Wild rice was depicted in an Ojibwe prophecy before there was even a name for the grain. When the Ojibwe people began to migrate west, they were prophesied to settle where food grows on water. The westward migration was in part because of prophecy but also due to partnerships and conflicts with white settlers. Trade partnerships drove them westward to find more food and pelts away from where their trade partners could already find them. Conflicts with settlers led to cultural dislocation as Ojibwe people were forced from their homes, traditions, and practices amidst an influx of new people and cultural norms. In the 1500s Anishinabe people moved into the Great Lakes region, and in the 1700s Ojibwe people settled at what is now Madeline Island. They found wild rice that grows in shallow water and spread further into Wisconsin and Minnesota forming separate bands. Wild rice was promised to guide and sustain Ojibwe people for the rest of time. This promise is very much alive today and is honored and reciprocated through every aspect of Ojibwe culture.
There are several necessary tools in the harvesting process of wild rice. A canoe, pole, and ricing sticks are all required by necessity, tribal law, and state law, but they are also the only tools that are safe and practical for ricing. State restrictions on tools that can be used to harvest are not meant to be overly restricting, but to protect the plants from people who do not understand the fundamentals of rice and the importance of the reciprocal promise. Canoes no longer than 17 feet and 38 inches wide are required because any boat larger or with an engine would damage the rice. The pole is needed to navigate the canoe through the dense plants where typical oars would both not be as effective and would agitate the plants, and any type of motor would disturb the bottom of the marsh. The 38-inch maximum length requirement on ricing sticks make them the perfect tools to collect the rice for hours at a time while mitigating damage to the rice stalks. If the sticks were any longer, the rice stalks would be under more stress as they would have to bend further to reach the boat and the risk of damage increases significantly. These tools have remained a staple because they assist in caring for the rice during the harvest season, so that it, in return, can provide for Ojibwe people year-round.
Birch bark canoes are an essential part of the ricing process and connect all of the Anishinaabe tribes together. The construction of which is a type of specialized knowledge that is very specific to the region, the needs of the people, and the sustainability of the rice plants. The canoe must be of a certain size so that it is able to hold two people as well as the collected rice, but not too large as would make it difficult to control or would damage the plants as it moves through them.
There are several steps to making the canoes and it starts with finding an appropriately sized birch tree. The tree is felled and branches are removed. Then the bark is peeled off in sections that are rolled to carry and preserve them. Cedar planks and pine roots are gathered for the rest of the canoe. The frame is made of cedar planks because of their light weight, pliability when soaked, and strength. The wooden members called gunwales run the length of the boat, and are the first to be measured and cut as they are the longest pieces that form the frame of the canoe. Ribs are the smaller pieces that run perpendicular to the gunwales and add stability to the canoe. These thinner pieces are soaked in a lake for several weeks before having boiling water poured onto them to make them pliable and able to be shaped to fit the canoe frame. Thwarts are added in alignment with the ribs at the top of the canoe to help it maintain its shape. The bark is then soaked and placed on the outside of the canoe and boiling water is poured over it in order to stretch it across the frame using soaked and softened pine roots to stitch the bark to the frame. Finally, topwales are added on top of the gunwales to protect the edges of the bark and the stitching.
Because the craft of handmaking birch bark canoes is difficult to master, today people who rice often use canoes that may not be handmade but still adhere to the regulations. The same respect and precautions are made to protect the rice plants even without the traditional canoes because the relationship between people and rice remains unchanged. The knowledge of traditional canoes is also being passed onto newer generations so that the culture behind the promise of the rice symbolizing their home is retained, and that home is properly maintained.
Ojibwe culture always looks seven generations ahead and works to maintain and improve the conditions for that seventh generation. Each tool involved in ricing is designed to ensure the sustainability of the practice. Ricing poles made of cedar are between fifteen and nineteen feet long so that they can be held by the standing poler and still reach the bottom of the rice beds. They are forked at the end to prevent damage to the plant roots when they touch the bottom. The poler, or person navigating the canoe, usually stands at the back of the canoe and uses the pole to gently push off of the bottom of the shallow water in the direction that they wish to go. Gentle movements are required for the safety of the rice roots and to keep the canoe balanced as it weaves through the rice stalks. Being a poler can be a difficult job as you must balance for long periods of time on a small canoe while being in charge of navigating, but a motor is never adopted to make this easier. The extra work is always accepted in order to protect the rice so that it seeds the next year as well. The ricing sticks are used by the knocker, or the person who is gathering the wild rice, in order to knock the rice into the bottom of the boat. This person tries to make minimal movements in order not to rock the canoe and throw the poler off balance. The ricing sticks are used to bring the stalks over the boat and hit them gently to knock the rice off, but not do any lasting damage to the plant so that it can supply seeds for the next year. The rice feeds people until the next harvest so it is always taken care of in return.
