Spring Equinox 2022

An pressure crack on Georgian Bay. Photo credit: Meagan Pepler and Chris Hodgson

A Gift of Strength

It’s a wonderful time of the year. A signal of the renewal of life. There is an energy in the opening of a new season. Within this change and this transition, the ice speaks to me first.  

The ice is saying that we are going to have an incredible gift of maple syrup this year. 

Maple syrup has its own flow and its own teachings. Years ago, things were hard. The snow, so deep. People couldn’t hunt as much. The Grandmothers prepared the young boys to go out and fulfil the community needs. They were gone for some time without much success. They soon depleted the supplies the Grandmothers prepared for them. 

One young boy sat down to warm himself in the sun, and while he was sitting there, the maple tree gifted him a taste of the sweet syrup. They all fed themselves on the sweet water. It nourished them with the gift of strength. With that gift, they were able to go on. An animal showed itself and gave its life to feed the community. 

The ice is telling us, and the birds are telling us, that this gift is going to be bountiful this year. It will be bountiful to reflect the amount of sweet water that we are needing this year, within these times of crisis around the world. And so we will be getting ready to gather and honour this gift of strength.  

- Elder Marilyn Capreol, Shawanaga First Nation Ojibway band member, Huron Robinson Treaty