Spiritual Totems of Friendship
Billy Logan gifting turtle rattle necklace to Stephanie Big Eagle. Artpark 2023
Welcoming or greeting ceremonies have been a vital part of Indigenous cultures for millennia. These ceremonies can be both formal and informal. In addition, it can be gifted by the host or the guest traveler. Either way, the gift is something with intrinsic value. It can be a small item unique to the tribe, a craft item that may have personal significance or it may be a utilitarian item.
I like to gift small items I make to people who I may or may not see again for a significant amount of time.
One of my more powerful item is my turtle rattle necklaces. The turtle rattle plays a significant role in Eastern Woodlands (particularly Haudenosaunee) culture. The history goes back well over 500 years.
The snapping turtle rattle and turtle in general can be used as calendars for the plates on their back hold the sacred code. The inner “scutes” or large plates represent the 13 lunar months for the planting and harvesting. The unchallenged “scutes” or outer plates represent the 28 lunar days of the months. There are many stories with turtles play a role.
My mother was Onondaga turtle clan and under the traditional matriarchal structure, I am Onondaga turtle as well. I have a close affinity with the turtle and have been making these fir few years. My father was Cayuga snipe clan and still hold much reverence to him.
During the summer, I had the chance to meet Stephanie Big Eagle during the Strawberry Moon Festival at Artpark in Niagara Falls, NY. I had been following her for a few years since she was an advocate for the resurrection if Lakota Traditional tattooing. I have been studying tribal tattooing designs since the late 1980's and incorporate themes in my woodcarvings.
I knew Stephanie would “get it” as another kindred spirited artist with the mission of memorializing our ancestors and traditional connections. Someone with a deeper spiritual mindset as well as an awareness of the future seven generations.
Stephanie was kind enough to let me take my necklace that I was wearing and let me place it around her neck. I was so honored she would accept my gift to accompany her on her journey and hopefully bring her good fortune.
It is nice to reflect on a something relatively insignificant, but to me, it’s a point worth noting because it runs deeper than the object itself, it exists in the realm of the power of all objects animate and inanimate.
