| Tape 114 (6-30-07)
Fat
Moons and Hunger Moons:
The
Turn of the Seasons for Northwoods Natives
For
the Native clanspeople of the Upper Great Lakes region, the Moon is
alive. They know her as Nokomis
Giizis
¹ or Grandmother
Moon,
and they await each time Nokomis grows into her pregnant fullness,
when she brings gifts for them, her beloved grandchildren. Each time
Nokomis withers and dies, they know she goes to renew herself so she
can return bearing new gifts. Even cold and hunger are gifts that are
appreciated and looked forward to, for without cold there would be no
stories to guide and heal, and without hunger there would be
starvation.
By
consciously living in relationship with Nokomis,
the Human People grow in awareness of their relationship with the
Winged, Scaled, Furred, and Leafed People. The Humans find they are
kin with all--they are all Nokomis's grandchildren. This is the
essence of living in Balance, and at the same time it is the
blueprint for living in Balance.
As
you walk through the Moons in the coming pages, it would be good to
remember that here in the Northcountry there are only two seasons:
the Green Season and the White Season. What you know as spring and
autumn are merely times of tussling between Giiwedin,
Keeper of the Northern Realm, and Zhaawan,
Keeper of the Southern Realm. Each of them are passionate about
bringing their gifts to the People, and yet they cannot both be here
at once, so they end up pushing each other back and forth. This is
why at the end of each Green Season and White Season, when one grows
weak, the other gains advantage and makes an inroad. That's when the
weather keeps flip-flopping between cool and warm, wet and dry, until
one of them finally tires completely and retreats to his/her realm to
rest and replenish.
The
Green Season is brought on by the warm winds and rains of Zhaawan,
which are pregnant with female energy. Her days are long and lush and
her nurturing energy is sensual and kinetic. During the days of
Zhawan, the People are extroverted and drawn to multiple and
fast-paced activities and projects.
Long
nights, frigid days, and a warm blanket of snow are the gifts of
Giiwedin. His male energy is straightforward, solid and directed. On
the stark, cold nights, his moaning winds bring the storyline--the
ageless, universal source of all stories--raw and close, so the
storytellers can give it voice. This is a time of reserved,
inward-focused activities.
Living
in Balance is living in sync with these seasonal rhythms. They bring
times of lushness and times of lean, known as the Fat
Moons
and the Hunger
Moons.
The Fat Moons begin at the end of the Green Season and run into the
heart of the White Season, while the Hunger Moons start at the end of
the White Season and continue into mid-Green Season.
Because
men generally have more kinetic energy than women, and women have
more potential energy than men, the Hunger Moons and Fat Moons affect
each gender differently. Men are designed to move: they have higher
muscle-to-body mass ratios than women, were women are designed to
nurture: they have higher fat-to-body mass ratios than men. Since men
burn more energy and have less energy reserve than women, they are
usually the first to feel the effects of the Hunger Moons.
Women,
on the other hand, have an innate sustainability to carry them
through the Hunger Moons. This is because of their needs to continue
nursing and support pregnancies. Even with these high nutritional
demands, women fare better than men because of their energy reserves
and low personal energy needs. Additionally, women conserve energy by
ceasing Moontime bleeding.
This
has a dual benefit:
Sufficient
calories to support new pregnancies are not available during the
Hunger Moons.
These
pregnancies would result in births in the White Season--the most
inopportune time, as the child will be out of sync with the turn of
the seasons. Food is scarce, and the child will be in the
cradleboard through the entire Green Season, then start walking
during the deep snows of the White Season.
Another
factor affecting the total calories available to the People during
the Hunger Moons is that men, with minimal energy reserves, need to
continually consume adequate amounts of meat and fat in order
continue the high-energy activities of hunting and trapping.
Even
when women are as active as men, they need less calories than men to
fuel themselves.
Whether
Fat Moon or Hunger Moon, whether woman or man, there is one constant:
the People spend only two hours a day on average to meet their needs
for food, clothing, and shelter. As you read on to explore what is
done to meet those needs in each Moon, keep in mind that the majority
of time is spent on the qualitative aspects of life--the social,
cultural, and contemplative involvements that give life its warmth
and meaning.
It
is more accurate to state that all
of the People's time is spent on these qualitative involvements. The
People do not compartmentalize their activities, as we do, with
distinct and separate times for work, shopping, socializing, and so
on. Work such as meal preparation and berry gathering is a social
activity; hunting is a sacred event; and so on.
The
Hunger Moons
It
nears the end of the deepest cold of the White Season. Stores of fat
are running low, and animals being brought in by the hunters and
trappers are lean from having burned all their body fat to keep warm
and active throughout the White Season.
These lean Moons are essential to the
health and strength of the People, both Human and otherwise. The weak
either die or do not have the energy to reproduce, and the strong
pass their genes onto a new generation. On the other hand, we modern
People grow weaker with each succeeding generation, because nearly
everyone, regardless of fortitude, reproduces.
Along with health and strength, these
Moons are vital to happiness. Without the physical, mental, and
emotional stimulation that hunger brings, there would be no lust for
life. The clanspeople would have little motivation to draw together
for common purpose. Whether it be abundance or scarcity, feasting or
fasting, they do it together. This is the Circle Way--the way of the
clan, the way we all lived before we knew the plow and the town.
