PRESERVATION OF FUTURE, OF PAST, AND OF PLENTY SHARING ANISHINAABE CULTURE AND TRADITIONS

By Mashkode-bizikigahbaw, Benji Sam

One of the most important tools at the disposal of the Indigenous people in this region was the use of food preservation. Historically speaking, the Anishinaabe followed the food resources around the local area and had separate camps in each of the four seasons. Each camp represented the abundance in resources around each time of year. As late summer begins to pass into crisp cool mornings, the Anishinaabe resided near manoomin — one of the most important staple foods to Indigenous survival in the Upper Midwest and Canada.

As with those who came before us, harvesting manoomin, or wild rice, was just the first step in a long process to preserve food for the frigid days of winter ahead. Manoomin provided a significant part of stabilizing a healthy diet when modern food processing did not allow for green vegetables and fruits year-round. And like many Anishinaabe traditions, our relatives were well ahead of their time in preserving manoomin for long term consumption. Despite having no metal pots, steel thrashers, fans to winnow away husks, and tarps to dry and collect food, the Anishinaabe found a way.

That is the message shared by the Mille Lacs Band Department of Natural Resources at the annual Manoomin Preparation presentations held at the MLB Cultural Grounds. "Not so long ago, our people were well-versed in preserving food, eating healthier, and unprocessed foods," said Todd Moilanen, DNR Director of Cultural Resources. "We owe it to the people who came before us to share our teachings and educate the next generation."

The MLB DNR has embarked on a journey of preservation of culture and tradition as strong as any tribe out there, engaging in many demonstrations annually to help those in the community who may want to reconnect with the path their relatives traveled. "With so many foods being chemically modified, we just want to share the abundance of healthy food we have right here in Mille Lacs," said Moilanen. The department has taken deer processing, maple sugar camp, wild ricing, and many other activities into local schools and communities to share with all who wish to learn, providing a wave of excitement across our local Native community.

This September's Manoomin Presentation was no different in sharing traditional and modern examples of processing wild rice. Participants were instructed in how to spot green rice from mature rice, as harvesting green rice is against state law, and instructed to allow the sun to air dry their harvest before processing. The next phase demonstrated was parching rice in a kettle over coals, gently mixing the rice to dehydrate and preserve the outer grain for weeks and months to come. "You have to keep that rice moving, never allowing it to cook too quickly or too hot, but an even and steady fire is the best way to do it," said John Benjamin while tending a batch of manoomin.

Up next, and the crowd favorite, is jigging the rice. Unlike modern thrashers that process hundreds of pounds an hour, traditional jigging was set up by digging a small hole in the ground, just larger than the size of a pair of feet nearly a foot deep, and covering the earth around the hole with a hide. The jigging begins with tying knee-high moccasins on and beginning a gentle, steady dance, carefully removing the husks from the grains of rice in a slow but effective process, until all the husks are removed from the finished grains of manoomin. Children often performed jigging due to their size, being heavy enough to remove the husks but not too heavy to break the grains.

Finally, the finished batch of rice is ready to winnow with a birch bark basket into the wind, tossing gently to not lose rice to the wind but high enough to allow the husks to float away with the breeze. This is the final step in separating finished rice. It is at this step that rice may be cooked, packaged, ground into rice flour, and enjoyed for many meals to come. "Watching the process come together every year is worth the work," Moilanen said. "We owe it to our children to share this knowledge and we hope to get more and more people on the water harvesting for years to come."

Preservation of future, of past, and of plenty. Anishinaabe history deserves preservation; our children deserve to know how we got here and where we can go. Wild rice brought us here — and our connection to it is as strong as any teaching engraved into the fabric of this culture. With this event, and so many others like it, the Mille Lacs Band DNR continues to share Indigenous wealth through passing of knowledge and the proverbial torch to new learners so they may carry this knowledge with them, wherever they choose to go.