THE SECOND FULL MOON OF AUGUST IS TONIGHT
Manoominike-giizis (Ricing Moon) Lᐊᓅᒥᓂᑫ-ᑮᓯ
To the Ojiwe, tonight is the full Ricing Moon. It was the manoomin ᒪᓅᒥᓐ, “food that grows on water”, that brought our ancestors to the Greak Lakes region tens of thousands of years ago.
Wild rice is called manoomin or the "good berry" by the Anishinaabe people and it ripens in August. Members of the tribe head out into the rice beds in canoes and use cedar sticks called knockers to harvest the grains. While one person guides the canoe, the other uses one knocker to gently bend the stalks while tapping the seed heads with the other. Songs are created to the rhythm of the knocking sticks to make the work easier. The loosened grains tumble into the hull. Later, they're toasted and the husks are removed to ready the rice for cooking. Something as delicious and culturally important as the wild rice harvest seems the perfect choice for the August full moon, which also goes by the Sturgeon Moon, named for another traditional Ojibwe harvest that occurs this time of year.
Thousands of years ago, the Ojibwe lived near the Atlantic ocean but received a prophesy that the people should travle West. They were told they will know they are where they're suppposed to be when the get to the place where food grows on the water. They canoed until they found the Great Lakes region and saw the wild rice growing on the water and stayed there ever since.
This migration probably saved us from being genocided by the settlers who arrived on the on the East coast years later.
The Full Ricing Moon rises tonight around sunset and should be bigger and brigher than usual since it is at full perigee.
August's rare Super Blue Moon, the biggest full moon of 2023, rises tonight
https://www.space.com/biggest-full-moon-of-2023
August supermoon 2023: How does it happen, how close is it to earth and what is a blue moon?
https://news.sky.com/story/two-supermoons-to-appear-in-august-culminating-in-rare-blue-moon-12930402
#FullBlueMoon #Ojibwe #Anishinabemowin #NDNZ #astronomy #FullMoonAugust
