As part of Native American Heritage Month, we asked some of our Native American employees and board members to contribute to our blog as guest writers. We asked them what Native American Heritage Month means to them, and what they would want the community to know. Join us as we open our platform to new voices on our blog!
By Laura Razo
Native American Heritage Month brings to mind the need to maintain Native American traditions, culture, and to remember our history.
Since my family and tribe continue to work on maintaining our traditions and culture throughout the year, now would be a good time to share part of our family traditions and culture. Moreover, it is a time to show the need for a continued resource to practice our tradition and culture.
I am a Kickapoo tribal member and a descendant of Prairie Band Potawatomi. My grandmother was also Indigenous from Mexico.
Recently, our family finished our services for the year on the Kickapoo Reservation located in Kansas. Before the start of any ceremony or service (“event”), the family responsible for the event must ensure there is enough wood for the fire that is used for cooking and during prayer services. The wood of preference is the red elm. Usually obtaining the wood involves sending people out in advance to the reservation area to chop and haul wood to the event site. Our cultural leader likes to talk about how the red elm is excellent for cooking. He said the wood flavors, in its own way, all of the food cooked on the open fire.
“No seasoning and spices needed for the food cooked on the fire,” he says.
Soups, a few side dishes such as milkweed, fish, frybread, and ceremonial foods are cooked on the open fire. The red elm is very important to at least two cultural groups on the Kickapoo Reservation.
Studies show that the red elm is important to many tribal groups, past and present. The red elm grows predominantly from much of the Northeastern coast of the United States to Kansas. Therefore, it is not surprising that many of the tribes originally from the East and Great Lakes area, including the Kickapoo and Potawatomi, had many uses for the red elm. The United States Department of Agriculture Natural Resources Conservation Services (“NRCS”) states that the tree was valued for its bark, which supplied material for the sides of winter houses and roofs of the Meskwaki. The inner bark also was used for cordage by many tribes. According to the NRCS, the red elm, also known as Slippery Elm, was used extensively as medicine. The Iroquois scraped the bark of the tree and used it in combination with other plants to treat infected and swollen glands. Additionally, the inner bark was made into an eyewash for sore eyes. There are many other medicinal uses of the red elm or Slippery Elm cited by the NRCS, such as using the bark to make a tea for Meskwaki women during childbirth. The NRCS said indigenous people generously taught some of these uses to early non-Indian settlers.
Regarding other uses, the Illinois State Museum states the red elm is heavy, durable and close-grained. It is used for fence posts and farm implements.
According to a 2012 report from the Kansas State University Department of Horticulture, Forestry, and Recreation Resources, the seeds of red elm exhibit unknown dormancy issues. The red elm is also susceptible to Dutch Elm Disease. “[I]t is not widely grown in ornamental nurseries. This had led to declining natural tree population and difficulties in commercial propagation,” according to the Kansas State University study. Studies like these have been undertaken to improve red elm seed germination. Professor Charles Barden, one of the researchers on the 2012 study at Kansas State University, recently communicated that he is not aware of any tribe in Kansas actively managing red elm. However, in previous years, he distributed red elm seedlings to the Kickapoo and Potawatomi tribes in Kansas.
So, it does appear there was some interest in actively managing and preserving red elm in Kansas. With so many uses of the red elm for some of the Native American population, it is hoped the red elm is healthy and plentiful in the future for members of my tribe and other tribes who rely on it.
Laura “Madoshe” Razo is the Urban Indian Program Coordinator for Hunter Health.
