Ute Cradleboard

Photos taken in the 1800s of Ute leaders and their families show large elaborate cradleboards more than three feet tall. The boards were covered in buckskin and had a wide band of beadwork arched across the front crown. Fringed buckskin decorated the top of the pouch where the baby was bundled while leather strands laced it up.
Ute cradleboards are distinguished from those of other tribes by the curved shade above the baby's head, shaped from supple limbs of the Tamarisk bush. This shade could be draped with a cloth to shelter the baby from the weather. It would also protect the baby's head if the cradleboard accidentally fell forward.
Following Ute tradition, the mother sang a specified lull-aby while working on her baby's cradleboard. After the baby was born, the umbilical cord was placed in a pouch and tied to the cradleboard symbolizing the child being "tied to family and home." Cradleboards made with white leather are for males while yellow leather represents a female baby.
Cradle in Ute language: Koon-odze