Mrs. Lo and Little Negee
Anishinabe woman dressed in contemporary clothing holdings her baby in a traditional Dikinaagan (cradleboard). She is seated infront of an elm bark lodge.
The first year of a baby's life was spent on a cradle board. At the top is a curved hoop or bow that was tied or lashed to a wooden brace that protected the baby's head and to support the blanket or the thin cloth that is used in the summer to provide protection from drafts or flies. The curved hoop or bow that is used to protect the baby's head was used to hang charms, coins, thimbles, bells, and other play things. A large piece of skin or a velvet sack or blanket was secured to the cradle to hold the baby and to be laced up around it. Over the skin, velvet sack, or blanket was a band that was usually embroidered with quill or bead work to hold the baby in place. Moss or the down of cattail rushes was put around the baby for warmth. To the top of the board was attached a long leather strap or thong that passed around the mother's forehead when she carried the cradle on her back. (Carrie Alberta Lyford's "Ojibwa Crafts" book; page 35)
An Ojibwa woman with a baby in a cradleboard in front of a reed mat shelter.