Basketry on La Palma
Without a doubt, the oldest craft is what we know today as basket weaving. Interlaced or woven plant material has been found at archaeological sites dating from prehistoric times and the craft is believed to be even older than pottery. The materials used in La Palma for traditional basketry are: afollado (the snowball bush, a laurel forest species), chestnut, bramble, tagasaste (tree lucerne), colmo (rye straw), wheat straw, wicker, cane (Canary bamboo) and pírgano (the rachis or spine of a palm leaf).
The enormous wealth of raw materials provides an unusual and distinctive hallmark to Palmeran crafts based on plants. Despite using rough materials that are difficult to work with, such as snowball bush or canes, products of extraordinary perfection are made. Palmeran basket weaving, spread throughout the island, has been customised in each place with the region’s own fibres, using sticks (snowball bush, chestnut, tree lucerne, bramble …), palm leaf spines, wicker, bamboo, rye straw and other materials to a lesser extent.
Its fundamental characteristic always lies in the practical use to which the final product is destined, comprising panniers, baskets for heavy loads, hand baskets, hampers, baskets with lids, for clothes and ironing; for use on fishing boats, transport baskets, baskets to hold moray eels, bread baskets, waste paper bins and a whole series of small models used as toys or in the home as decoration.
The profession of basket maker was passed down from father to son, and sometimes entire families were dedicated to making pieces, some of them commissioned. In the beginning, basketry was considered a man’s profession which mostly used sticks, but little by little women have been incorporated into it.
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RYE STRAW AND BRAMBLE
In summer the colmo (rye straw) is collected and tied, forming colmeros (bundles of straw) that are kept in the storerooms and barns, to be used throughout the year. All the dry leaves must be removed before use, to leave the only clean stalk.
The bramble that is used in basketry, meanwhile, must be collected in the waning moons of April, May and June, so that it is more resistant.
The most characteristic piece of this rye straw and bramble craft is the balayo, spirally woven with a rounded bottom, which has become the popular, generic name for this type of basketwork. They are made using rolls of rye straw sewn with bramble ribbons. The sides are concave, more or less open at the top. Round bottom baskets with lids are made from rye straw and bramble, which serve, among other applications, to store the gofio that is used daily; others are oval and used for cutlery; there are also sewing boxes and openwork baskets.
RYE STRAW
Colmo basketry is based exclusively on the use of suitably treated rye straw to produce delicate, fragile, golden and shiny objects. The most common are sewing boxes, baskets to hold layettes, decorative baskets or simply containers to store small memories. All of these can be made with rye in its natural colour, or by interleaving straws of bright colours, previously dyed with aniline.
The most traditional piece of those made in rye is the hexagonal or octagonal basket, with a lid and, sometimes with feet, lined with cloth inside and intended to contain layettes for newborns. Derived from the layette basket, and in a smaller size, boxes, chests, sewing boxes, jewellery boxes and little chests are also made, among other pieces.
Canes
Within the variety of canes, the one with the greatest use is the snowball bush, abundant in the laurel forests, and thus described by the Palmeran biologist Arnoldo Santos Guerra, in his book “Canarian Trees” (Arboles de Canarias 1979). The flexibility of its canes, which can be cut at any time of the year, make it easy to work. It is not advisable to work them when they are green, because the baskets become loose.
Cane basketry is also made with a variety of other plant fibres such as chestnut, bramble, tree lucerne and pírgano, following the same process. All these materials are used to make baskets for agricultural use in different sizes, for carrying stones or soil, panniers and loading baskets for different uses; for the home, tray baskets for ironed clothes, baskets with lids to take food to work, bread baskets, fruit bowls … In addition, canes are used in making fish baskets and covering large bottles, among others objects.
PALM LEAVES
Palm trees are part of the island’s landscape. However, the highest concentration is found in the municipalities of Breña Alta and Breña Baja, so it is there that this material has been worked since ancient times.
Traditionally, palm leaves were used to make mats used instead of carpets in humble houses or to form a woven partition where there was no wall to separate the bedroom from the living room. They were also placed under the mattresses, to prevent them from being damaged by rubbing against the arches of the bed.
One of the most peculiar pieces of palm basketry on the island is the basket for carrying cockerels, a gallera. In addition there are tote bags – ceretas, empleitas which are strips used to mould cheese; hats, and fans to start or revive the fire. These are all made from cogollo, the tender part of the new leaf, which is of much better quality than the older and coarser leaves.
WICKER AND CANE
The wicker from the humid areas of the north of La Palma provided the raw material for an artisan activity developed, above all, in San Andrés y Sauces and Barlovento.
The wicker pieces, both in their natural and peeled versions, have a radial warp, a method that is alien to the usual way of weaving baskets on La Palma. However, unpeeled wicker is put to the same agricultural uses as other types of basket. White wicker was used, and is still used, for more refined pieces, such as large and small baskets, and sewing boxes.
As for the Canary bamboo cane, it was one of the crops grown around the houses, in order to solve agricultural problems, such making supports for vines or tomatoes. One of its uses was basket weaving, a resource that is used when chestnut trees or other canes are not available. These works, carried out entirely in cane, create a weaker basketwork, because it is less able to sustain weight.
The customary thing to make with this material is bird cages. The wicker, mixed with the bamboo cane, gave rise to a different type of basketry, not without aesthetic appeal. Round baskets, oval baskets with a handle on top and other objects make up the array of pieces created by using the two materials together.
Arique
La Palma is a very agricultural island. Its main crop is the banana, which began to be grown commercially at the beginning of the last century. Despite this, the basketry based on arique, or banana fibre, is a recently development. Its use was delayed by the abundance of other raw materials available for basketry.
Some artisans use wire covered with arique to make the ribs for the basket, and strips of arique to weave the filling. Another very different method is to make the shape of the object from metal or wooden squares and to cover these frames with arique. The type of pieces made depends on their use and the creativity of the craftsman; people have made furniture covered with layers of arique, as well as baskets, flowers, dolls, bags… When objects do not need much strength, they can be made of arique alone.
The arique is obtained from the trunk of the cut and dried banana tree. It is opened up, moistened, cleaned and separated into layers, which are then cut into strips or the desired shape, depending on the work to be done.