Ojibwe Spring Corn

The Ojibwe were a northern Woodlands tribe of migrant hunter-gatherers who cultivated the land in their Spring and Summer camps.

According to traditional oral history, corn was a very important crop for the very early Ojibwe. This has been verified by archeology and physical geography researchers at the University of Toronto who recently discovered the earliest evidence yet of agricultural activity in southwestern Ontario dating back 1,400 years.

The river valleys were evidently in an uncharacteristic period of calm with no serious flooding, which left the river embankments available for agriculture. Well-preserved remnants of these ancient corn crops can still be found in this area.

(see Researchers Push Back The Clock On Native Farming History.)

By the 17th century focus was on beaver because of the demands of the fur trade. It was more in the southern part of Michigan, Illinois, Wisconsin and Ontario, where Ojibwe villages were larger and permanent, that they cultivated min-dor-min (corn) and other crops such as potatoes, turnips, squashes, pumpkins, melons, beans and tobacco.

A ceremony among the Ojibwe begins the ceremonial year when the seed corn is blessed during the winter solstice in the hopes it will bring a good harvest in the coming year. The seeds are stored away safely until the ground thaws in mid-May and a Three Sisters garden can be planted.

The Three Sisters

In Ojibwe agriculture, corn, beans and squash are called "The Three Sisters" and are often planted together.

The corn helps the beans to grow by supporting their tendrils.

The squash helps to keep insects away, except for the bees who are particularly attracted to the bright yellow flowers.

The Beans return nutrients to the soil that the other two need.

The three sisters are symbolic of how a community is supposed to work together.

The Three Sisters

Grinding Corn

When the corn was harvested in late Summer and Fall, the cobs were dried and the kernels were cut off the cob. A mano and matate were then used to grind the corn. A matate (or metate) is the large stone on which the grain is placed. A mano is a smaller stone tool (or rock) used to grind corn or other grains which is rolled over the matate to break down the grains into a powder.

The Ojibwe used a somewhat different mano and matate from that of other cultures. It was a smooth pounding rock. Years of use slowly etched out a trough in the bottom of matate. The denser the trough, the more frequently the matate had been used. The trough appeared because the small pieces of rock fracture off while corn is ground.

The women spent hours everyday grinding corn into flour with the mano and matate. Thus, even today corn remains vital to the Ojibwe and other native North Americans, not only as a source of nutrition but also as an essential part of their traditions and ceremonies. (see Grinding Corn.)

There is even a "Corn Grinding Song." Such traditional songs are not sung simply to help set a mood or ease the workload, but may also be prayers for rain to ensure continued corn crops, or for protection or healing.

Songs are also used to help teach a person his or her role in society.

Corn Mother

Popcorn

Popcorn may well be the oldest fast food treat known to man. The oldest ears of popcorn ever found were discovered in New Mexico's Bat Cave 50 years ago. The ears were more than 5,600 years old! The Ojibwe have been snacking on popcorn for centuries and using the colorful parched maize as a dietary staple, for decoration, and in ceremonies. English colonist were introduced to popcorn at the first Thanksgiving feast as a gift of friendship. They would pop corn right on the cob by spearing the corn cob with a stick and holding it near the fire. The kernels would pop and stay attached to the cob.

Popcorn factoids. Did you know that:

• popcorn is the only kind of corn that pops?

• popcorn probably originated in Mexico, but by the time the first Europeans arrived in North America, more than 700 varieties of popcorn were being grown there?

• popcorn was America's first breakfast cereal? Colonial housewives served it with sugar and cream.

• because popcorn was rationed during World War II, it was often bought and sold illegally. The average American today consumes approximately 68 quarts of popcorn a year.

• popcorn was integral to early 16th century Aztec Indian ceremonies. Bernardino de Sahagun writes: "And also a number of young women danced, having so vowed, a popcorn dance. As thick as tassels of maize were their popcorn garlands. And these they placed upon (the girls') heads."

• Cracker Jacks are from a Native American recipe? Popcorn, peanuts and maple syrup are the original ingredients for this treat. All three are Native foods.

How Popcorn Pops

According to legend, spirits lived inside each kernel of popcorn. These spirits were quiet and content to live on their own but grew angry if their houses were heated. The hotter their homes became, the angrier they'd get, shaking the kernels until the heat was too much. Finally they would burst out of their homes and into the air as a disgruntled puff of steam.

Each kernel of popcorn does contain a small drop of water stored inside a circle of soft starch. (That's why popcorn needs to contain 13.5 percent to 14 percent moisture.) The soft starch is surrounded by the kernel's hard outer surface.

As the kernel heats up, the water begins to expand, and pressure builds against the hard starch. Eventually, this hard surface gives way, causing the popcorn to explode.

As it explodes, the soft starch inside the popcorn becomes inflated and bursts, turning the kernel inside out. The steam inside the kernel is released, and the popcorn is popped!

Anishinabe words for corn, Spring and the moons

mandaamin(ag) = corn; kernel of corn
mandaaminaaboo = corn soup
mandaaminaak(oon) = (ear of) corn

ziigwan = it is spring [zíígwan]
awas-ziigwanong = spring before last
ziigwanishi = he spends the spring somewhere
ziigwanong = last spring

Ojibwe Moons

Minado Giizis = Spirit Moon - January (Min-ah-doh Gee-zehss)

Makwa Giizis = Bear Moon - February (Mah-kwah)

Onaabidin Giizis = Snow Crust Moon - March (Oh-nah-bid-in)

Popogami Giizis = Broken Snowshoe Moon - April (Poh-poh-gah-meh)

Nimebine Giizis = Sucker Moon - May (Nimh-eh-bin-eh)

Waabigonii Giizis = Blooming Moon - June (Wah-bi-gah-nee)

Miin Giizis = Berry Moon - July (Meehn)

Minoomini Giizis = Grain Moon - August (Min-oo-mihn-nee)

Wabaabagaa Giizis = Changing Leaves Moon - September (Wa-bah-ba-gah)

Binaakwe Giizis = Falling Leaves Moon - October (Bi-nah-kway)

Baashkaakodin Giizis = Freezing Moon - November (Bah-shkah-koh-din)

Minado Giisoonhs* = Little Spirit Moon - December (Min-ah-doh Gee-soonhs)

fragrant popcorn flower

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