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Sugar Moon Season
"May your sap run strong and sweet."
~ Traditional
The Full Moon in March, sometimes known as the Sugar Moon, is usually considered the last Full Moon of winter. It has also been called the Lenten Moon, Crow Moon, Crust Moon, Chaste Moon, Worm Moon, and Sap Moon and marks the beginning of Sugar Maple season. Only three of 13 species of maple trees native to Canada are used for maple syrup - Sugar maples, Black Maples and Red Maples. Indigenous peoples living in northeastern North America were the first groups known to have produced maple syrup and maple sugar, known as Sinsibuckwud is the Algonquin language. According to an Algonquin legend, maple flavour was discovered by a chief who struck a maple tree with his axe. His wife saw the sap dripping from the tree, collected it in a bucket and used it to boil meat, delighting the chief. Aboriginal tribes developed many rituals around sugar-making, including celebrating the Sugar Moon with a Maple Dance. 🍁 🌕
The sugar maple tree (Acer saccharum) is a much loved tree not only for its delicious syrup and value as lumber, but for its amazing fall color. As the seasons change, the leaves turn vibrant shades of yellow, burnt orange and red.
This tartan, designed by Carol A.L. Martin, echoes all the colors of a the changing foliage of a maple tree throughout the year.
Maple trees can live to 200 years and beyond, and some have been tapped for 150 years or more.
Maple syrup, derived from the sap of the sugar maple sap is a very complex combination of water, sugar, minerals, anti-oxidants, and vitamins. “May your sap run strong and sweet” is a common “good luck” saying between sugar makers. First Nations people would leave their year-round settlements and travel to the “sugar bushes” to set up their “sugar camps” for the period of the Maple Moon.
For a delicious treat of Maple Pecan Sticky Buns, click the maple leaves for recipe from Sally's Baking Addiction.
May your sap run strong and sweet this season.