Crust-on-the-Snow
Moon: Onaabani Giizis
As
Zhaawan’s warming breath grows stronger and her visits become more
frequent, the People greet Onaabani
Giizis,
the Crust-on-the-Snow
Moon.
Daytime temperatures now regularly rise above freezing, and they drop
below freezing at night, which forms an ever--hardening crust on the
snow.
At
first this makes for hard walking for Two-Leggeds and the larger
Four-Leggeds , because they will break through the crust, which
bruises their shins. The crust is just as hard on snowshoes, which is
why this Moon is also called Bebookwaadaagame
Giizis,
or Snowshoe-Breaking
Moon.
However, as Onaabani Giizis
progresses, the crust often becomes strong enough to support a
person’s weight without snowshoes. This is a magical time, as there
is greater ease of movement than at any other time during the entire
turn of the seasons. Brush, deadfalls, and rocks are mostly buried
beneath the deep snow, whose crust provides a smooth, uninterrupted
surface that allows quick and easy travel virtually
anywhere--throughWoodlands, over lakes, and across bogs and boulder
fields.
Onaabani Giizis is often the first of
the Hunger Moons, as stores of fat and meat run out around this time.
The People consider this a gift and welcome the hunger it brings. As
discussed earlier, they know that without the hunger cycle they would
soon become weak and miserable, and the Gifting Way would eventually
turn into no more than a faded memory. They realize that to honor and
embrace the hunger is to grow strong and happy.
Sometimes
Onaabani Giizis gifts the People with a reprieve from their hunger:
for a short time, the snowcrust will be strong enough to support
them, but not the bigger Four-Leggeds. Their sharp hooves cut through
the crust and they find themselves up to their bellies in snow, which
considerably slows their movement. Contrast this with it being the
easiest time for the Two-Leggeds to move around, and you have
relatively easy hunting.
And
yet the hunters bring back only as much food as their clan absolutely
needs. Besides this being the way of hunting in Balance, the hunters
know the Four-Leggeds, already being well into their Hunger Moons,
have depleted all their fat reserves, and in an extreme White Season
may be on the verge of starvation.
Even though the People realize the
Four-Leggeds' wasted-away flesh will provide very little energy, they
know the head, spinal cord, and organs will still be rich in fat and
very nourishing.
During this Moon, the Crows
return--the first solid sign from the Relations that the seasons are
about to turn. In honor of Crow, some of the clans call this Aandego
Giizis, the Crow-Returning Moon. The sight and sound of
the Crows, along with the warm snow-softening breezes carrying the
smell of new life, beckon the People spend more evenings at their
outside hearth. Being sheltered by a lean-to, the outside hearth is
quite comfortable in all weather and has been used for meals and
craftwork throughout the White Season.
With
their metabolisms beginning to quicken, the People are feeling the
coming season change inside themselves as well. They grow restless,
knowing it is nearly time for the Sugarbush Camp!
Maple-Sugar
Moon: Iskigamizige Giizis
The
warming air and strengthening Sun cause the People to shed their
furs, which are packed away in airtight sacks with bug-repelling
herbs. Along with the Humans, the warmth tickles the buds of the
Maples, making them thirsty. Like nurslings, they suck hard to draw
the sweet nourishing sap up from the roots. The buds swell quickly,
signaling the arrival of new life--the beginning of a new turn of the
seasons.
The
People, with their food stores and body fat depleted after the White
Season, are also thirsty. They need an easy-to-get and easy-to-digest
source of energy for the coming time of intense activity.
Fortunately, the elder Maples have extra sap to gift, which provides
much needed calories, along with nourishing minerals and enzymes.
This is clearly Iskigamizige
Giizis,
the Maple-Sugar
Moon,
Most
of the sap is drunk fresh. It is often let it out to freeze at night,
and the ice is skimmed off in the morning. This concentrates the
nutrients, as only the water in the sap freezes. A small amount is
boiled down until nearly all the water is driven off and it turns to
sugar. In this state, it keeps indefinitely and is easy to transport.
This is a busy time, as sap that is not consumed or boiled down soon
goes sour.
(Text
Box Insert) Sugarbush Camp
The
clans have just moved from where they were nestled deep in the
sheltering Pines for the White Season, to the Sugarbush
Camp.
This could be a trek of many miles for the whole clan, pulling loaded
toboggans through deep, wet snow. This is their transitional camp
between their White and Green Season camps, and the nourishing sap
will give them the energy for the long trek to the Green Season
campsite. (End
Insert)
This might also be called
Baubaukunaataa Giizis, the Patches-of-Earth Moon. In
open and sheltered areas the snow has melted away and the first
smells of moist ground and musty leaves since GashkadinoGiizis,
the Freezing-Over Moon, bring smiles and warm memories to the
People.
These signs of the coming Green Season
are accompanied by the return of Maang (Loon) --a welcome
sight for the People. As soon as the ice is out, Maang returns to the
waters of the northern lakes to raise her mournful call, beckoning
the clan to come back from the deep Woods and keep her company in
their lakeshore Green Season camp. This Moon could thus be called
Maango Giizis, the Loon-Returning Moon.
