MOCCASINS

One of the most common item of clothing associated with North America’s Native peoples are the moccasins. Moccasins are made in a variety of styles and additions that fit into the culture of the person wearing them. As a result, moccasin styles are so distinctive that one can identify the wearer’s community by them. Though used by many first Nations peoples, the word moccasin came to identify the leather footwear due to the earliest encounters between Europeans and the Algonquin inhabitants. The word moccasin is an Algonquian word from the Powhatan language makasin, which can traced to the Proto-Algonquian word maxkeseni, meaning shoe. For the Onöndowa’ga:’, gayo:wa’ö:weh (gaw-yoh-wawh!-onh-wayh) is the name for the footwear. Today the word moccasin, known through a number of spellings, signifies all types of hard and soft soled leather shoe styles.

Repairing Moccasins
Time-Lapse Video

Please enjoy this short time-lapsed video of Seneca citizen Nicole Passerotti, a Program Associate at UCLA, repairing a pair of moccasins from the Seneca-Iroquois National Museum.

Repairing Moccasins
Time-Lapse Video

Please enjoy this short time-lapsed video of Seneca citizen Nicole Passerotti, a Program Associate at UCLA, repairing a pair of moccasins from the Seneca-Iroquois National Museum.