By P.A. Geddie
Through a large cultural preservation grant from the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) and support from The Friends of Caddo Mounds, the ancient art of Caddo traditional rivercane basketry is being revived in partnership with the Caddo Mounds State Historic Site in Alto near Nacogdoches. The project is several years in the making and a PBS documentary was recently released about what’s taken place so far. Caddo Voices: A Basketry Revival is available for streaming through the PBS app and website.
According to TxDOT, once plentiful along East Texas rivers and streams, rivercane is now a rare plant. It prevents erosion and provides places for fish and animals to live. Native American tribes that call East Texas home consider it an important material. Rivercane is woven into their cultural traditions: it is used to make baskets and mats, shooting darts, and fishing rods. As rivercane disappeared, these art forms were nearly lost.
For this project, TxDOT partnered with the Caddo Mounds State Historic Site in Alto to bring rivercane back. Caddo Nation members learned how to identify, harvest, process, and weave rivercane into baskets. The students made the first hand harvested Caddo rivercane baskets in more than 800 years. Caddo Mounds planted new rivercane along a creek for future Caddo basket makers.
Caddo Mounds State Historic Site is where there was once a Caddo village and ceremonial center. In the mid-1800’s, the Hasinai Caddo were forcibly removed from their East Texas Homeland. Today, three earthen mounds, still considered sacred to Caddo people, are there and a visitor center that teaches how the Caddo lived on the land through exhibits and programs. Prehistoric sites like the Caddo Mounds are a reminder that long before European contact, society existed in the Americas.
Finished basket made by Yonavea Hawkins, Caddo Beadwork Artist, who participated in rivercane basketry classes.
Upon receiving the grant funding, Caddo Nation artist and historian Chase Kahwinhut Earles put a plan together for a river cane basketry class series and Sue Fish served as instructor with six Caddo students including Yonavea Hawkins, Jackie Bullard, Katelyn De Anne Polly, Jay Hawkins, Kay O’Neal, and Kristi Dane. The first classes were held in the Museum of East Texas in Lufkin while the Caddo Mounds new museum was under construction for repairs needed after an EF-3 tornado hit the complex on Caddo Culture Day in 2019.
“I was able to fulfill a wish of mine of helping to bring back to the Caddo the ancient art of traditional rivercane basketry by creating a class series that brought prominent and experienced Native basket weavers together with Caddo students to revive this art form that lied dormant within our tribe,” Earles says.
In January 2023, Earles announced the completion of the class series.
“Our Caddo students learned how to use the rivercane that we had all harvested and processed to weave into baskets,” he said.
In the documentary, basket maker Katey Polly says, “I think a lot of people don’t realize how much these arts and our foods and our culture really is contributing to the mental health and the overall wellness of various tribes. All the tribes. Getting back to those things is such a big healing process for communities to have access to ourselves.
“It’s literally one of the hardest things I’ve ever done,” she says. “It could be one of the most rewarding things too though. Difficulty does not equate to not enjoying it. It’s absolutely amazing — the appreciation that I’ve gained for artists who spend their life doing this work.
“I didn’t have any expectations coming into doing it,” Polly continues. “I knew I wanted to find a creative outlet that connected me to my culture. I hope I can carry on with it in one format or another, and all the different ways of connecting to the earth are really valuable to me.”
Earles says he realizes the process is not easy but is happy the Caddo ancestors are being honored through reviving the tradition.
“It’s not like you just go to the store and buy the material,” he says. “You really have to work hard to find the material, to process it to do this more traditional work. I really feel strongly we have some people that will be able to take this and pass it on and teach it to Caddos so we can keep the basketry alive.”
The Caddo Mounds site reopened in May 2024 and that same month Jackie Bullard presented a webinar continuing the conversation about rivercane, natural processes, and basketry among other Caddo crafts.
Learn more about Caddo Mounds State Historic Site and future rivercane basketry projects on their website. See Caddo Voices: A Basketry Revival documentary on PBS.
