Thanks to the Maple

"Thanks to the Maple" is from American anthropologist Lewis Henry Morgan's important 1851 work League of the Ho-de-no-sau-nee or Iroquois, in which he wrote of the complexity of Iroquois society. "Thanks to the Maple" describes in great detail the Iroquois first festival of spring, also called the Maple Dance. This significant annual ritual celebrated the rising of the sap in maple trees, and included speeches, dancing, games, and a great feast. According to Morgan, it was a festive day, "awakening the eagerness of expectation in the minds of all." These words are from an opening speech at a Seneca council: "The season when the maple tree yields its sweet waters has again returned. We are all thankful that it is so." This short work is part of Applewood's "American Roots" series, tactile mementoes of American passions by some of America's most famous writers and thinkers.