In time the flow of sap diminishes and
it grows bitter. The snow is freshly gone and animal populations are
at their lowest. Many have died due to predation and other challenges
of the White Season. Those who have survived are the strongest,
swiftest and smartest--the ones most capable and deserving of passing
on their traits to the next generation.
Flower
Moon: Waabigwanii Giizis
This,
the beginning of the Green Season, is the time of mating and birthing
for most plants and animals. It is known as Waabigwanii
Giizis, the
Flower
Moon.
The term flower
is used metaphorically, because the blooming is going on in so many
ways. The warm breezes of Zhaawan pour northward; rivers and bogs,
pregnant with meltwater, are bejeweled with returning Ducks, Herons,
and Cranes; and Spring Peepers and other of Frogs and Toads crowd
theWoodland ponds. The incessant, screeching din they raise during
their evening mating orgies could drive someone crazy who had to
spend a night in their midst. And of course there is the literal
explosion of flowers.
(Text
Box Insert) Fish Camp
The
warming waters are telling the Fish it is time to mate. On their way
to Green Season Camp, the clan sets up a temporary Fish Camp on the
shore of a good Walleye lake, where at night they move onto their
spawning beds in the shallows. Going out in their canoes, the hunters
illumine the fish by torchlight to spear them. (End
Insert)
Suckers, a medium-sized bottom-feeding
Fish, run in droves up the small streams to their spawning beds. At
this time they are easy to catch, even by children. Sometimes they
can be scooped out of the shallows with little more effort than
picking berries off of a bush. They can also be "tickled"
in deeper water by reaching down until you feel a Fish swimming over
your fingers and then closing your grip around the Fish and flipping
him up on shore. Nets, traps and weirs work well also.
Together
with Walleye, Northern Pike, and Musky, Suckers provide an abundant,
easy-to-digest protein source--often the first fresh meat in Moons.
Along with meat, the Fish gift the People with nourishing roe (eggs).
Some of the females’ bellies are so filled with them that they look
ready to burst. It is no wonder that many of the clans know this as
Namebini
Giizis, the
Sucker Moon.
Along
with the explosion of animal matings and birthings,Woodland flowers
(many of whom are edible) push rapidly up through the carpet of
leaves matted down by the snow. They must take advantage of the small
window of abundant sunshine on the Forest floor that makes it more
resemble an open Sun-drenched Prairie than the cool, deeply shaded
setting it will soon be.
It is not only the succulent plants of
the Forest who are flowering, but the trees themselves. Their buds
her swollen by the onrush of sap, and the Maple flowers and Birch and
Aspen catkins have burst forth, transforming the Forest canopy into
clouds of silver, gray, and burgundy. It's easy to see why some of
the clans call this Zaagibagaa Giizis, the Budding-Leaves
Moon.
The clanspeople have subsisted on a
heavy diet of toxin-producing meat and fat throughout the White
Season, and they need a metabolic cleansing. They enact a Spring
cleansing ritual, asking for help from members of the Heath family,
particularly Blueberry, Labrador Tea, and Leatherleaf. These herbs
are emetic, with their bitter principles stimulating blood and cell
flushing. This cleansing is a major contribution to the clanspeople's
overall health.
High-fiber
greens are an important part of the diet during the White Season,
because they scour the gut of accumulated plaque and parasites.
Stores of dried greens are often depleted by this time, and meat and
fat, with very little fiber, have no cleansing ability.
Now
filling the role are fresh greens, flowers, and catkins in abundance.
They grow stronger with pruning, so they are more than willing to
gift themselves. When passing through the system, they also act as
sponges and absorb accumulated toxins.
These
new greens are eminently digestible and best fresh, so rather than
gathering them to take back to camp, the clanspeople follow the
example of Wawashkeshi (Deer) and Makwa (Bear), and graze.
Even with the continual hunger and
focus on cleansing, this is a joyous time; as everyone knows it is
preparation for the coming gifts and adventures of the Green Season.
From a life of connectedness to the means and ends of their
existence, they are aware that hunger brings passion. Without hunger,
life would seem flat--there would be little reason to get up with the
dawn, to learn a new skill, to seek healthy relationship. Without
cleansing, their bodies would not be able to fully assimilate the
cornucopia of nourishment the Mother is gifting them. They would be
unable to fully partake of the many other gifts of the Green Season.
And they would not be in condition to approach the White Season with
relish.
Another
flowering is the birth of children, as Waabigwanii Giizis is
typically when birthings occur. The weather has warmed, there are
fresh greens to produce rich milk, and there is a hunger in the
People’s hearts for all of the new life that Waabigwanii Giizis
brings. Children born now, just as with the plant and animal
relations, have the entire Green Season to be nourished by the
abundant gifts of Zhaawan and thus grow in strength and awareness to
be well prepared for the coming White Season.
The babies born in the last
Waabigwanii Giizis are now learning to walk, and there could be no
better time to be outside and explore the newly-opened landscape.
They having still been in the cradleboard through the White Season
made it easy to care for them in the tight confines of the White
Season lodge.
