A Cranberry Bog in Carlisle, Massachusetts
Welcoming in the Full Moon of September! It is that time of year here in Massachusetts for harvesting cranberries. . .a bright red, local and native fruit that ripens in mid-September through October ushering in that warm and cozy feeling of fall! I have already begun to indulge in cranberry scones and the tart flavor of dried cranberries sprinkled on salads and granola ushering in a new season, as well as cranberry mooncakes!
I have learned that the harvesting of cranberries is also known as “sasumuneash” in Wampanoag, the Algonquian language of the native Wampanoag people from Massachusetts on whose unceded ancestral lands we harvest cranberries from. (Massachusetts continues to be one of the leading cranberry-producing states!). On this special day, elders and youth of the Aquinnah Tribe of the Wampanoag from Martha’s Vineyard harvest cranberries and tell stories around open fires. One such folktale is about how the wild cranberry bogs were created by a great battle between good and evil which devastated the land. The people would have starved had it not been for a bird who dropped a cranberry in the swampy earth which seeded the first cranberry bog. The Wampanoag came to depend on cranberries for survival during the harsh cold winters, as well as for medicine and dye for garments and blankets. This folktale elevates the bird and the cranberry to be vital life-giving and life-sustaining agents, interweaved into their own narrative about their survival as a people.
Glimpses of golds and yellows through the trees, here at Arlington Great Meadows. Autumn is on its way!
As the cranberries are ripening to their crimson red, in my neighborhood I can also witness the bright yellows of late-blooming goldenrod flowers, and the rich yellow and brown hues of dying leaves, with a scattering of red maple leaves. I see a remarkable synchronicity in the colors of this landscape and the vibrant reds and golds that are considered colors of luck, happiness, and joy during a festival of my own heritage: the Mid-Autumn festival which is celebrated in Vietnam (known as Tết Trung Thu) and China also around this time of year. Streets are lined with red and gold lanterns, and the rich brown color of traditional mooncakes eaten on this special day just adds to the similarity!
The Mid-Autumn festival, like the Wampanoag Cranberry celebration, is a harvest festival and originally had taken place on the equinox when daylight and nighttime come into balance. However, recently, it is celebrated on the full moon in September or early October (the eighth lunar month). There are folktales associated with this festival and one that is close to my heart is the story of the Jade Rabbit on the Moon. It is a story about how the Jade Emperor chose a Rabbit, because of his bravery, kindness and empathy, to be the the Keeper of Medicines on the Moon. In the story the particular “Medicine” is the elixir of immortality (a form of powdered Jade which people in ancient times thought could increase longevity, and sometimes illustrations of this folktale show a rabbit pounding a mortar and pestle). However, I like to consider “Medicines” to also include Chinese traditional herbal medicines, treasured gifts from the earth that sustain and prolong life.
Like the Wampanoag folktale of the bird and the cranberries that are important source of life, the folktale of the rabbit on the moon as keeper of medicines, is also a story about a creature of the earth who plays a vital role in sustaining human life. Both folktales reveal our shared human dependence and respect for the gifts of the earth and weave us into relationship with the more-than-human worlds.
Lanterns & Mooncakes!
For Carl Jung, the psychologist who coined the term “synchronicity”, said it refers to when a pattern or similarity is observed in two separate places (or moments in time) that could not have been causal or connected in any way logically. The Greek roots are syn-, "together," and khronos, "time." Jung believed that synchronicity was a way for the universe to communicate with us, and that it held important clues that reveal the interconnectedness of all parts of the world into an emergent whole. Jung equated it with the Chinese concept of Tao, the union of opposites from the complementary pairs of Yin and Yang. It is based on the oneness of humans and the surrounding cosmos. I absolutely love this idea, because I see synchronicities all the time and this particular one of vibrant reds, golds, yellows and browns appearing across the landscape where I live along with a celebration of a creature from the earth whose efforts have contributed to human life both locally and in a faraway land from which my ancestors come from is a beautiful and powerful thing to witness.
A handcrafted linocut print of the Jade Rabbit & Lady on the Moon Chang-e, surrounded by traditional Chinese herbal plants and flowers including: Dong Quai, Astralagus, Ginger, Poppy & Licorice.
Today I take the time to celebrate the Jade Rabbit and the Mid-Autumn festival, while at the same time, honoring the local landscape on which I depend and live and thrive on. You can see in this photo a ceremonial altar including: a handcrafted linocut print of the Jade Rabbit on the moon surrounded by traditional Chinese medicinal flowers and herbs, decorated with local found maple and oak leaves, fresh cranberries, late-blooming goldenrod flowers, acorns and Chinese Mooncakes!
References:
wampanoagtribe-nsn.gov/ancientways
vineyardgazette.com/news/2004/20/08/cranberry-day-celebration-great-spirit
Photo Credits:
Social sharing fall leaves photo: Ashlee Brown on Unsplash
Mooncakes photo: Alison Pang on Unsplash
Red Lanterns: Wu Yi on Unsplash
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Befriending the “monster”, or overcoming one’s fear of the “other”, is a common theme in many folktales where the relationship between the two main characters, one human and the other a wild animal, shifts from one of hunter and prey, to one of parent and child, ancestor and descendant, brother and sister, or lovers. It is a voice from the past that shows up again and again in stories from around the world suggesting that planetary ecological restoration may depend not only on conservation efforts but is, at its heart, a relational job calling for us to re-story ourselves into belonging with the wild.