"It happened when the Raven still walked among men.  A woman who lived in a cloud village had a beautiful daughter of marriageable age.  The Sun saw her and after his day's travel across the sky, he took the form of a man and sought her for his wife.  Many years they lived together in the Sky-Land and had many children, but the children were of the earth world like their mother.  One day as the mother was watching the children play, worrying about their future, she plucked some roots and began idly to plait them together in the shape of a basket.  Her husband, the Sun, knowing her fears, increased the size of the basket until it would hold her and the children, then he lowered them to Earth.  They set down near Yakutat on the Alsek River and that is the reason the first baskets were made by Yakutat women."

Basket making was one of the oldest and most important arts in the Tlingit economy. Woven basketry was fairly prominent in all coastal Native groups from the Aleutian Chain to the Columbia River. Many baskets, mats, bags, etc. were sewn, coiled, twilled or plaited from a variety of materials. Twining (the same type of weave as used in the Chilkat Blanket) was reserved for the spruce root baskets of the Tlingit. These water-tight vessels augmented the Tlingit's selection of wooden cooking utensils common among the Northwest Coast Indians.

Baskets were made to be used and their shape was dictated by the use for which they were intended. Some were cook kettles, water jars, drinking cups and food dishes. Some of the largest baskets were used for collecting and storing berries, a food staple. This twining weave turned spruce roots into work hats, headdresses for a shaman, work baskets, rattles, spoon bags, fish traps, net bags for eulachon fishing, huge mats for canoe sails, floor mats, a baby's cradle swing or a winding sheet for an old shaman when his body was taken to the lonely burial house.

Unlike the Chilkat Blanket where both men and women played an important creative role, women were the sole makers of the basket. They found, collected, and prepared the materials, then designed and wove the baskets.

The baskets, made of spruce roots, were ornamented with various types of grasses. Young roots were gathered in spring by a group of women armed with digging sticks. An experienced woman selected the proper tree and a root, which could be up to 20 feet long, was followed with sticks and hands. The bark was immediately peeled before the sap dried then the root coiled and cured over the summer.

Traditionally, weaving was done during the quiet winter months.  When a woman was ready to start work, she soaked the roots until they were soft and pliable.  Each root was then split lengthwise into narrow strips.  The splits were started with knives (mussel shell knives were used before traders came) and finished by holding the root in position with the front teeth and splitting with the thumb and forefinger nails of the right hand.  The outside of the root with its brown luster was coiled for the weft strands while the remainder was coiled seperately for the warp.  The center was discarded.

• Avoid extreme temperature and humidity changes.
• Keep out of direct sunlight--the darker, the better.
• Keep dust free, either in a case or by gentle vacuuming through a mesh material.
• Examine routinely for insect infestation--little holes, fine dust.
• Handle carefully. Pick up by supporting the bottom with gloved hands. NEVER carry by handle, rim or knob.
• Never wash (or use water on basket), nor use varnish or shellac.
• Do not stack baskets.