Botswana Basket Weaving Designs

I’ve always been enchanted by the ornately designed baskets/bowls found all over Botswana, and earlier this afternoon I was reading “Mortals” by Norman Rush and came upon this:

“For a while Iris had been interested in the reed baskets produced by the Bushmen or rather Bushwomen in the north, and she had studied the meaning of the symbols in the designs, Tears of the Giraffe, Knees of the Tortoise, Urine Trail of the Bull and so on woven into baskets.”

The designs have names?! Of course they do. So I immediately stopped reading to come research them. Finding the designs were hard enough, finding any deeper meaning into the symbols was impossible and might require a proper book. Some of these might even be mislabeled. Until I find out more, you can just enjoy the patterns on their own…

Style Guide

Forehead of the Zebra

Back of the Python

Flight of the Swallow

Tears of the Giraffe

Urine Trail of the Bull

Knees of the Tortoise

Running Ostrich

Roof of the Rondavel

Forehead of the Kudu

Ribs of the Giraffe

Palm Leaf