(Text
Box Insert) Green Season Camp
Right
after the babies are born, the clan moves to its Green
Season Camp.
An opening on the east shore of a lake is chosen, where the westerly
breezes coming off of the waters will help keep the camp cool and
free of biting insects. (End
Insert)
The
waters of the Green Season Camp provide foods of all kinds: Water
Plants, Turtles, Frogs, Water Birds, Beaver, and Muskrat, as well as
Fish. At night the men hunt Deer, Moose, and other animals by
torchlight as they paddle along the shoreline. There are also Snails,
Clams, and Water Bugs, along with Frog and Bird eggs and shoreline
berries, which the children gather in abundance.
The
People live by the precept that giving is receiving, so they give
thanks before, rather than after, they are gifted. Prior to anything
being gathered or hunted, prior to retrieving their submerged
boats--even before camp setup--they conduct a ceremony honoring the
Water, Earth Mother's blood.
Waterways are the thoroughfares of the
Northwoods. Travel by canoe is so much easier than overland,
especially with heavy or bulky goods such as animal carcasses or
rolls of bark and root. With sister clans also living on the water,
visiting and sharing news is greatly facilitated. As well, the open
waters make it easy to watch the comings and goings of various
peoples, related or unrelated.
(Text
Box Insert) Hunger Persists
Even though there appears to be an
abundance of food, the clan is still in the midst of the Hunger
Moons. Rather than being caused by a shortage of food, hunger is the
result of a shortage of calories. Like the People, the animals are
lean. There is not yet any fruit, and starchy-rooted plants have sent
all their energy up into their stems to grow and reproduce. (End
Insert)
With the days getting longer and the
increased activity needed for moving camp, along with the myriad of
Green Season involvements, hunger plays the role of motivator.
There’s no choice but to move camp, gather early greens, and catch
fish. And yet the clanspeople do not see this as a matter of
necessity. They are excited by the prospects of the coming season,
and Zhaawan brings with her an extroverted, multi-dimensional energy
that affects every living being. The clanspeople feel a yearning to
be involved and active, and they find themselves able to carry on
several projects and activities simultaneously.
Strawberry
Moon: Ode’imini Giizis
The
Hunger Moons continue into the time of the ripening of the first
fruit, which is Ode’imini
or
Strawberry.
This is a time of great celebration for the clans because, along with
the physical cleansing that has been going on for the prior two
Moons, there is now a cleansing of the heart. The literal translation
of Ode’imini is Heartberry,
because legend tells of Ode’imini being given to the People as a
medicine berry, to help heal the diseases of the heart. Thus this
Moon is known as Ode’imini
Giizis,
or literally, the Heartberry
Moon.
Ode’imini
was
not given for the typical cardiovascular ailments we are familiar
with, such as arteriosclerosis or irregular heartbeat, but for heart
sicknesses such as jealousy, anger, and lying, and for imbalanced
behavioral patterns that cause hardening of the heart.
You’ll notice that the Strawberry is
shaped like a heart. A principle of natural healing is that like
heals like: if I have a weak liver, it would be helpful for me to eat
liver; if I have weak bones it would be good for me to eat bones.
Healing the heart is healing more than just an organ that pumps
blood; it is our center--the center of being..
When
we speak from the heart, we are not just speaking from that blood
pump; we are coming from the place where feelings, thoughts,
intuition, the senses, and ancestral memories all come together in a
talking circle to share their wisdom and craft the heartvoice. This
greater heart is called the heart-of-hearts, and the voice of the
heart-of-hearts is one's personal truth. When we speak from our
heart-of-hearts, we speak our truth.
In this time, the clanspeople give
conscious energy to cleansing the heart-of-hearts. Just as with the
body, the heart-of-hearts accumulates toxins that create blockages
and result in inefficient functioning. The ritual consuming of the
Heartberry empowers this cleansing process, which is guided by dreams
and by the elders. Sometimes, thanks to Zhaawan's kinetic energy,
contrary energies play a role.
It is easy to see why this Moon is
called Ode’imini Giizis in honor of the Heartberry and the
tremendous gift she brings to the People.
(Text Box Insert) The
Passionberry
Red
is for passion, and the Heartberry is red, so some people confuse
passion with assertiveness, competition, and even anger. Rather than
passion, these behaviors are likely the acting out of dysfunctional
patterns that were established in childhood as coping mechanisms.
They often persist in adulthood because they are reinforced by the
dominant culture as positive behavioral characteristics.
The
Heartberry is cool and sweet to the tongue, and this is the intended
way of passion. It is the inability to stay in bed in the morning
because of the allure of the unfolding day; it is thirst for
nourishing relationship; it is the unyielding urge to be involved in
what really matters in life; it is the lust to be fully immersed in
the now-- to be a fully alive, aware, and attuned truthspeaker. (End
Insert)
The longest days of the turn of the
seasons are now. Zhaawan’s explosive, nourishing energy is at her
peak. Although the Hunger Moons still persist, the abundance of eggs
and insects are providing more fat than the clanspeople have seen in
a long time. They are busy drying edible greens for their White
Season, as this is the only Moon in which greens can be gathered in
such abundance, and at this time they are at their most nourishing.
