The Best Part of History Class
My favorite history lessons came in the fall from our Michigan history texts. No dates, no inventions, before battles, but sharing daily life of our first residents.
As the air grew crisper and leaves changed color, the first frosty nights warned of winter snow and cold. How could anyone live outside in that climate?
I was fascinated with bark-covered teepees and winter lodges. Moccasins in the snow. Cooking fires in the cold air. My brothers and I played at living outside in the fall weather, but as winter moved in, so did we, unless we were well bundled with hot cocoa waiting afterward.
The lessons didn’t last long enough and covered only a few pages in our textbooks, but have stayed with me through the years.
Michigan was home to several tribes, and the three largest were the Ojibwe (Chippewa), the Odawa (Ottowa), and the Potawatomi (Bode’wadmi). Our famous Chief Pontiac was of the Odawa tribe. They shared language, customs, and beliefs, and called themselves the Anishinaabe, “original people,” creating a partnership called the Three Fires.
Ojibwe were “keepers of ceremony and song.”
Odawa were “keepers of the trade.”
Potawatomi were “keepers of the fire.”
They lived in dome-shaped houses in the warm months, hunted and fished, built birch bark canoes, wove fishing nets, planted and harvested crops. In the winter, they also trapped and fished through the ice. Beaver fur was the most sought, but trading pelts included deer, raccoon, fox, otter, muskrat, bear, and marten.
Their seasoning of choice was maple syrup.
By 100 A.D. the Ojibwe made ceramics and perfected fishing techniques, becoming experts in seasonal fishing. They migrated with the seasons for fishing, hunting, maple syrup tapping, and harvesting wild rice. Birch bark was useful for housing and canoes.
I was most fascinated with the production and storage of maple syrup, and with harvesting wild rice, which we used sparingly at our table.
The return of spring was celebrated with a maple moon festival. Finished syrup was packed in mokoks made of birch bark, holding 20-30 pounds of maple sugar, and buried for storage. Since maple trees were plentiful, maple sugar was used to season meat and fish, and preferred over salt. One method of turning sap into syrup was to freeze it several times and remove the ice.
After sugar production, most of the tribes traveled to Kepayshowink (Saginaw) for a celebration that included dancing, games, and competitions of strength.
Wild rice, manoomin, grew on the water and was a staple, gathered by women. A cousin to rice, manoomin is a grass that seeds itself in lake and rivers two-three feet deep. One person paddled the canoe, a second bent stalks and brushed them to drop rice kernels into the boat. Kernels were dried, cleaned, and roasted in a kettle over a fire, stirred constantly. Once dry, chaff was removed, and the grains simmered and stored.
Villagers also planted corn (roasted or made in hominy), squash, pumpkins, beans, and tobacco, and gathered wild berries and apples. To the Ojibwe, corn was more than a crop, but played a major part in their legends and stories, as well.
The first Michigan inhabitants appeared 10,000 years ago from Asia or South America. Their descendants worked with copper, and established hunting and fishing communities around the Great Lakes.
Rivers and lakes were highways. Many paths and trails, created by bison, are still used. Saginaw Trail is Woodward Avenue. The Clinton River accounts for the city of Pontiac.
All this was captivating to me as I stood at a window looking out on snowbanks, or walking narrow paths in autumn woods. Once we began to memorize dates of wars and inventors, my interest in history flagged. I was more interested in the day-to-day activities of people who lived in and with the world around me, long before highways, electricity, history textbooks.
Whenever I savored maple colors on a fall walk, or poured maple syrup over pancakes, or added wild rice to a casserole, I recalled those early history lessons. The crisp autumn air, first frosts, and snowy woods sparked a respect in me for people who lived in and with our Michigan world.
My kind of history lesson.
As the air grew crisper and leaves changed color, the first frosty nights warned of winter snow and cold. How could anyone live outside in that climate?
I was fascinated with bark-covered teepees and winter lodges. Moccasins in the snow. Cooking fires in the cold air. My brothers and I played at living outside in the fall weather, but as winter moved in, so did we, unless we were well bundled with hot cocoa waiting afterward.
The lessons didn’t last long enough and covered only a few pages in our textbooks, but have stayed with me through the years.
Michigan was home to several tribes, and the three largest were the Ojibwe (Chippewa), the Odawa (Ottowa), and the Potawatomi (Bode’wadmi). Our famous Chief Pontiac was of the Odawa tribe. They shared language, customs, and beliefs, and called themselves the Anishinaabe, “original people,” creating a partnership called the Three Fires.
Ojibwe were “keepers of ceremony and song.”
Odawa were “keepers of the trade.”
Potawatomi were “keepers of the fire.”
They lived in dome-shaped houses in the warm months, hunted and fished, built birch bark canoes, wove fishing nets, planted and harvested crops. In the winter, they also trapped and fished through the ice. Beaver fur was the most sought, but trading pelts included deer, raccoon, fox, otter, muskrat, bear, and marten.
Their seasoning of choice was maple syrup.
By 100 A.D. the Ojibwe made ceramics and perfected fishing techniques, becoming experts in seasonal fishing. They migrated with the seasons for fishing, hunting, maple syrup tapping, and harvesting wild rice. Birch bark was useful for housing and canoes.
I was most fascinated with the production and storage of maple syrup, and with harvesting wild rice, which we used sparingly at our table.
The return of spring was celebrated with a maple moon festival. Finished syrup was packed in mokoks made of birch bark, holding 20-30 pounds of maple sugar, and buried for storage. Since maple trees were plentiful, maple sugar was used to season meat and fish, and preferred over salt. One method of turning sap into syrup was to freeze it several times and remove the ice.
After sugar production, most of the tribes traveled to Kepayshowink (Saginaw) for a celebration that included dancing, games, and competitions of strength.
Wild rice, manoomin, grew on the water and was a staple, gathered by women. A cousin to rice, manoomin is a grass that seeds itself in lake and rivers two-three feet deep. One person paddled the canoe, a second bent stalks and brushed them to drop rice kernels into the boat. Kernels were dried, cleaned, and roasted in a kettle over a fire, stirred constantly. Once dry, chaff was removed, and the grains simmered and stored.
Villagers also planted corn (roasted or made in hominy), squash, pumpkins, beans, and tobacco, and gathered wild berries and apples. To the Ojibwe, corn was more than a crop, but played a major part in their legends and stories, as well.
The first Michigan inhabitants appeared 10,000 years ago from Asia or South America. Their descendants worked with copper, and established hunting and fishing communities around the Great Lakes.
Rivers and lakes were highways. Many paths and trails, created by bison, are still used. Saginaw Trail is Woodward Avenue. The Clinton River accounts for the city of Pontiac.
All this was captivating to me as I stood at a window looking out on snowbanks, or walking narrow paths in autumn woods. Once we began to memorize dates of wars and inventors, my interest in history flagged. I was more interested in the day-to-day activities of people who lived in and with the world around me, long before highways, electricity, history textbooks.
Whenever I savored maple colors on a fall walk, or poured maple syrup over pancakes, or added wild rice to a casserole, I recalled those early history lessons. The crisp autumn air, first frosts, and snowy woods sparked a respect in me for people who lived in and with our Michigan world.
My kind of history lesson.
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