Using southwest bedding is an easy way to create beautiful, rustic style in your home. A while back, I was looking for an easy way to redecorate one of the rooms in my home and give it a touch of the old west. I came across some southwestern blankets at a discount linen store and decided to use them as part of the western decor. I was impressed with the Native American style they created in the room so much that I decided to put them in all the rooms of my home to give them that beautiful, southwestern flare you see in designer magazines.
Because I used these throw blankets everyday as bedspreads, shawls, or as lap blankets, I became interested in the story behind southwestern blankets and began researching their origin. The more I studied, the more intriguing the story became. I never realized that although very popular today among home designers and in modern style homes, southwest bedding for use in rustic home decor actually emerged in the early 1900's, when trade blankets were put on the market.
Most people I talk to, believe that the blankets and throws they commonly use for southwest bedding were originally made by American Indians. I also believed that, until I began researching the beginnings of these southwestern style blankets and found that, although American Indians were the main inspiration behind the designs and production of trade blankets, they were not made by them.
In fact, as you read about the intriguing history of Indian blankets, you will learn that they were actually made by machines, and produced by large weaving companies for the sole purpose of supplying the Indians with needed blankets. These Indian blankets were then supplied to the frontier trading posts where the Native Indians would buy and trade them and use them to wrap themselves in instead of a modern coat or jacket.
Another thing you will find interesting as you study the history of trade blankets to use as southwest, is that as women became more interested in interior design in the early 1900's, rustic decor and western designs rose in popularity. These "Indian blankets" as they came to be called, were sought after by people across the nation who used them for southwest bedding and as decorative couch or chair covers to enhance southwestern home decor. The Indian trade blankets were perfect for covering exposed legs when in a wagon, sleigh or buggy, and in the new horseless carriages. Later on, they became popular as throws for camping, canoeing and a new hobby called motoring.
Today, you can easily buy southwest bedding online and in places that sell western and southwestern home decor. Whether used as a rustic bedspread, blanket or bed throw, southwest bedding will add great charm to your home and environment. If you are looking for authenticity and traditional American Indian values and are looking for a wonderful way to add western style in your rustic home decor, then you will certainly enjoy owning and decorating with southwest bedding.
Because I love southwest decorating, I recently added ceremonial drums as part of the rustic, southwest decor in my new home. I was so impressed with the beautiful, southwestern feel that the Native American drums brought to my home, that I started learning about the history and the influential role they play in Indigenous cultures. If you are like me, you have probably seen how meaningful ceremonial drums are to the Native culture but do not know their importance in tribal ceremonies or how exactly they are used. Each tribe is unique in how they use ceremonial drums but one similarity between each tribe is that the Native drums are very symbolic and part of the main focus of the ceremony. Throughout my studies, I have come to find that learning about these drums truly grants you a great appreciation of the American Indian culture and their customs.
As you begin studying about ceremonial drums, you will find it very interesting that the Indigenous people think of the ceremonial drum to be sacred. They are usually used in powwows, Shamanic ceremonies and honor ceremonies to come in contact with the Spirits and to connect with their creator. It is believed that each drum contains a spirit and that the drum beat signifies the heart beat of Mother Nature. Since the drum is thought to connect the people with the spirit world and lead the a healer in helping his people, you will see that they are commonly used by the healers or Shaman to enter the mind state, known as the Shamanic journey, needed to communicate with the Spirits.
Also, as you study the importance of ceremonial drums in modern culture, you will find that Native Indian drums have a significant role in the preservation of native tribes such as the Tarahumara. Making and selling these rustic style drums gives them the opportunity to earn a living, by selling and trading their cultural hand crafts, and helps them extend the knowledge and traditions of their culture to those who purchase them. The drum making knowledge, passed on from generation to generation in these tribes, teaches the drum makers how to make durable and long-lasting ceremonial drums with elements from the Earth and the environment around them such as pine wood and natural rawhide.
Today, Native Indian drums are not only used in Indian ceremonies such as Indian drumming groups and as Native American musical instruments, but they are also gaining popularity as pieces of decorative art, instruments used in school music classes and even as canvases for Native American art projects and Indian paintings. Some types of ceremonial drums are also used as southwest style furniture and western decor, such as the larger powwow drums and pedestal drums that are used as rustic, decorative tables. Today, it is very easy to find these unique Native American ceremonial drums online and in stores that sell southwestern, western and rustic decor. However you choose to use your ceremonial drum, whether for drumming purposes or in home decorating, you will no doubt be drawn to the simplistic charm and western style of ceremonial drums.
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