Consider the Basket... a Closet of Sorts Unto its Own

Happy Monday friends!

The other day as I was quickly cleaning house for visitors, I found myself scrambling about searching for empty baskets, stuffing them to overflowing, and stashing them in the basement. We as a family have quite the habit of creating "inboxes" and processing them... later.

As I looked at my blog writing calendar for 2020 and saw this week (week 2) was a week dedicated to all things "basket" - especially storage - I thought about my sloppy inbox baskets lurking underneath my feet and came to the conclusion that long before closets, we humans have been hiding our skeletons in well, baskets.

BASKETS IN TIME

"When the chief baker saw that the interpretation was good, he said unto Joseph, I also was in my dream, and, behold, I had three white baskets on my head: and in the uppermost basket there was of all manner of bakemeats for Pharaoh; and the birds did eat them out of the basket upon my head." Genesis 40:16-17*

While this particle scripture talks about baskets being used as storage, who can forget the story of Moses being hidden in the basket and sent down river? Baskets house our things, and in modern culture baskets have surpassed the practical and have become ornamentally appreciated as art.

BASKETS IN CULTURE

As I began researching the subject of baskets I found them woven throughout every civilization and culture from Ancient Egypt to America, from the practicing Jewish to the Amish . Baskets are as significant in religious ceremonies as they are in everyday use. I am not quite sure when baskets went from being hidden storage vessels to prominent architectural features but while their great migration from utilitarian to decor remains a mystery, it would appear that baskets as an ever present tool have been considered extremely important throughout human history.

I don't know about you, but when I run out of closet space I turn to baskets as my saviors. Baskets look great, they are useful, and some can even expand to hold more than you or I could even imagine.

As I sit and write this, I am looking into my kitchen at a hand woven picnic basket on top of my kitchen cabinet, it's beautiful. Right next to it? A large wicker basket from France holding my collection of rolling pins and dried flowers. I am excited to learn more about baskets, how they are made, and who makes them... I hope you are too :)!

Tomorrow: A Brief History of Baskets: A Tisket a Tasket an Ancient Woven Basket

*The first mention of "basket" in the Bible was written during the time of Joseph, son of Jacob, who was asked to interpret a Baker's dream. According to scholars, Joseph lived under the reign of the Egyptian Pharaoh Ramses II between 1600-1700 BCE.