Manoomin Island

Not long ago, human beings lived with the seasons. Here on Gojijiiwi-zaaga’igan (Rainy Lake), during manoominike (wild ricing) season, Anishinaabe families traditionally held rice camps on islands. Spending this critical harvest living, canoeing, knocking, thrashing, and processing rice together for the coming winter was a time of togetherness and the transition of summer into fall.

Manoomin Island is a place of campfires and peaceful quiet, where the waawaate (Northern Lights) dance above across this beautiful watershed holding thousands of islands, hundreds of miles of freshwater, and memories spanning generations.