Early Ojibwe
Fall-Dagwaagin
Lexie Semrau
Wild Rice - Manoomin
In the fall the Ojibwe went to ponds, marshes and lakes where wild rice grew. The wild rice grew in water so when the Ojibwe harvested the wild rice they did it in a canoe. There were two people in each canoe, one person steered in the back of the canoe and the person in the front grabbed the stalks and hit the grain heads with knocking sticks until the wild rice fell in the canoe.
Harvesting Manoomin
Birchbark Winnowing Basket
Package of Wild Rice
Fall Tasks
Those who didn't harvest manoomin were busy doing their fall tasks. Children collected late-season berries and dried them for the up coming winter. Men hunted ducks and geese. Men and women caught and dried fish for the up coming winter.