Manoomin - Protect Our Waters
Video & Soundtrack by Hans Johnson
The Anishinaabeg is the preferred name for
culturally related indigenous peoples in Canada
and the United States, including Ojibwe
or Chippewa people, meaning “one of the
people” or “original people.” The traditional
economic cycle for the Anishinaabeg is
grounded in the seasons and the natural
wealth of the land and waters. For example,
Manoominike Gizis (September) is the name of
the month to gather manoomin (wild rice). For
generations, the family would work together
to prepare for this “gift” of manoomin that
would nourish their bodies and sustain their
lives, through communion with each other
and embracing the season that brings all the
traditions of preparation for this gift to their
community.
For millennia, Minnesota tribes have been
physically and spiritually sustained by their
harvest and consumption of wild rice (Zizania
palustris, Zizania aquatica), known as
manoomin to the Ojibwe and Psiᶇ to the Sioux
or Dakota people. Manoomin is considered
sacred, a gift from the Creator; it is essential to
tribal subsistence culture, diet, and traditions.
Wild rice is also an important food source
for resident and migratory waterfowl, and
provides forage and cover for many other
wildlife species indigenous to this ecoregion,
making it a keystone species in the water-rich
landscape of the upper Midwest.
The Anishinaabeg recognize a profound and
direct relationship between the time of the
ancestors and the time of the descendents.
This recognition underlies the concept of
decision-making for the seventh generation,
ensuring that decisions that are being made
today do not have negative consequences on
the quality of life of future generations. Anishinaabeg also consider all life on earth to be
family or relatives, and this cultural framework
affirms the interrelationship of all creation.
Indigenous worldviews recognize the interdependency between humans and nature, the
physical and spiritual worlds, the ancestors and
future generations; all living things, animate
or inanimate, are bound by a connection to
everything else. This interconnectedness of all
things is the first law of ecological thought.
The Native American view of the world may
be described as continuous ‘stewardship’
of the resources provided by the Creator,
rather than an ‘ownership’ perspective that
precludes others’ ability to use the resource.
Traditional Ojibwe oral teachings, dating back
to before European contact and passed down
generation by generation to modern time, is
to “take only what you need and leave the
rest.”
(Source of text: 'Expanding the Narrative of Tribal Health:
The Effects of Wild Rice, Water Quality Rule Changes on Tribal Health, Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Health Impact Assessment.' Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Resource Management Division)
