Pima baskets

Description

The baskets made by the Pima, Papago, and Qahatika, as well as by their Maricopa neighbors, are practically identical in form and design, but the Maricopa basketry is of somewhat superior workmanship. The four-armed cross, a form of the swastika, appears as the central feature in the decoration of a majority of the Piman and Maricopa baskets of to-day, and while the true signification here is not known with certainty, it is not impossible that it was designed originally to represent the winds of the four cardinal directions. Less than a generation ago the swastika was employed by the Pima to decorate their shields, and as a brand for their horses.