat and along hiking paths. "It's just incredible that we're still able to find stands that our ancestors used to keep these traditions alive," Lori says. Taking loppers to the base of the plant, Donna and Lori gathered hundreds of river cane stalks to bring back to Oklahoma.

Once the river cane is harvested, the next step is cleaning, removing excess leaves and smoothing out the nodes left behind. "During our process it was difficult to try to be patient enough to not force the river cane to do what you wanted it to do," Lori explains. "You had to just ultimately let the river cane peel the way that it wanted to and try to work with it that way."

Donna and Lori hope the next generation of Chickasaw artisans will learn to create baskets and mats out of river cane they harvest themselves. "Now that I am a mother myself, I want to not only inspire this next generation, I want to spark that interest to want to learn more about their culture, their heritage," says Lori.

EPISODES

3m 30s

River Cane Harvesting, Splitting and Peeling

EPISODES

Pottery

Stickball Sticks

Beading

Regalia

Metalsmithing

Shell Carving

Weaving

Horticulture

Baskets

Traditional Foods

Quilting

Flutes

Beaded Collars

Drum Making

Storytelling

Bow Making

Brent Greenwood Art

Beaded Jewelry

Flint Knapping

Stomp Dancing

Beadwork

Turkey Calls

Traditional Stories: How Day and Night Were Divided

Woodturning

Bead Artisan

Textile Art

Quilt Making

Jewelry

The Legacy of Bow Making

Bead Artistry

Painting

Woven Mats

Metalworking

Photography

Pashofa

Deer Toe Shakers

Stickball Sticks

Shell Carving

Medicine Bags

Natural Dyes

Twinning

Bladesmithing

Fish Nets

Porcupine Quillwork

Pottery Burnishing

Shell Carving

Duck Decoys

Traditional Arrows

Fine Gourd Art

Traditional Flutes

Turtle Pottery

Turtle Shell Shakers

Pucker Toe Moccasins

Chunkey

Tattoos and War Paint

Leggings and Breechcloths

Hide Brain Tanning

River Cane Harvesting, Splitting and Peeling