Solidarity Pendleton Blanket

Description

“Solidarity”

Muscogee (Creek) Nation Special Issue Pendleton Blanket

Administration of Principal Chief David W. Hill

The Muscogee origin story states that the original people were born from the earth and emerged from a hole or darkness in the west. The people traversed east toward the rising sun in search of a place to settle. The arrows point right and left, or east and west if read as a map. The arrows pointing right or east depict the people’s journey to their homelands in what is now the southeastern U.S. The arrows pointing left or west depict the removal walk toward Indian Territory. The four diamond-shaped motifs portray the four directional logs in a ceremonial fire and the unity with which they work to create and sustain the fire. The feathers above and below the motifs represent the songs that harmoniously ascend from the singers moving in unison around the ceremonial fire. The stripes on either end of the blanket form angular shapes that symbolize the mounds found throughout the Muscogee people’s original homelands in the southeastern U.S. The four mounds pay homage to the Muscogee ancestors’ combined effort and dedication needed to build the monumental earthworks.

Life’s journey consists of both joyous and mournful occasions. Among the Muscogee people, kinship and solidarity keep the people whole, bound to, and responsible for one another as Mvskokvlke (Muscogee people).