STORY OF THE MOCCASIN FLOWER
For many moons, in the woods near Kitchigami (kit-chee-GAH-mee), the Ojibwe stripped birch bark and cut limbs to make wigwams and canoes. They fished in the big lake (Lake Superior) and harvested wild rice and corn. They gathered sarsaparilla, mugwort, and other herbs for healing the sick. During Lake-Freezing Moon (November), they hunted for deer, moose, and bear.
One winter during Gitci-manito-gizis (gichee-MAN-i-toe-gee-zis), a terrible sickness swept through an Ojibwe (medicine man) chanted songs to attract healing sprits to each wigwam. He sprinkled boiled Solomon’s seal root on hot stones for the sick to inhale healing fumes. Yet, one after another, people died. Before long, all the medicinal herbs were gone.
