Rites of Passage: The #StrawberryCeremony

by Jillian Kerr, May 1, 2025

"Traditionally, the strawberry ceremony is for girls after their first menstrual cycle. However, today it is offered to folks who identify as #TwoSpirit and to those who didn’t have the opportunity to participate as young people, like me. I didn’t have the chance to go through this ceremony decades ago as an adolescent, and I am eagerly looking forward to my own strawberry ceremony experience this year. In anticipation, I researched the strawberry ceremony and talked to those who had already experienced it to learn more.

"Strawberries are highly significant to the #Wabanaki and other Native tribes; as part of the traditional Wabanaki diet before colonization, strawberries are indigenous. Natives used them for general health and to treat various ailments. Because of their shape, many Natives refer to strawberries as the 'heart berry.' The central plant and berry symbolize the mother, and the vines and future plants represent the connection between the Mother, her children, and her grandchildren. Strawberries could not grow without a vast, sprawling root system that connects the plants, like the veins that connect the heart to the rest of the body and sustain life."

Read more:
https://www.wabanakireach.org/rites_of_passage_the_strawberry_ceremony

#SolarPunkSunday #HistoryOfPlants
#NativePlants #WildStrawberries
#CulturalPreservation #GBLTQ #TraditionalAgriculture #IndigenousFoods #Strawberries

#Haudenosaunee #Strawberry Drink Recipe

It's finally strawberry season in San Diego, and what better to celebrate than with a fresh pitcher of traditional, Haudenosaunee strawberry drink?

Posted by Lauren J. Mapp, April 10, 2016

"#Strawberries are an important part of the Haudenosaunee food culture, so much so that they are even mentioned in our creation story. According to one version, the Earth was created when a woman fell from the Sky World and landed on a turtle's back. Many water animals tried to dive to find mud from under the sea, but the only one to survive was a muskrat. He brought mud up from deep below the surface of the water and put it on the turtle's back, helping to create Turtle Island as we know it today.

"When the #SkyWoman died and her body was buried, various plants sprouted from the earth. The #ThreeSisters of corn, beans and squash came from her head; tobacco from her heart; and various medicines and strawberries from her feet.

"Strawberries are known to have many health benefits: they are good sources of Vitamin C, Vitamin K, Vitamin B-6 and folate; they're rich in antioxidants; and they are a natural blood thinner.

"Today, strawberries remain an integral part of our culture, and are celebrated each year through singing, dancing and storytelling in June during the #StrawberryFestival. The following recipe for Haudenosaunee strawberry drink uses sugar instead of the more traditional maple sap (which is pretty much impossible to find in Southern California), but the flavor of this juice makes for another way to enjoy this delightful fruit.

Ingredients:
🍓2 pints of fresh strawberries
🍓2 TBS sugar
🍓Fresh, filtered Water (enough to fill pitcher)

Recipe:
1. Remove leaves from strawberries, then slice them lengthwise.
2. Save 6 strawberries-worth of slices and mash remaining strawberries with a fork, muddler or potato masher.
3. Mix sugar with mashed strawberries, and then add the mixture and sliced strawberries to a 1 gallon pitcher.
4. Fill the remainder of the pitcher with fresh water and enjoy. Can be served chilled or over ice.

Note: You can omit the sugar if you desire a less sweet or healthier juice. You can also substitute agave syrup, maple sap (not syrup) or honey for the sugar - just add a little at a time until it is the desired level of sweetness."

Source:
https://www.offthemappblog.com/2016/04/haudenosaunee-strawberry-drink-recipe.html

#SolarPunkSunday #HistoryOfPlants
#NativePlants #WildStrawberries #IndigenousFoods

A Brief History of the #Strawberry

By Peggy Trowbridge Filippone
Updated on June 24, 2022

"The strawberry is a member of the rose family, with the most common varieties being a hybrid of the wild Virginia strawberry (native to North America) and a Chilean variety. The plant produces succulent, red, conical fruit from tiny white flowers, and sends out runners to propagate.

Why Are They Called Strawberries?

Most likely the word strawberry comes from the Old English streawberige because the plant sends out runners which could be likened to pieces of straw.

But others contend the practice of mulching strawberries with straw or finding them growing wild among matted hay or straw led to their name. And yet, other pundits believe the name came from the practice of selling the berries skewered on a piece of straw in open-air markets as a treat.

Where Do Strawberries Come From?

Strawberries are native to North America, and Indigenous peoples used them in many dishes. The first colonists in America shipped the native larger strawberry plants back to Europe as early as 1600. Another variety, also was discovered in Central and South America, is what the conquistadors called '#futilla.' Early Americans did not bother cultivating strawberries because they were abundant in the wilds.

Although they have been around for thousands of years, strawberries were not actively cultivated until the Renaissance period in Europe. The plants can last for five to six with careful cultivation, but most farmers use them as an annual crop, replanting yearly. Strawberries are social plants, requiring both a male and a female to produce fruit. Crops take eight to 14 months to mature."

Learn more:
https://www.thespruceeats.com/history-of-strawberry-1807668

#SolarPunkSunday #HistoryOfPlants #NativePlants #WildStrawberries #FoodForests #TraditionalAgriculture #IndigenousFoods

📗 Luís Mendonça de Carvalho edited the book ‘The Victorians: A Botanical Perspective. Volume 1’ (Springer), which provides us with a 'unique re-evaluation of the Victorian Age and presents a new historiography based on plants'.

👉 https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-031-68759-4

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@botany

#Histodons #Botany #Plants #Historiography #Victorians #VictorianEra #VictorianBotany #EconomicBotany #Ethnobotany #HistoryOfPlants #SocialHistory #HistoryOfScience #SciHist