Blueberry
Moon: Miini Giizis
As
the last of Ode’imin ripen, the first of Miinin
(Blueberries) take on a frosty blue tinge--the sign the clanspeople
have anxiously awaited. This is the most festive time of the Green
Season, for this is Miini-Giizis,
the
Blueberry Moon.
In the turn of the seasons it is second only to
Manoominike
Giizis,
the Ricing
Moon.
A visitor only has to walk into camp to pick up on the lively energy
and joyful atmosphere.
(Text
Box Insert) Blueberry Camp
Most
of the elders, women, and older girls gather up their berrying
baskets and bedrolls and trek to the often fire-maintained meadows,
which are carpeted from one end to the other with the low-growing
berry. There, they choose a site on the sunny, windward side of a
nearby hill, where Miinin will dry quickly, to set up Blueberry
Camp.
Young children come also, as they play a vital role in the harvest.
Mats or sheets of bark are laid out in the Sun to dry the berries
upon, and the children play nearby to keep the Birds and Rodents from
feasting. (End
Insert)
This is one of the most important
gathering times in the turn of the seasons, because Miinin are easy
to gather in quantity, they dry nicely, and they store well. With
wide toothcombs, the berries can be literally raked from the bushes.
Every night the drying berries must be poured into lidded rawhide and
Birch bark containers, to keep them from reabsorbing moisture during
the damp nights. After they are dried enough that their sugar
concentration will keep them from molding, they are stored for the
White Season in airtight containers sealed with pitch.
Late Miinin will keep ripening for two
more Moons; however, as soon as the peak of the ripening is over, the
berries are not as easy to gather or efficient to dry, so the
clanspeople pack up and return to Summer Camp.
Growing
Moons
This
is a time of rapid growth for young animals, as the weather is mild
and lush greens, insects and small prey animals are abundant. An
exception is late-born fawns, who quit growing early so they can
reroute growth energy to putting on fat in order to be prepared for
the coming White Season.
For
adult Humans and other animals, this is a transitional time of about
two Moons in which to flesh out again after the Hunger Moons and
catch up on energy reserves before they will be able to put on
surplus fat for the White Season.
Raspberry
Moon:
Miskomini
Giizis
Miskomin
(Raspberries)
are now in their prime and the women and children comb the Raspberry
patches in the Forest clearings for the sweet juicy treats. They are
not as important a food source as Miinin, because they are not quite
as easy to gather, and they are more difficult to dry (they are often
mashed and spread out on bark to make fruit leather), and yet they
are considered a delicacy, so they are enthusiastically gathered and
prepared.
Although
this is known as Miskomini
Giizis, the
Raspberry Moon,
many other berries are gathered: Blackberries, Bunchberries,
Gooseberries, Currants, Black Cherries, and more. Most of them are
not as bountiful as raspberries, and yet they are harvested and
appreciated for the culinary and nutritional variety they give to the
diet.
As Miskomini Giizis progresses, the
elders note that days are getting noticeably shorter. This is the
time to gather medicinal greens. Plants are sought out who had to
struggle for their existence--the stunted ones growing in less than
prime conditions, who thus became sinuous and resilient. Their labor
made them potent in the essential oils and bitter principles that
give them their medicinal properties. These medicinals are gathered
with ceremonial respect, dried quickly in the shade, and stored in
air-tight containers. If the season is dry, the medicinals might be
left hanging from the ceilings of the lodges.
For some of the clans this is also
Manashkoziwe Giizis, the Gathering-Thatch Moon. As the
days shorten and the nights get cooler, the first frosts tinge the
sedge meadows, which toughen up the grasses, preparing them to
withstand the coming ice and snow in protecting their roots and
tender buds. The marsh and meadow sedges are ready to harvest when
they begin to relax and lay down. At this time they show a bluish
tint in the midday Sun.
Lodge
thatching grass gathered now is tougher and more rot resistant than
that from early in the Green Season, so will last several turns of
the seasons longer.
The waning of Miskomini Giizis signals
the end of the Hunger Moons. Animals are rapidly putting on fat; and
the clanspeople, who feast on the animals, are gaining fat as well.
Ricing
Moon: Manoominike Giizis
While
thatch is being cut and laid out in sunny areas to dry, the seed of
another grass that grows in the mucky shallows of quiet waters is
maturing. The People call it Manoomin,
and we know it as wild rice. Although Manoomin is not a major part of
the year-round diet, it is an important seasonal food, consumed in
some quantity during the White Season. In honor of Manoomin, this
Moon is called Manoominike
Giizis,
the Racing
Moon.
Each
lake has her own family of Manoomin, which is adapted to the unique
conditions of that lake: water temperature, acidity, fertility,
growing medium, and wave action. For these reasons the Manoomin on
different lakes ripens at differing times, and each has differing
years of abundance.
The clans have ricing chiefs, who
watch over the Manoomin on the various bodies of water and keep track
of its maturing. He determines if and when the Manoomin is ready to
harvest on each body of water.
