festival. Kimberly Kaniehténhawe Cross, an agent at Kahnawà:ke Tourism, said that during the last 10 years many families such as hers have taken the ini- tiative to start their own “sugar shacks” where they can show others how to boil sap, and schools are now teaching about the maple syrup history and process. “My husband’s great uncle tapped the trees in the same forest we do,” Cross said. “So it just feels right and connects us to the past.” Otsi’tsaken:ra is teaching his grand-
children the process and gives the syrup he makes to family and friends. He said he sees the resurgence of interest in maple syrup as a good sign his people are thriving. “Wahta trees are strong because they have roots,” Otsi’tsaken:ra said. “Native people stay strong in the same way, from our roots that reach back through our mothers and grandmothers, all the way back to the Iotsi’tsisen (Sky Woman) at the beginning of creation.” Canada is now the largest producer
the winds not to blow too hard so people will not get hurt and be able to return to their loved ones,” said Otsi’tsaken:ra. Gathering the syrup began by hanging
birch bark sap buckets in the tree below where they wanted to collect the sap. Above the bucket, they would “tap” the tree by drilling a hole and then placing a piece of wood in it to serve as a spout, or spile, from which the clear sap would drip. Once the sap was collected, it was
stored overnight in clay pots or, in more recent times, metal buckets. The lighter water in the sap would rise and freeze. In the morning, the ice would be skimmed off the top and the remaining water removed through boiling. This condensing will turn the liquid into a gold to brown color. About 40 gallons of sap are needed to produce about a gal- lon of syrup. Dried syrup would become sugar that could be stored in cone- shaped bark containers. “When we have collected enough sap and return safely, that’s when we give
Otsi’tsaken:ra (Charlie) Patton (right) pours sap into a container while his grandson Kahentaráken Snow-Patton holds a funnel. Water in the sap has floated to the top and frozen, a layer that is easily removed. The rest of the water will be removed by boiling.
of maple products in the world, export- ing 75 percent of the world’s supply, with more than 90 percent coming from the province of Quebec. The Quebec Maple Syrup Producers reported that their province sold 180.2 million pounds of maple syrup in 2021, an increase of 22 percent over the previous year. Canadian exports of maple syrup rose by 20.7 per- cent to 160.78 million pounds that year. Demand for more from Canada might increase. Yet as a 2019 paper published in “Forest Ecology and Management” reported, this could become problem- atic because climate change is now driv- ing the maple tree in its more southern U.S. ranges farther north. Otsi’tsaken:ra said there are stories
thanks. This is how we fulfill our prom- ise to the trees,” Otsi’tsaken:ra said. When Kanien’kehá:ka people celebrate Wahta, they gather in the longhouse and drink syrup from cups to express their personal gratitude for this sustaining gift from the Creator. Many Indigenous nations in Canada
and the United States now have maple syrup businesses, and Indigenous youth are once again learning how to make maple syrup and its associated ceremonies. The Kahnawa:ke commu- nity has held classes and given demon- strations at their annual maple syrup
that recall how Mohawks learned to gather Wahta from animals at a time when the people had been living out of balance with the natural world. He said the ceremonies today recall the impor- tance of taking care of the environ- ment. “More than ever, we should learn to be spiritual people and learn from the ancestors to give thanks, and to put aside colonial thinking that tells us a dol- lar is worth more than a tree,” he said.
tony tekaroniake evans is a Mohawk author and award-winning journalist living in Hailey, Idaho.
SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION WINTER 2022 11
COURTESY OF OTSI’TSAKEN:RA (CHARLIE) PATTON
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