Enduring Culture

Manoomin (Wild Rice): A Cultural and Ecological Keystone

Manoomin (wild rice) is not just a food source; it is a sacred gift from the Creator, a medicine, and a central element of the Anishinaabe migration story. It serves as a keystone for the community's holistic health: physical (it is packed with fiber and protein), economic (the harvest provides income and jobs), and spiritual.

The story of manoomin at Fond du Lac is a perfect synthesis of the Band's history, contemporary challenges, and sovereign actions:

• The Past (Historical Trauma): The current struggles with manoomin habitat are a direct result of historical policies. In the early 1900s, judicial ditching networks were constructed across the reservation to drain wetlands for agriculture—a project that largely failed but successfully destroyed hundreds of acres of wild rice lakes.

• The Present (Sovereign Restoration): The Fond du Lac Natural Resources Program is now engaged in a sophisticated, multi-decade effort to restore what was lost. This is not a passive effort. It involves active, science-based management, including controlling water levels by operating dams, managing beaver activity, and fighting invasive and competing vegetation (like pickerel weed and cattail mats). To do this, the Band uses specialized, heavy equipment, including an aquatic sedge mat cutter known as the "Cookie Cutter" and aquatic plant harvesters, to clear the choked waterways and reseed them with manoomin. The Band also holds annual Wild Rice Demonstration Camps to teach traditional harvesting (ricing), parching, and jigging to all community members, ensuring the cultural knowledge is passed on.

• The Future (Contemporary Challenge): This restoration work is now threatened by a new, global challenge: climate change. The Band's 2024 Annual Report explicitly states this, noting that "unpredictable water levels and weather patterns" contributed to "one of the most difficult manoominikewin (wild rice) harvest seasons in recent memory".

The single topic of manoomin thus connects history (ditching), culture (sacred food), governance (Natural Resources Program), technology ("Cookie Cutter"), and contemporary environmental challenges (climate change).

Revitalizing Ojibwemowin (The Ojibwe Language)

The Anishinaabe language, Ojibwemowin, is the vehicle for the Anishinaabe worldview. As the Band's website states, "Our language has given us our unique way to see the world and live with her". In a powerful act of cultural sovereignty, the Fond du Lac Band passed Resolution #1421/10 on December 7, 2010, making the Ojibwe language the official language of the Fond du Lac Band.

Following this, the Band created the FDL Gegaanzongejig Ji-Aabadak Ojibwemowin Language Program in 2015 to preserve and revitalize the language. The engine for this revitalization is the The Fond du Lac Tribal College (FDLTCC), which supports a comprehensive, multi-generational "cradle-to-adult" strategy:

• The "Cradle" (Ages 0-5): FDLTCC supports Gookonaanig Endaawaad ("Grandmas' House"), an Ojibwe language nest. This is an immersion school for babies and toddlers, designed to create a new generation of first speakers by surrounding them with the language from birth.

• Adult: FDLTCC also funds and operates Ojibwemotaadidaa Omaa Gidakiiminaang (let’s speak Ojibwe to one another here on our Earth). This is an Ojibwe Immersion Academy specifically for adults who want to increase their fluency. It is taught by master speakers and university faculty. The goal of Ojibwemotaadidaa is to ensure the longevity of the Ojibwe language by increasing the quality and quantity of proficient speakers in Minnesota and surrounding states.

One of the aims that has always been central to FDLTCC’s mission is to “respectfully promote the language, culture, and history of the Anishinaabe people.” FDLTCC offers various academic and extension programs that contribute to language revitalization in addition to the Ojibwemotaadidaa Omaa Gidakiiminaang, including the Anishinaabe language certificate and major, the Ojibwemowining Digital Arts and Storytelling (ODAS) Studio, tribal partnerships, and the Ojibwe Language Symposium. The college has a big vision for connecting these programs as part of a cohesive language revitalization effort.

This multi-pronged strategy demonstrates a sophisticated, long-term, and inspiring model of cultural resilience and educational sovereignty.

Cultural Arts and Expressions

The Fond du Lac Band operates a Cultural Center & Museum at its tribal headquarters in Cloquet. This center serves as a vital community resource and features exhibits on cultural artifacts, the history of birch bark canoes, traditional Ojibwe clothing, and the contributions of the Band's veterans.

A key Anishinaabe art form is beadwork. A recognizable feature of Anishinaabe beadwork is the prominent use of floral motifs. These designs, which represent plants, flowers, and vines, are a clear distinction from the geometric patterns often associated with their neighbors, the Dakota.

This floral style is a powerful example of cultural adaptation and innovation, not a static, "ancient" tradition. Many attempts at historical analysis claim that Anishinaabe artists in the 17th century were influenced by the floral embroidery and fabric prints introduced by French traders, however other historical analysis calls this conclusion into question. Patterns evolved from abstract and geometric patterns due to the use of rigid porcupine quills and moose hairs into more curvilinear patterns after the introduction of colored seed beads in the 1860s.

From the curvilinear pattern, floral imagery developed as a representational art. While leaves are often realistic, flowers can often be hard to identify and can share similar designs, only being differentiated by color. Individual artists were all innovators of the style in which they made their beadwork, often relating to where they were from. Today many Anishinaabe manidoominens-omamazinibii’igeg (bead artists) provide continuity in the floral motifs of the past in their work, however some have transitioned from representational floral forms to more realistic forms.

Anishinaabe mamazinibii’igewin (art) aesthetics have transitioned to fine art including an array of media, including oils, pastels, prisma, watercolors, egg tempura, and more to represent spiritual figures, traditional symbolism, and everyday life. Digital art is also becoming more common as graphic artists use tools like iPads and Procreate to create imagery with floral patterns to be used on posters and flyers for community events and powwows or logos for groups or organizations.