![]() The sap within the sugar maple tree starts to thin out and can be harvested from the tree. Maple syrup can only be produced in the late winter, right before spring. The Anishinaabek learned to boil it down into maple syrup and even continue the boil further to create pure maple sugar. With much gratitude and appreciation, the Anishinaabek continued to tap the ninaatigak (maple trees) to harvest the sweet water. ![]() When the Anishinaabek tapped into the ziinzibaakwadwaatig, they soon found out that sweet water flowed from the tree. The Anishinaabek had tried to tap the tree in hopes of finding food – just like the baapaase. The transition from biboon (winter) to ziigwaan (spring) is a difficult time for many animals because of the limited food available. Other Anishinaabek stories talk about how the Anishinaabek followed the actions of the baapaase (woodpecker) in the spring. He tasted the sap and discovered its sweetness and shared this learning with his community. When he went to retrieve the arrow, he noticed a clear, water-like liquid dripping from the wound in the bark. Some Anishinaabek stories about the ziinzibaakwadwaatig talk about a boy who was out hunting one day and shot his arrow at a tree. While coastal communities and First Nations throughout the Georgian Bay Biosphere are connected by the water, the stories are unique to each community and First Nation. Anishinaabek stories are place based which means they reflect the people, geology and ecology of the place they come from. ![]() There are many stories and teachings about maple sap and syrup. Arnold Anishinaabek Relationships with the Ninaatig This ceremony gives thanks to the trees for sharing their sap with us so that we can sustain our life and produce maple syrup.Ĭredit: D. Today, the Sweet-Water Ceremony is being revitalized within the two neighboring communities, Shawanaga and Wasauksing First Nations. We love maple syrup for its delicious addition to foods like pancakes and waffles, but the ziinzibaakwadwaaboo (sap) can also be used for good cleansing of the body. One way to remember this is to think “ suuuugar”, with a u for u-shaped lobes. The sugar maple leaf has u-shaped lobes, versus the red maple’s V-shaped or pointy lobes. The ziinzibaakwadwaatig (sugar maple tree) is identifiable by the leaf. In Ojibwe, we call the maple tree ninaatig. Ziinzibaakwad (maple syrup) is produced from the sap of the sugar maple tree. The days become longer and warmer, and this can only mean one thing: the arrival of maple syrup season! There are a lot of exciting things happening in March, as spring gets closer and closer every day. All are made of this single ingredient.Like a reliable friend, March has once again arrived to help shake off the colds of winter. Today, it is harvested by producers and transformed into 100% pure maple products such as syrup, butter, and sugar. The freezing temperatures of the Québec winter are followed by the warmth of spring, causing the sap to flow in the trees. Red and silver sugar maple trees hold a treasure within: their sap, also known as maple water. This presumably led to collection of the thin sap that the cuts caused to flow from the trees, which could have been used to cook game, corn, beans, and so on. The cambium, the edible part between the hardwood and bark, is thought to have been a survival food. Some historians believe the natives of this land, at some point in the distant past, desperate to avoid starvation, started cutting bark off maple trees. To First Nations people we owe the discovery of maple sap, which they had been harvesting long before Europeans arrived in the New World. Maple syrup in our roots Through the ages, the simple act of collecting and enjoying the sweetness of the sap from a particular tree in springtime has become a major Québec industry producing a “liquid gold” that is prized here and around the world. Maple Production and Sustainable Development.
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