(Text
Box Insert) Ricing Camp
Everyone awaits the ricing
chief’s announcement, as it signifies the time to move to Racing
Camp, which is set up on the shore of a lake with a bountiful
rice crop. Unlike Blueberry Camp, everybody goes to Ricing Camp, as
it is the setting for the most important ceremonial time of the turn
of the seasons. (End Insert)
This is a time of festivity and
abundance. The clans come together en force--their last opportunity
to see each other before the clans disperse for the White Season.
Relationships are renewed, young people have the opportunity to meet
each other, news and goods are exchanged, and there is much feasting.
During this Moon of plenty, the lost weight of the Hunger Moons is
regained, women’s Moontime bleeding returns, and pregnancies are
initiated. Babies, now several Moons old, have grown strong and are
ready for the change of the seasons. There is much feasting--much to
be thankful for. And this time when the clans have gathered together
is occasion for ceremony: Naming, First Blood, First Hunt, Matedness,
and Sweat Lodge Ceremonies, and of course the First Harvest Ceremony
in honor of Manoomin.
Manoomin
is the symbol of this sacred, celebratory, and transformative time.
Because of this, it is a Sacred Food. The People have a Sacred Food
to represent each of their four basic food groups, which are here
listed and followed by their sacred
food:
Meat
and Fish:
Deer (Waawaashkeshi), Moose (Mooz), or Caribou (Adik) in the Far
North
Berries:
Strawberry (Ode’imin), or Blueberry (Miinin) were Ode’imin does
not grow
Grains:
Wild Rice (Manoomin), the only grain in the Northcountry
Vegetables:
Fiddlehead Fern (Wog gog), one of the first available Green Season
greens.
(Text Box Insert)
Waawaashkeshi
mothers eat Wog gog in abundance to produce rich milk for their
newborn fawns. Hunters will eat Wog gog as well, so they smell like
the surroundings and thus not tip off Waawaashkeshi, who has an acute
sense of smell, to their presence. (End
Insert)
The
sacredness of Manoomin is evident in the makeup of its name. Native
languages are living languages, with each word telling its own story
of place, purpose and relationship. Manoomin
is the marriage of two words: manidoo,
which means mystery:
more specifically, the great, unfathomable miracle of existence--the
incomprehendable, the unexplainable; and miinoom,
which means something
special,
or a
delicacy.
Another possibility is that Manoomin is derived from
mino
(good) and miin
(seed). The elders refer to Manoomin as Manidoo
Gitigan:
From
the Mystery’s Garden.
Truly Manoomin is a sacred food.
In
keeping with the festive atmosphere of this Moon, it might also be
called Waatebagaa
Giizis,
which means Bright-Leaves
Moon.
The Maples along the shoreline are some of the first to turn, and
they are the most colorful, showing off their bright oranges and
crimsons against the green background of the deep Forest. They are
the first hint of the coming season change.
Hazelnuts,
walnuts, butternuts and acorns come to maturity at this time, and in
good years they are gathered in great quantities and laid out to dry
in the Sun, similar to the way Miinan (Blueberries) are dried. As
with Miinan, the children play around the drying nuts--and have the
opportunity to improve their trapping and snaring techniques--to keep
the opportunistic Agongos (Chipmunks) and ajidamoo (Squirrels) from
helping themselves.
The
Fat Moons
The
days have grown short and the nights, long. The pace of activity,
though steady, is not nearly as intense, nor are activities as
varied, as during the height of the Green Season. These are the Fat
Moons:
plants and animals are slowing down, as they are charged with stored
energy from the growing season. The clanspeople have an abundance of
dried foods in storage, and roots and tubers are buried in nearby
pits for easy access during the White Season. The animals the hunters
and trappers bring in are layered with rich fat.
Women
burn fewer calories than men during the Fat Moons, so they generally
put on proportionally more weight than the men. This, along with the
seasonal abundance, allows women to re-begin their Moontime bleeding.
Most pregnancies are initiated early in the Fat Moons--the ideal time
because of available nutritional support and the fact that the child
will be born right at the onset of the Green Season.
Falling-Leaves
Moon: Binaakwii Giizis
As
Manoominike Giizis comes to a close and the activities of the Ricing
Camp wind down, the first of the leaves are drifting down to newly
carpet the Forest floor. This is the beginning of Binaakwii
Giizis,
the
Falling-Leaves Moon.
The clanspeople take this as the first sign of the coming change of
seasons, and they feel a nervous energy--an urge to move.
(Text
Box Insert) White Season Camp
At
this time the elders consult with the minisino (guardians) about
locations they have come across during the previous season that might
meet the criteria for a good White
Season Camp:
an inland location protected to the north and west from the biting
breath of Giiwedin; a centralized location for White Season
gathering, trapping, and hunting; and a location from which it will
be relatively easy to move to the Sugarbush and Green Season Camps.
(End
Insert)
The
White Season Camp is set up as quickly as possible, with all hands
participating, because there will be a scramble to get all the
hunting and digging of edible and medicinal roots completed, as well
as their drying and storage, before freeze-up.
