
INDIAN BEADWORK 

It should not be inferred that when we find names for beaded designs, 
the makers produce them solely for mystic reasons. That would be 
far from the truth, for beadwork is, above all, decorative. The Indian 
woman toils because it is a pleasure to produce something beautiful 
and chooses her colors and designs to that end. Yet she may choose a 
design which because of its name and symbolic associations, appeals to 
her as especially appropriate to the occasion. For example, the Arapaho 
moccasin in Fig. 14 is beaded around the edges, but has its front surface 
traversed by a number of quilled lines. The white beadwork represents 
the ground. Green zigzag lines upon it are snakes. The quilled lines 
represent sweathouse poles. These lines are red, blue, and yellow, and 
the colors represent stones of different colors, used for producing steam 
in the sweathouse. .At the heel of the moccasin, which is not shown in 
the figure, are two small green squares. These represent the blankets 
with which the sweathouse is covered. 

Fig. 14. A Child’s Moccasin: Arapaho. The deco- 
ration has a symbolic meaning. 
The design of a snake was embroidered on this moccasin in order 
that the child wearing it might not be bitten by snakes. The symbols 
referring to the sweathouse were embroidered on the moccasin in order 
that the child might grow to the age at which the sweathouse is princi- 
pally used; namely, old age. 
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