Birchbark biting (Ojibwe: Mazinibaganjigan, plural: mazinibaganjiganan) is an Indigenous artform made by Anishinaabeg, including

Ojibwe The Ojibwe (; Ojibwe writing systems#Ojibwe syllabics, syll.: ᐅᒋᐺ; plural: ''Ojibweg'' ᐅᒋᐺᒃ) are an Anishinaabe people whose homeland (''Ojibwewaki'' ᐅᒋᐺᐘᑭ) covers much of the Great Lakes region and the Great Plains, n ...

people,
Indigenous Perspectives of North America: A Collection of Studies
'. Cambridge Scholars Publishing; 20 August 2014. . p. 210–.

Potawatomi The Potawatomi (), also spelled Pottawatomi and Pottawatomie (among many variations), are a Native American tribe of the Great Plains, upper Mississippi River, and western Great Lakes region. They traditionally speak the Potawatomi language, ...

, and

Odawa The Odawa (also Ottawa or Odaawaa ) are an Indigenous North American people who primarily inhabit land in the Eastern Woodlands region, now in jurisdictions of the northeastern United States and southeastern Canada. Their territory long prec ...

, as well as

Cree The Cree, or nehinaw (, ), are a Indigenous peoples of the Americas, North American Indigenous people, numbering more than 350,000 in Canada, where they form one of the country's largest First Nations in Canada, First Nations. They live prim ...

Native American Almanac: More Than 50,000 Years of the Cultures and Histories of Indigenous Peoples
'. Visible Ink Press; 18 April 2016. . p. 1273–. and other

Algonquian peoples The Algonquians are one of the most populous and widespread North American indigenous peoples of the Americas, indigenous American groups, consisting of the peoples who speak Algonquian languages. They historically were prominent along the East ...

of the

Subarctic The subarctic zone is a region in the Northern Hemisphere immediately south of the true Arctic, north of hemiboreal regions and covering much of Alaska, Canada, Iceland, the north of Fennoscandia, Northwestern Russia, Siberia, and the Cair ...

and

Great Lakes The Great Lakes, also called the Great Lakes of North America, are a series of large interconnected freshwater lakes spanning the Canada–United States border. The five lakes are Lake Superior, Superior, Lake Michigan, Michigan, Lake Huron, H ...

regions of

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

and the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

. Artists bite on small pieces of folded

birch bark Birch bark or birchbark is the bark of several Eurasian and North American birch trees of the genus ''Betula''. For all practical purposes, birch bark's main layers are the outer dense layer, white on the outside, and the inner porous layer ( ...

to form intricate designs. Indigenous artists used birchbark biting for entertaining in storytelling and to create patterns for

quillwork Quillwork is a form of textile embellishment traditionally practiced by Indigenous peoples of the Americas, Indigenous peoples of North America that employs the Spine (zoology), quills of porcupines as an aesthetic element. Quills from bird feathe ...

and other art forms. In the 17th century,

Jesuit The Society of Jesus (; abbreviation: S.J. or SJ), also known as the Jesuit Order or the Jesuits ( ; ), is a religious order (Catholic), religious order of clerics regular of pontifical right for men in the Catholic Church headquartered in Rom ...

s sent samples of this artform to Europe, where it had been previously unknown. The practice remained common in Saskatchewan into the 1950s.

Name

Birchbark biting is also known as ''mazinashkwemaganjigan(-an)'' (by

Northwestern Ontario Northwestern Ontario is a secondary region of Northern Ontario in the Canadian province of Ontario which lies north and west of Lake Superior and west of Hudson Bay and James Bay. It includes most of subarctic Ontario. Its western boundary is the ...

Ojibwe) and ''njigan(-an)'' (by

Wisconsin Wisconsin ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest of the United States. It borders Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake Michigan to the east, Michig ...

Ojibwe). In English, this has been described either as "birch bark bitings" or "birch bark transparencies."

Process

Artists chose thin and flexible pieces of birch bark.Robert Rogers.
Herbal Allies: My Journey with Plant Medicine
'. North Atlantic Books; 27 June 2017. . p. 54–. This kind of bark is easiest to find in the early spring.Erik M. Redix.
The Murder of Joe White: Ojibwe Leadership and Colonialism in Wisconsin
'. MSU Press; 1 September 2014. . p. 150–. Using the eyeteeth to bite, the bite pressures can either pierce the bark pieces into a lace or just make certain areas thinner to allow for light to pass through.Frances Densmore, ''Chippewa Customs'' (1929, repr. 1979) If the bark piece is carefully folded, symmetrical designs can also be made onto it.

Uses

Many of the designs that are used contain symbolic and religious significance to the Ojibwe and other tribes. Though the practice almost died out, an estimated dozen practitioners are active in Canada and the United States, some of whom display the craft in contexts outside of their original intentions to show evidence of this ancient practice. Birchbark bitings can be used in storytelling, as patterns for

and

beadwork Beadwork is the art or craft of attaching beads to one another by stringing them onto a thread or thin wire with a sewing or beading needle or sewing them to cloth. Beads are produced in a diverse range of materials, shapes, and sizes, and vary ...

, as well as finished pieces of art.
Inspiring Women: A Celebration of Herstory
'. Coteau Books; 2003. . p. 250–. The holes created by biting are sometimes filled with coloured threads to create woven designs.
Minnesota History News
'. Vol. 1-10. Minnesota Historical Society.; 1959.

References

External links

National Anthropological Archives (Smithsonian Institution): Birch bark transparency

The First Nations art of birch bark biting

Birch bark biting merges traditional skill and contemporary art
{{Anishinaabe Native American art Birch bark Ojibwe culture Anishinaabe culture Native American history of Michigan Great Lakes tribal culture Native American ethnobotany Biting

Name

Process

Uses

See also

References

External links