By Michela Gritti
On Friday, the Museum of the Southeast American Indian hosted its annual Holiday Bazaar, bringing more than twenty Native vendors and many shoppers into Old Main for a full day of handmade gifts, food and seasonal art.
The event ran from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. and was free and open to the public. Students, faculty and community members browsed tables filled with original beadwork, soaps, clothing, artwork, jewelry and holiday items.
Vendors included R’s Beaded Fantasies, Beads by Jaelyn, Blackbird Designs, Blackwater Soap Works, Chalmers Locklear, Gourd Art, Darkwater Designs, Dr. JoAnn Lowery, Eaglefeather Arts, Easy Peasy Lemonade, Joann’s Creations, Lanny Lowery Designs, Longwhisker Collective, Lumbee Honey, Lumbee Outfitters, Nonna’s Naturals, Lumbee Weaver, The Luna Tree, Original Peoples, Pine Skies Co., Red Earth Gallery, Scuffletown Suppliers, Southern Jewelz and Ta’Chii’Nii Creations.
One vendor, Jo Ann Cummings, said she began making jewelry six years ago after a woman in Lumberton showed her how to make a simple earring. That quick lesson sparked what is now her small business.
Cummings displayed earrings and other pieces created from a wide range of items, including jingles from jingle dresses, wampum and natural materials she repurposes into jewelry.
“I love the chance that I could make my biggest hobby becoming my source of profit,” she said. “I can find myself anywhere, see an object, and think this would be a beautiful jewelry.”
The Holiday Bazaar aimed to highlight Native artists and give shoppers an opportunity to support local makers as the campus moves into the holiday season.
UNCP, a campus founded by American Indians for American Indians, continues to host events that honor its origins and the community that shaped it. The Bazaar underscored the value of handmade work at a time when mass production and online shopping dominate daily life. The pieces displayed offered a reminder that craftsmanship is more than just a hobby; it is a deliberate, slow and meaningful process rooted in skill, tradition and care.
In the modern world, where almost everything arrives in a package from somewhere far away and convenience often replaces creativity, the Bazaar showed that human hands can produce work that carries a depth and beauty no machine can replicate. the beauty of these items is not only in the final product, but in ithe ntention, time and story behind each one.
The value of the process is something our fast paced, online-everything world often forgets, and this event brought that point back into focus.