Reviving the Threads

Sometimes a small ripple (or in this case, a small bit of string) becomes the catalyst for a wave of knowledge to come forth. We honor Tima Lotah Link (Coastal Band/Southern Owl Clan/Quabajai Clan) for her single-handed dedication to bringing back our weaving traditions and now—for all the new weavers who are carrying this knowledge forward. Tima’s journey to bring back weaving to our community started simple, as all things do...with how to make a piece of Chumash string. In her words:

“I began with the name of string in our Šmuwič Chumash language: tok. There was also a village site named toktok (lots of string) and that village was high in the mountains, where, as it turns out, tok grows. For five years, I went in search of this plant and its secrets, and in the process, made friends with our State Condor Preserve, gathered knowledge from the tribal corners of California (Paiute, Ohlone, Cahuilla, and Yokuts), and figured out where it grew locally, how to identify it, how to weave it, and hardest of all, how to get access to the high mountain preserves where it grew.

I couldn't stop there, and a whole world of 'things I could make from tok' drove me to try my hand at Chumash cradle-making—an ambitious undertaking, since there were no more old-time cradle-makers. Our cradles are a complex weave of willow, tule reeds, and tok, and the final product is a balance of weight vs. strength vs. function. Help came from museums and private collectors who had cradle remnants; I spent weeks staring at old knots and weaves. Bow-makers lent me their expertise on wood, tule boat-makers showed me what tule could do and what it couldn't, and mothers shared thoughts on child carrying. Even so, my first five cradles were…well, interesting looking. And I got better.

Cradle making led to cradle belt making, which took me to the far corner of Yokuts country in search of belt weavers. They cheerfully untangled my many attempts at belt weaving and sent me home with my head full of string and old-time stories. And I got better.

Somewhere in the middle of cradle/belt making, I asked my cousin Deborah Sanchez to make a cradle-making song in our Šmuwič language, and so that too was born. Twenty years later, I’m still weaving tok, along with dozens of other cultural items: houses, boats, dolls, regalia, cups, hats, mats, bassinets. And I like innovating, so I weave puppets, cell phone holders, belt buckles, cowboy hats…and maybe kites? I’m teaching others—in my tribe and other tribes—and they in turn are teaching me.

Our weavers are part of a vast network of Native culture keepers throughout California and North America that is changing our cultural and ecological landscape again—in good ways. We attend each other's gatherings, weave-ins, and ceremonies, and this sharing of knowledge and experience is fueling a huge wave of cultural revitalization. I've got my Chumash floaties on, paddling along on that wave, adding a bit of my spirit and artistry to its momentum.”