MicMac (Mi\'kmaq) bead design Shoulder Bag; vintage wool: by Paul St John, Mohawk for Sale

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MicMac (Mi\'kmaq) bead design Shoulder Bag; vintage wool: by Paul St John, Mohawk For Sale

$MicMac (Mi\'kmaq) bead design Shoulder Bag; vintage wool: by Paul St John, Mohawk$
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MicMac (Mi\'kmaq) bead design Shoulder Bag; vintage wool: by Paul St John, Mohawk:
$185.50

This shoulder bag has beaded glass seed beads designs that aretraditional MicMac (Canadian spelling, Mi\'kmaq) Front, back and strap are of vintage black wool and the back of strap and the interior are lined with vintage dark blue/blue floral design calico cotton. Bag and strap are edged with red silk grosgrain ribbon. This bag is made by Paul St John, Mohawk craftsman.

Traditionally worn across the shoulder, this bag has the very old traditional MicMac/Mi\'kmaq designs on front. The designs are from different beaded Mi\'kmaq items in Canadian museums - in the colors used in each actual designs. The solid color glass seed beads are in white, red, medium blue and yellow. Top design includes a rake/comb like design at center of a double curve. Center large design includes many double curves with loops and a top trifoliate design. Below that is a more linear design of double curves and trifoliate designs ... with small comb/rake ----- The rake/comb could be either blueberry/cranberry rakes or sweetgrass combs - or something else .... the design is old and meaning has been lost.

The bag is 12\" long, the width is 9.5\" and the strap is 25\" from top center of strap to side of bag at it\'s attachment point. Strap is 2\" wide.
Wabanaki & Iroquois traditionally made and used various types of bags, medicine bags and shoulder bags, of varying styles, sizes, materials and designs. The Wabanaki confederation tribes include Abenaki, Passamaquoddy, Penobscot, Maliseet and MicMac (Mi\'kmaq is one of the Canadian spellings of MicMac).
You can use this as part of your regalia, it would hold quite a lot inside - wallet, medicine pouch, etc. Or you can use it as a spectacular display piece.
Paul St. John now lives in Maine, near his mother\'s Passamaquoddy, Maliseet and Micmac relatives. He is an enrolled Mohawk and grew up on the Mohawk lands in New York, his father\'s tribe. 2nd from last photo in slideshow is of Paul St John and 2 of his other works. Last photo is of his Mohawk grandmother, Amelia St John who taught him beading.
Paul St John also makes birchbark, porcupine quill and coiled sweetgrass baskets, beaded knife cases, traditional dolls, water drums, birch bark rattles, beaded barrettes and moccasins among numerous other traditional crafts - check out more of his work in this store.