Post by blackcrowheart on Oct 8, 2006 14:40:02 GMT -5
Traditional Wild Rice Harvesting Becoming A Lost Art
Donald Chosa shows the steps of harvesting, including dancing on the rice.
Wild rice harvesting kicked off just a couple weeks ago and very few people today know the methods of harvesting the traditional way.
Instructor Donald Chosa, who teaches Native American courses at NMU, says the first step takes two people working together in a rice bed to knock rice into a canoe. The next step is processing the rice by drying it out for one day. After the rice is dry, you have to parch it over an open fire.
Breaking the hulls come next. This is done by jigging or dancing on the rice using a special pair of moccasins. Then the rice is tossed partially into the air so the hull blows over the edge of a basket and the kernel falls back into the basket.
Members of the Keweenaw Bay Indian Community are planning to plant 1,500 pounds of wild rice around the area to continue its tradition.
Donald Chosa shows the steps of harvesting, including dancing on the rice.
Wild rice harvesting kicked off just a couple weeks ago and very few people today know the methods of harvesting the traditional way.
Instructor Donald Chosa, who teaches Native American courses at NMU, says the first step takes two people working together in a rice bed to knock rice into a canoe. The next step is processing the rice by drying it out for one day. After the rice is dry, you have to parch it over an open fire.
Breaking the hulls come next. This is done by jigging or dancing on the rice using a special pair of moccasins. Then the rice is tossed partially into the air so the hull blows over the edge of a basket and the kernel falls back into the basket.
Members of the Keweenaw Bay Indian Community are planning to plant 1,500 pounds of wild rice around the area to continue its tradition.