This is the beginning of a more
introspective time for the Two-Leggeds, and for many of the
Four-Leggeds. Like the Four-Leggeds, the clanspeople go into a state
of hibernation around this time. Theirs is not a deep sleep like that
of the Plant People, Agongos, or Makwa, but rather a slowing down
more like that of Beaver (Amik) and Waawaashkeshi. Like them, the
clanspeople's metabolisms slow down a bit, in order to conserve
energy. They stay closer to hearth than they might in the Green
Season. They sleep longer and are more single of focus than in the
Green Season. Were they might typically have three or four things
going at once, they are now more inclined to get involved in only one
project and follow it through to completion.
This
is an introspective time: dreams, the deeper meaning of things, and
the truth in another's words, become ever more clear. The guidance
doodem, elders, and the plant and animal relations, takes on new
significance.
Freezing-Over
Moon: Gashkadino Giizis
"At
night when the ice forms real thin along the shoreline, then the
morning breeze breaks it up and it tinkles like breaking glass, is
the beginning of Gashkadino
Giizis (the
Freezing-Over Moon),"
says Kamgaabwikwe, my honored Ojibwe elder. When the Sun rises, the
ice quickly melts away, and yet it is a prelude to the coming days
when the ice will not relinquish its grip. Rather, each night under
cover of darkness, it will creep farther and farther out on the lake,
until it has completely bridged the open water.
In anticipation of the coming ice,
canoes are weighted down with rocks and sunken deep, were they will
be safe. The major preparations for the White Season are completed:
snug moss-insulated lodges, a variety of securely-stored foods, and a
good supply of ikwemitig (woman wood). Sometimes called squaw
wood, this is special thumb-diameter cured hardwood for
the indoor hearth. It gives a hot fire, burns smokeless, and does not
throw sparks. It is called ikwemitig in honor of the women who gather
it and tend the hearth fires.
Gashkadino Giizis appears to be a more
relaxed Moon than those leading up to it. In many senses it is, as
the intense activities around the harvest, along with the focused
energy to set up winter camp, are now passed. There is time to relax
around the hearth. And yet, if one looks more closely, he will notice
that the women, even though sitting and talking, are at the same time
repairing furs and footwear for the coming White Season; and that the
men are readying traps and snares, snowshoes and toboggans. The first
snows could come at any time during Gashkadino Giizis, heralding the
beginning of the White Season.
Little-Mystery
Moon: Manidoo Giizisoons
As
the snow piles up, the clanspeople enter Manidoo
Giizisoons,
the Little
Mystery Moon.
It is a cloudy, snowy Moon, with temperatures staying cold enough
that the snow does not melt, but not as cold as they will be in the
Moons following. During Manidoo Giizisoons are the shortest days and
longest nights of the year.
Now the People can hear with different
ears than in the Green Season. Besides the energy of this season
being more conducive to listening and introspection, everyone is
drawn closer to the hearth, closer to each other. They consider the
hearth to be the center of their life, from which all their
activities radiate. Besides a cooking fire, the hearth is warmth and
light, and these two gifts grow increasingly important with the short
cloudy days and long, cold nights of Manidoo Giizisoons.
When
the hearth does not provide enough heat to keep the clanspeople warm,
as in this season, they don a second skin, gifted by their furbearing
relations. When that proves insufficient, the clan pulls a third skin
over itself and the hearth, this being the lodge. With all being
under the same skin and sharing in the same warmth, a sense of
closeness is engendered that is unique to the White Season.
Living
in such close quarters and spending so much time together would not
be possible in the Green Season, when individuals are drawn to spread
out in every direction with a myriad of interests and involvements.
Now, when the elder beats the drum four times to signal the start of
storytelling, voices readily hush in anticipation. These stories are
special, told only during the time when snow blankets the Mother
Bosom. Giiwedin has brought special ears for the clanspeople, so they
can truly hear the stories; and he has given the deep sense of clan
relationship it takes for them to together manifest the teachings of
the stories.
The cold encourages the Four-Legged
hunters to put on thick pelts of fur. At the same time, the deepening
snow provides shelter for their prey, so they must move around more
and work harder to feed themselves. This tells the men it is time to
begin trapping in earnest.
(Text Box Insert) Trapping
Camp
Many
of the men, along with a number of the older boys, and perhaps an
interested girl or two, will go far out in the bush where the
Four-Leggeds are abundant and set up Trapping
Camps.
The trappers spread out, with two or three to a camp, , and run three
or four trap lines that radiate out from the camp and loop back. The
pattern of their trails, with the camp in the center, takes on the
shape of a cloverleaf. The camp itself is usually no more than a
simple lean-to with a reflector fire. The pelts and meat are cached
high in a tree, to keep them safe from scavengers. (End
insert)
Trapping
will go on for one or two Moons, until enough furs have been gotten
to clothe all the clan, along with some extra for gifting.
Great
Mystery Moon: Gitchimanidoo Giizis
When
Manidoo Giizisoons comes to an end, the skies clear, the snow quits
falling, and temperatures drop. As is the Gifting Way, the cold is
balanced by clear, bright days, with afternoons feeling so warm in
sheltered areas that, even though the air temperature is well below
freezing, it is inviting enough to take tops off and bathe in
nourishing, caressing rays of Sun Father.
