Passamaquoddy Frances Soctomah ’14 Weaves Together Past and Present – Bowdoin

August 19, 2015

When Frances Soctomah makes traditional Wabanki baskets, she uses softened wood cut from ash trees and sweetgrass collected from salt marshes. As she weaves, she is carrying on a long Passamaquoddy tradition.

While baskets are an important part of her culture, they also play a big role in Soctomah’s family, of Indian Township, Maine. Her grandmother, Molly Neptune Parker, is a master basketmaker and recipient of a 2015 Bowdoin College honorary degree. A keen maker of baskets since she was a young girl, Parker helped found the Maine Indian Basketmakers Alliance in 1993 to resurrect a tradition she saw disappearing from Maine’s Wabanaki people — the Maliseets, Micmacs, Passamaquoddies and Penobscots.

Read More: http://community.bowdoin.edu/news/2015/08/weaving-past-and-present-passamaquoddy-frances-soctomah-14-continues-tradition/