Northern Plains
Region: Northern Plains
State: Minnesota
Plant: Red Willow, Tobacco Plant
Word: Asemaa, Kinnikinnick, Cansasa
Tribe:
Bois Forte Band of Chippewa
Lower Sioux Indian Community
Lac du Flambeau Band of Lake
Superior Chippewa
Sault Ste Marie Tribe of Chippewa
Indians
Blackfoot Confederacy
Traditional Teaching: “So you have a relationship with this plant and this plant, it was asemaa. That means from me to you, and so that’s why they say basic asemaa, tobacco first. You’re offering tobacco before you do anything and you’re creating this relationship with that plant growing that tobacco. That’s a relationship and that relationship is every year, you create another relationship with those seeds that are being produced.”
“And so Nanaboozhoo had another question for the creator, and he said, “When the humans come, how are they going to communicate with you?” And behind him, he heard a voice, and that voice was saying, “I’ll be the one. I will be the intermediary. I will be the one that will sacrifice myself to you so humans can communicate with the creator.” And that plant, of course, was asemaa, was tobacco.”
How Traditional Tobacco is Gathered and Harvested:
Cansasa
Cansasa is made from red osier dogwood which is the scientific name but many Dakotas know it as Red willow as the color of the tree is dark red. Red Willow is typically found along creek beds among trees. Red willow is collected right before spring, usually between December and March. As a Traditional Tobacco Knowledge Keeper from a Dakota community in Minnesota says, it is gathered “right before the Thunder Beings come back.” Dakotas and other Native Americans collect enough Red Willow to get them through the year. “Making the Cansasa is a ceremony within itself.” Meaning that when it is collected, you offer Cansasa and a prayer to the spirits and the Creator.
An Ojibwe Knowledge Keeper from Minnesota says that when you are gathering the Red Willow to cut the tree at the base and to never pull it from the root. To turn the Red Willow into Cansasa, you use a knife to take off the outer red layer. Underneath is where you find the Cansasa which is the color green. According to a Dakota Knowledge Keeper, “you scrape it away” with a knife and his teachings are, if you are making the Cansasa for offerings or to smoke in a sacred pipe, you scrape the green Cansasa away from your heart to signify that you are making it to use it as an offering. After, the shavings should be laid out to dry to be used as sacred offerings or giving thanks.
Asemaa and Kinnikinnick
Asemaa is made from a tobacco plant which is broken up into pieces. Kinnikinnick is a mixture of asemaa among other ingredients such as sage, cedar and Red Willow. Kinnikinnick means “to mix something.” According to Ojibwe Knowledge Keepers in the Midwest, in order to grow asemaa, the tobacco plant, you must have a clear heart and clear mind. The tobacco must be grown with good intentions and not in a “bad way.” Some traditional Ojibwe teachings say that only men, and elderly women who have gone through their menstrual cycles are able to grow asemaa.
An Ojibwe Knowledge Keeper from Minnesota starts growing her tobacco in March and plants them outside in early June. She first uses a small container where she moistens the soil and then uses sage to smudge the tobacco where she also adds the tobacco seeds on top of the soil. She creates small tents using a toothpick and saran wrap and grows the plant for four days, bringing them outside during the day and bringing them inside at night. “It takes four days for the plants to germinate.” After two months, she is ready to take her plants to the garden to grow outside. In order to keep creating pods, you need to keep growing the leaves. From the leaves, flowers will appear where the pods are housed. Once the flowers grow, you pinch them off so that they will continue to grow. According to an Ojibwe Knowledge Keeper from Wisconsin, if you don’t remove the flowers which he refers to as, “suckers,” they will suck the life out of the plant. You can then clip off the seeds from the plants to grow more plants. Another Knowledge Keeper states that in order for them to grow, you need to “nurture and be gentle with the plants” especially when taking the leaves. After gathering the leaves, you dry them for six months and then are able to make asemaa.
Importance of a Traditional Tobacco Knowledge Keeper For Future Generations.
Decolonizing & Healing:
Planting, gathering, and harvesting tobacco are acts of decolonization. When one engages in their tribe’s ways, these are “decolonizing acts,” and “acts of restoring health in our community.” This is important especially for the youth to know and engage in.
” And every time that we gather this medicine, whether it’s planting tobacco, or harvesting the red willow, gathering cedar, sage, all of those other ingredients that we use to make our medicines, those are decolonizing acts. Every time we sing a song, every time we make our own hand drums, those are decolonizing acts, and that was, of course, one of the things that we tried to teach our youth, and also as we walk the rivers, and we take these youth along with us and teach them these ways, these are acts of restoring health in our community. “
Connect with Elders:
Find your tribe and learn from your elders. Not everyone has this access but there are ways to connect with communities even if they are not your own.
” Well my, advice is always — I mean I work some with youth — but if you know your own tribe, to try and find out from your own elders to try and see how tobacco was used in your own community and start there. I mean, everyone can’t always do that so I think there are communities you can reach out to if you’re in an urban area. I mean, honestly, I first started using traditional tobacco when I went away to college — to Humboldt State and then to San Francisco state. Being involved with the native clubs, I really learned more kind of — I mean it was just not a part of the culture for me growing up “
Guidance:
Find your tribe and learn from your elders. Not everyone has this access but there are ways to connect with communities even if they are not your own.
” I think, for me, as part of the living generation, it is a given vibrant gift that we’ve been to help us navigate this time. So that, you know, a hundred years from now when I’m no longer here, somebody from my culture can still have that practice in traditional tobacco, they can still have our tobacco ways, our way of life. And it is a primary gift to help us through this time, because that’s what it’s been since it was given. It’s navigated people through good, hard, and, you know, questioning times, and I think right now, with all the changes that are happening, not just human-based but, you know, like, galactic kind of changes, that is our guide. “