This is Gitchimanidoo Giizis, the
Great Mystery Moon--the height of the Manidoo, or
introspective, Moons. The exploration and unfolding of the
mystery began in the last Moon, Manidoo Giizisoons, and it now
continues in a grander sense and comes to a peak. This is when the
greatest awarenesses of one’s Life Journey are likely to come.
Seasonal and personal energies are most supportive of exploring the
big questions: “Who am I?” “Why am I here?” and “What am I
supposed to be doing with my life?”
And
yet answers seldom come, because answers are dead ends. Rather,
strides are made toward clarity. This process brings up more
questions, and to the root of question
is quest.
To question is to quest--to keep walking our Journey of Discovery.
This is essential to living, for if we stood still, we would be
merely existing. We would not be gaining in the understanding and
wisdom needed to fulfill our reason for being by serving our People
and the relations.
In
the process, fears and dreams, tears and laughter, come easily. In
this Moon there is little distance between heart and mind, dreamtime
and awaketime. Story characters seem as real as the people in the
next camp, and it is as though the storyteller has just come back
with news of their latest adventures.
The
hunt goes on, only now more quiet, deliberate, and determined. The
voice of the animal is easy to hear, and the soul of the Hunter and
the soul of the hunted can come so close that they know each other's
needs and feelings.
In
the pregnant (full) Moon of Gitchimanidoo Giizis, Red Willow
(commonly known as Dogwood) is ritually gathered for the making of
Kinnikinick,
the sacred or herbal mixture used for Petitions, Offerings, and
Smudgings. Regular willow for basketmaking is also gathered, and some
foraging is done as well, with buds, catkins, and Woodgrubs giving
welcome variety to the diet.
Starving
Moon
Death by starvation is seldom a
reality for Native People, as they know how to procure foods of
nearly every type at nearly any time. However, if extreme hunger were
ever to occur, due to extreme circumstances, it would likely be in
the coming Moon. For example, if food stores ran short and there was
no one to gather or hunt, or if disease or warfare debilitated the
clan, they would now be feeling it most. This is the last Moon of
deep cold, when much fat, fur, and firewood is yet needed to sustain
life, and when stores can become depleted.
Bear-Cubs-Being-Born
Moon: Makoosiwi Giizis
The
deep cold continues into the next Moon, Makoosiwi
Giizis, the
Bear-Cubs-Being-Born
Moon.
Makwa is not a true hibernator. Even though her breathing and
heart-rate is considerably reduced, she can be awakened at any time.
If there is a warm spell in the middle of the White
Season--especially if she does not have enough fat to carry her
through--she will sometimes wake up, come out of her den, and wander
about.
When one of these warm spells rolls in
during the night and the clanspeople wake up to a heavy fog laying
low on the snow, they think, “Oh, Makwa is giving birth to her
cubs!” A thaw such as this (a common occurrence during Makoosiwi
Giizis), along with the noticeably longer days and shorter nights,
are the very first signs of Zhaawan edging her way northward to
tussle with Giiwedin to bring on the Green Season.
The Human cubs are in their dens as
well. Because of women’s Moontimes being in sync with the turns of
the seasons, babies born early in the Green Season are not yet
walking, so they do not feel constricted by the close confines of the
lodge, and they are easy to care for.
The
foggy mornings of Makoosiwi Giizis remind the People that Onaabani
Giizis,
the Crust-on-the-Snow
Moon,
with its warm afternoons and easy hunting, is near. A new turn of the
seasons is about to begin.
The
Seasons in Perspective
Unlike our calendar year, with
its always-the-same months, weeks, and days, and its ever-predictable
events, the days and Moons of the clanspeople are ever changing from
one turn of the seasons to the next. Onaabani Giizis, the
Crust-on-the-Snow Moon, might be sunny and mild once, and the next
time around it will be overcast and blustery. Instead of forming a
crust, the heavy snow piles deeper and deeper.
Is
this a frustration for the clanspeople? Not at all! For them, the
only constant is change, and every change brings its gifts. In this
case, the deep snow would maroon large animals, making them even
easier to hunt than if the snow were crusted. Snowshoes, which are
destroyed by snowcrust (the reason this Moon is sometimes called
Bebookwaadaagame Giizis--Snowshoe-Breaking
Moon),
could now be used, which would enable the hunters to reach the
animals.
Even
though the names of the Moons sometimes change, it matters little to
the People, as their lives are very much rooted in the reality of the
now. They care not whether it be Tuesday or Saturday, or whether the
Moons fall on the same days every turn of the seasons (which they
don't). Rather than looking at a calendar, the People hold activities
and observances when Zhawan and Giiwedin say it is time.
To
the People, time is the rhythm of the seasons and the coming and
passing of the generations. Most of the People do not know how old
they are. They might not be able to recall how many days it has been
since the last event, and they may not know how many days it will be
until the next. Contrast this with how time plays out in your life
and you will have a feel for how it is to live in Balance with the
seasons and their Moons.
¹All Native words are in the
Ojibwe dialect of the Algonquian language, which is spoken in the
band of Northern Forest stretching from North Dakota through the
Great Lakes and northward to Hudson Bay, then eastward to New England
and the Maritime provinces. For simplicity's sake, most Ojibwe words
are presented in their singular form.
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