Early Ojibwe
Spring, Ziigwan
Making Birch Bark Canoes
The Ojibwe first constructed a frame made out of cedar, cedar is a strong but light type of wood. Then they wrapped birchbark around the bottom and also the sides of the frame. Then they sewed it tightly together using spurce roots. The last step was to seal the seams of the bark with spruce gum. Thats how they made birchbark canoes.
Maple Sugar
While the men went out hunting the women began to make maple sugar, they called maple sugar ziinzibaakwad. They went to maple grove, cutting a gash into the truck of each tree. After they made the gash they then placed a wooden spout into each gash. After a little bit of waiting it the sap started dripping into a birchbark container. They then had to make the sap into sugar by pouring the sap into kettles over burning fires. They knew it was sugar when the sap boiled down.