Spakenburger Houses

Yes, I'm also one the quilters who's joining the "Quiltvirus Building Houses from Scraps".

Till now I have made five houses. I don't think I will  keep catching up making one every day. The fabrics I have chosen are scraps/parts from traditional Spakenburger costumes. 

All the windows and doors will be red-white. The red-white represents the colour of the scarfs the Spakenburger women wear. And the blue? Well the blue skies of the Netherlands (in summer).

Of course like all the other quilters I have special box for it. Marne and Elaine send it as a X-mas present for Rob with salmon in it. The salmon will be used for lunch tomorrow. And poor husbands who are married to quilters, we can always use a nice wooden box for one of our projects.

Did you know that Seattle is the heart of the Pacific salmon fishery. The painting of the box is from one of the original North-West Tribes.

The Pacific Northwest Coast people believed that Salmon were actually humans with eternal life how lived in a large house far under the ocean. In the Spring, they put on their Salmon disguises and offered themselves to the villagers as food. The tribes believed that when entire fish skeletons were returned to the sea, the spirits would rise again and change into Salmon people. In this way, the cycle could begin again the following year. Since the villagers feared that the Salmon people would not be treated respectfully by White people who had no knowledge of the taboos and regulations, they did not want to sell Salmon to the first White men.