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

Anishinaabeg The Anishinaabeg (adjectival: Anishinaabe) are a group of culturally related Indigenous peoples present in the Great Lakes region of Canada and the United States. They include the Ojibwe (including Saulteaux and Oji-Cree), Odawa, Potawatomi, M ...

, including

Ojibwe The Ojibwe, Ojibwa, Chippewa, or Saulteaux are an Anishinaabe people in what is currently southern Canada, the northern Midwestern United States, and Northern Plains. According to the U.S. census, in the United States Ojibwe people are one of ...

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 people of the western Great Lakes region, upper Mississippi River and Great Plains. They traditionally speak the Potawatomi language, a m ...

, and

Odawa The Odawa (also Ottawa or Odaawaa ), said to mean "traders", are an Indigenous American ethnic group who primarily inhabit land in the Eastern Woodlands region, commonly known as the northeastern United States and southeastern Canada. They h ...

, as well as

Cree The Cree ( cr, néhinaw, script=Latn, , etc.; french: link=no, Cri) are a North American Indigenous people. They live primarily in Canada, where they form one of the country's largest First Nations. In Canada, over 350,000 people are Cree o ...

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 Algonquian are one of the most populous and widespread North American native language groups. Historically, the peoples were prominent along the Atlantic Coast and into the interior along the Saint Lawrence River and around the Great Lakes. T ...

of the

Subarctic The subarctic zone is a region in the Northern Hemisphere immediately south of the true Arctic, north of humid continental regions and covering much of Alaska, Canada, Iceland, the north of Scandinavia, Siberia, and the Cairngorms. Genera ...

and

Great Lakes The Great Lakes, also called the Great Lakes of North America, are a series of large interconnected freshwater lakes in the mid-east region of North America that connect to the Atlantic Ocean via the Saint Lawrence River. There are five lakes ...

regions of

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by to ...

and the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

. 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''. The strong and water-resistant cardboard-like bark can be easily cut, bent, and sewn, which has made it a valuable building, craftin ...

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 North America that employs the quills of porcupines as an aesthetic element. Quills from bird feathers were also occasionally used in quillwork. Histor ...

and other art forms. In the 17th century,

Jesuit , image = Ihs-logo.svg , image_size = 175px , caption = ChristogramOfficial seal of the Jesuits , abbreviation = SJ , nickname = Jesuits , formation = , founders ...

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 state in the upper Midwestern United States. Wisconsin is the 25th-largest state by total area and the 20th-most populous. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake M ...

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 In mammalian oral anatomy, the canine teeth, also called cuspids, dog teeth, or (in the context of the upper jaw) fangs, eye teeth, vampire teeth, or vampire fangs, are the relatively long, pointed teeth. They can appear more flattened however, ...

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: Birch bark transparency

The First Nations art of birch bark biting

Many uses of birch bark
{{Anishinaabe Native American art Betula Ojibwe culture Anishinaabe culture Native American history of Michigan Great Lakes tribal culture Native American ethnobotany

Name

Process

Uses

See also

References

External links