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Cedar

What do you think of when you hear “cedar”? Maybe you think of a particular brand of ice cream, or a city, or perhaps you imagine an old chest of drawers that is in your basement and smells good. Do you know what cedar looks like? I did not. It is a hard wood, meaning that it takes longer to burn, and grows more slowly than red pine. This particular pine was thought of as the woman’s pine. To use it, you break off a leaf and place it under your tongue. The anishinaabeg believed that there were invigorating properties to this plant. So when you see this tree on a hike that is very tiring, remember to place it under your tongue.

Tobacco

 

Tobacco was used in a multitude of activities, and for a number of religious purposes. On our trip, we brought tobacco as a gift for Jikiwe (Ed), as is often customary to do so. We used it for giving thanks and at the start of a fire circle. Tobacco has a completely different meaning for these people than smoking cigarettes. Whenever we gathered something from nature, we would take out a pinch of tobacco to thank mother earth for her gift. I saw this as a reason to be mindful that what we take from nature is not truly ours. We should not feel entitled to grabbing more and more beautiful stones, but carefully select the few that speak to us.

Plants and Herbs

A few of the plants we saw were sacred to the Anishinaabeg. These included sage, cedar, and tobacco. Tobacco leaves were used for a multitude of purposes and was known as the male plant. Cedar was known as the female plant.

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