While several steps in the ricing process have remained the same, many have also changed over the years. Birchbark canoes are no longer the most common canoe for rice collection and today manufactured boats are much more common. Many of the steps for preparing the rice like drying, parching, jigging, and winnowing have also evolved to increase efficiency. Large machines shaped like a round drum spin the rice for hours at a time completing the hulling and winnowing, instead of dancing the rice and using birch bark trays. There is often one member of the community who has the necessary equipment and takes care of multiple people’s rice.
While the rice dance is not used for a majority of the rice collected, it still has a place in celebrations. Ricing season is from August to September and is followed by a harvest festival held sometime in September. Harvest festivals are specific to each tribe, but usually involve rice harvesting, different ricing techniques, food, pow wows, art, activities for children to enjoy, and rice dancing. The festivals are a celebration of the harvest and its importance as food and culture, and demonstrates respect towards the rice that was successfully collected. The rice dance requires specific moccasins for the dancer to wear as they have to be perfectly clean before stepping on food. Moccasins for rice dancing are very plain, usually just white in color, and wrap higher up the dancer’s ankle to avoid touching the rice. They don’t need any other adornment that may make them heavier for a rice dancer who will be moving their feet for a long time. These moccasins are never worn anywhere else and are specifically put on right before one is about to step on the rice. Reciprocity is particularly important in Ojibwe culture and the dance maintains the connection to nature and acknowledges the way it has provided for the people with the seed. The traditional techniques are used in the festival because they are a reminder of the prophecy that brought the Ojibwe people to the Great Lakes region, and the rice that has made this a suitable home for hundreds of years.
Courtney Calia (Ojibwe), demonstrates a rice jig at a manoomin camp.
Wild rice is more than a grain or seed for people to eat. It is a part of Ojibwe people’s creation story and fulfills a prophecy that has led them to their home. Wild rice is the reason that Ojibwe people settled in what is now Wisconsin, and the reason they are still here today. This promised food source takes care of people through the winter, but it also requires care in return. Harvesting is done in certain ways to ensure the survival of the rice for future generations and the preparation of the rice acknowledges the importance of its place in people’s lives.
Written by Kyra Michalski, November 2024.
Sources
Barb Bell and Ethel Plucinski, Ethel. “That was Quite an Adventure!” News from the Sloughs (Odanah, Wisc.) October 1, 1997.
Danielle Kaeding, “Wild Rice Harvest Tradition Passed Down to Youth,” Wisconsin Life, Wisconsin Public Radio. October 9, 2019. https://wisconsinlife.org/story/wild-rice-harvest-tradition-passed-down-to-youth/
Great Lakes Indian Fish & Wildlife Commission, “Manoomin-Wild Rice: The Good Berry,” Pamphlet. https://glifwc.org/publications/pdf/Goodberry_Brochure.pdf
Great Lakes Indian Fish & Wildlife Commission, “Ricing with Tommy Sky: A Sequel to Growing Up Ojibwe,” Mazina’igan, 2007. https://glifwc.org/publications/pdf/Ricing_Supplement.pdf
Mackenzie Martin, “Birch Bark Canoes Take Time, As Does Learning We’re Stronger Together,” Wisconsin Life, Wisconsin Public Radio. December 7, 2021. https://wisconsinlife.org/story/birchbark-canoes-take-time-as-does-learning-were-stronger-together/
University of Wisconsin-Madison, Center for the Study of Upper Midwestern Cultures, “Wiigwaasi-Jiimaan,” Site accessed November 2024. https://canoe.csumc.wisc.edu/index.html
“Wild Rice Festival Celebrates Harvest,” WXPR. September 11, 2014. Accessed August 2024. https://www.wxpr.org/arts-life/2014-09-11/wild-rice-festival-celebrates-harvest
Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, “Wild Rice Harvesting,” Accessed August 2024. https://dnr.wisconsin.gov/topic/wildlifehabitat/rice.html
Wisconsin PBS Education, “The Ways: Manoomin, Food that Grows on Water,” https://pbswisconsineducation.org/story/manoomin/
Moka’aangiizisiban Tribal Museum
Research for this object and it’s related stories was supported by the Moka’aangiizisiban Tribal Museum, which operates under the Mashkiiziibii Natural Resources Department, and the Bad River Tribal Historic Preservation Office. Visit their website to plan your visit!
Learn more about birchbark canoes and ricing!
Produced by UW-Madison, Center for the Study of Upper Midwestern Cultures.
In the fall of 2015, the 8th graders of Lac du Flambeau Public School harvested wild rice on a lake near the Waaswaaganing (Lac du Flambeau) Reservation. This film documents the value of the repatriation of Ojibwe heritage within the school curriculum through the building of a birchbark canoe and the continued harvesting of rice as a community-oriented event.
Watch the video on Vimeo.
RELATED STORIES
OBJECT HISTORY: Ricing Sticks (Bawa’iganaakoog)
Wild Rice and Wetland Conservation
OBJECT HISTORY: Wild Rice Threshing Machine
EXPLORE MORE
The American Steel Barge Company
OBJECT HISTORY: Potawatomi Beaded ‘Soldier Coat’
