Indian Legend and Lore

An Indian legend relates to the Earth Mother, Kokomis, who made the first maple syrup. Kokomis made a hole in a tree, and maple syrup poured out. However, her grandson, Manabush, was worried that if the sweet gift of the maple tree was so easily obtained, the Indians might become shiftless and lazy. So he showered the top of the sugar maple with water, thus diluting the maple syrup into sap.

The Chippewas and Ottawas of Michigan tell a similar story of the god NenawBozhoo, who cast a spell on the sugar maple tree many moons ago, turning the near pure syrup into what is now called sap. He did this because he loved his people and feared they would become indolent and destroy themselves if nature’s gifts were given too freely. This legend is unique in that, in various forms, it can be found almost universally throughout the Eastern Woodland Indian tribes. This is unusual for cultures that did not have a written history.

Another story is that of the Indian woman named Moqua. The story was recounted in the April 1896 issue of The Atlantic Monthly by Vermonter Rowland E. Robinson. The story goes that Moqua was cooking a prime cut of moose for her husband, the hunter Woksis. However, Moqua became preoccupied with her quill-work and let the pot boil dry. Realizing she did not have time to melt some snow she used some maple sap she had been saving for a beverage. Woksis was so impressed with the meal he broke the pot so he could lick the last of the “goo” from the pot shards.

Yet another legend states that a chief removed his tomahawk from the trunk of a sugar maple tree, where he had thrown it the night before. As the sun got higher, the sap began to drip from the gash in the tree. The Chief's wife tasted it and discovered that it didn't taste bad, so she used it to cook the meat (though another version says that the pot was left under a broken sugar maple branch and the sap dripped into it). Later when the meat was cooked, the sap boiled down to a syrup. The irresistibly sweet scent and taste of the maple meat so delighted the Chief that he named it Sinzibuckwud—a word meaning “drawn from trees.” This became the word used most often by Native Americans when referring to maple syrup.