Fox River History
and
Wheel of the Year
Begin by reading and taking notes on the 5 short articles below.
If you do further research and find some more sources please share with me to add to the lesson.
Create a map in your notebook of what you think the Fox River Valley looked like previous to European Colonization.
Animals found by the Fox River pre-colonization
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Once done complete the Wheel of the Year Assignment - Click to go the the Doc or scroll down below.
Creating a Wheel of the Year
Sources
Exploring Magical Wheels, Seasons, and Cycles: Free Moon and Sun Wheels for Your Use
GWOW - “Gikinoo’wizhiwe Onji Waaban” (Guiding for Tomorrow) - Image above taken from this site.
Phenology - the study of natural phenomena that recur periodically in plants and animals and of the relationship of these phenomena to seasonal changes and climate.
Google - plants to forage in Illinois throughout the year. There are a lot of great sources to add to your wheel.
Process and explanation
You are to create a wheel of the year using the provided template or you may create your own. Make sure to read the directions and ideas for your wheel.
Using Wheels of Time and Place is a way to visually explore and understand phenology, cycles, culture, and the interrelationship of life. Images are the universal language and making art is a commonality that all cultures share. Art can be thought of as a form of visual communication, a way to express and document the various happenings and events that we observe in nature and our impressions of them. The Wheels of Time and Place are based on a very simple concept…the Circle. Circles are everywhere in Nature, and time itself can be thought of as circular rather than linear. Completing a Wheel encourages us to see and think about time, life cycles, and interrelated species in a holistic, rather than linear and separated way. Seen as part of a whole system, we begin to understand how one thing affects everything else around it. We emerge with a feeling that we too are part of something bigger…our personal human cycles of days, months, seasons, and years are part of a larger cycle based in natural time and place.
Ideas of what to add to your wheel
Wheel in Quarters: Ojibwe Lifeways Wheels divided in quarters can also be used to visually represent the different Ojibwe Lifeways throughout the course of the year. There is extensive background information on the GWOW website about the plants, animals, and traditional seasonal activities in each of the four seasons of the year. Completing a Wheel based on this information will help to integrate and see the “big picture” of how the seasons fit together and flow throughout the year.
Some suggestions of imagery for each season could include:
Spring… Draw the maple sugaring process, how sap rises in the maples, leaves unfolding at various stages, birch bark and twigs, traditional uses of birch.
Summer Fishing…Draw the various fish that live in the local rivers, streams and lakes. Follow a river from the headwaters all the way to its mouth and show the water’s journey. Draw an image of the fishes’ habitat and food it eats.
Fall Wild Rice Draws the life cycle of the Manoomin, rice waving in the sloughs, drawing the plants and grains up close. Show the ricing process and grains of rice after harvest.
Winter Stories Winter was the time for gathering, learning and stories…this was a time for doing indoor work and passing on knowledge. Learn about and listen to a story, one that might have personal meaning for you. Illustrate this story, using images and symbols. Even though it is cold outside. You can still draw and paint the beauty of frost crystals, snowflakes, ice, and snow. These are just a few of the suggestions for the Wheel in Quarters.
Thirteen Moons Wheel:
The Ojibwe in this region and tribes in other regions marked time by the cycles of the moon, and gave names to these cycles according to what was happening around them at that time of year in that region.
There are thirteen full moons in the course of a year Interestingly, this also corresponds to the number of sections on the shell of a turtle’s back. Each moon cycle is 29.5 days from new to full, and back to new again. Just watching and the progression of the moon through this cycle fosters a level of awareness and calibrates our senses to natural time.
The 12-month calendar we now use represents a more mathematical, rather than a natural division of time…although the English name “month” is derived from the word “moon”. Some have adapted the thirteen moons of the year to fit the twelve month calendar cycle, so many resources only list twelve. The names of the thirteen moons vary from area to area, mostly depending on the climate and the times of the season when things occur. These are more than just a “name”; for people who live close to the land it is important to know what times of the year are right for traditional harvesting activities such as berry picking, ricing, fishing, and maple sugaring.
Keeping a Thirteen Moons Wheel helps us to tune into the phenology and form deeper ties to the cultural traditions of our specific area.
Ojibwe Moons of the Year:
First Moon – Gichi-manidoo-giizis, Great Spirit Moon
Second Moon – Namebini-giizis, Sucker Fish Moon
Third Moon – Onaabani-giizis, Hard Crust on the Snow Moon
Fourth Moon – Iskigamizige-giizis, MapleSap Boiling Moon
Fifth Moon – Waabigonigiizis, Flowering Moon
Sixth Moon – Ode'min Giizis, Strawberry Moon
Seventh Moon – Miskomini-giizis, Raspberry Moon
Eighth Moon – Miini-giizis, Blueberry Moon
Ninth Moon – Manoominike-giizis, Ricing Moon
Tenth Moon – Waatebagaa-giizis, Leaves Changing Colors Moon
Eleventh Moon – Binaakwe-giizis, Falling Leaves Moon
Twelfth Moon – Gashkadino-giizis, Freezing Moon
Thirteenth Moon – Manidoo-giizis, Spirit Moon
Observe what is going on in nature around you, ask yourself: What season is it? Is it Cold? Warm? What is the weather like? Try to get a general “feel” for this particular moon, based on your own observations.
Add plants to forage at the different times of the year
What plants, trees and flowers are blooming?
What is growing, blooming, setting fruit and seeds, ready for harvest, or going dormant? What animals, birds, fish, or insects do you see and hear? What are they doing?
What is happening with the rocks, the water, the soil…those things you might not typically think of as “living” ? Are they freezing, thawing, moving, cracking…what other life are they supporting?
