Navajo Wooden Cradleboard Full Size 32" Handmade with Native American Cloth Doll

Description: Handmade Navajo Wooden Cradleboard Full Size 32" with Handcrafted Native American Cloth Doll Cradleboards are the most commonly recognized type of Native American Indian baby carrier, and as the term implies, include a wooden component that was most frequently a flat backboard. What is the meaning of the Navajo cradleboard? The right back board represents Nahasdzáán (Mother Earth), the left represents Yá'dilhil (Father Sky). These two back boards are laced together with buckskin; the upper end of the two back boards is cut and made into a V-shape. Famous for their rich history, the Navajo Indians have been building traditional handcrafts for generations. This unique type of handmade cradleboard is a Native baby cradle used as a back pack to carry an infant. Traditionally, mothers would wrap the baby in white linen cloth and tie them in the cradle board. It could then be stood against a tree or rock while the mother worked or carried it on her back. Use this cradleboard with cloth doll as a wall hanging for rustic decor in a cabin, log home or southwest room. A papoose cradle board is a Native American symbol of life, and a very interesting decorating accessory in southwestern style and western home decor. Cradle boards are great for giving your home a ranch, cabin, lodge, or rustic look. Cradleboards are built with a broad, firm protective frame for the infant's spine. A footrest is incorporated into the bottom of the cradleboard, as well as a rounded cover over the infant's head that arcs out from the cradleboard, similar to a canopy or a modern-day baby carriage hood. The purpose of this headpiece is to provide shade for the infant, since it could be covered with an animal skin, or a blanket in winter to protect against the elements in colder climates. The headpiece also provides extra head protection in case anything bumps against the cradleboard. Cradleboards were used during periods when the infant's mother had to travel or otherwise be mobile for work, and needed to protect the infant. The cradleboard could be carried on the mother's back, using support from "tumplines", or "burden straps" that would wrap around her forehead, chest or shoulders; if she carried a pack as well as the cradleboard, the pack strap would go around her chest and the cradleboard strap would go around her forehead. The cradleboard can also be stood up against a large tree or rock if the infant is small, or hung from a pole, or even hung from a sturdy tree branch. They were also used when longer travel was required, as the cradleboard could be attached to a horse for transportation. In the southwest United States and northern Mexico, among cultures such as the Hopi, Navajo and Apache, infants would spend most of their day and night in the cradle board, being taken out of it for progressively longer periods, for up to five times per day. When the infant reaches the age when it can sit up unsupported, it is then gradually weaned from the use of the cradleboard, and spends progressively less time in it. Measurements: (Approximately) Cradleboard Length: 32 inches Width: 9 inches Height with Rounded Cover: 12 3/8 inches Cloth Doll Length: 21 inches Width: 9 inches including arms Depth: 7 inches at head We pack with care. This will be an oversized package. SPEEDY SHIPPING!

Price: 193.48 USD

Location: Tucson, Arizona

End Time: 2025-01-15T20:03:03.000Z

Shipping Cost: N/A USD