Early Ojibwe
Spring - Ziigwan
By: Drew Vogt
Maple Sugar - Ziinzibaakwad
In the spring, the Ojibwe moved to sugar camps where they can collect the sap to make maple sugar or maple sugar. All the women and children went out to collect the maple sap. They put a spicket in the tree which would help the sap come out. They would boil the sap and store it away, in birchbark containers, for the winter.
Maple Sugar Camp
Ojibwe boiling the sap.
Maple Sugar Camp
Ojibwe collecting sap.
Maple Sugar Camp
Ojibwe at the maple sugar camps.
Birchbark Canoes
In the Spring, the Ojibwe also made birchbark canoes. They started making them by putting a lightweight wood, called cedar, in the ground to start the frame of the canoe. Then, the placed birchbark around the bottom and sides of the frame. To finish the canoe, the sealed the seems in the birchbark with spruce gum. The canoe is now finished and ready to float.