Quebec and Paper from Trees

Week thirteen saw 1,834 pages added to last weeks 37,480 which means the total distanced travelled is now 39,314 kilometers.

So I'm back visiting in Quebec , which means I'm still in the northern forests of the Taiga Shield but this time I'm south-west of the the Robert-Bourassa Reservoir. Once again, if you want to find exactly where I am, visit Goggle Maps and enter "53 N 78 W" to see my new location.

It's very pretty visiting here in the fall because the leaves of the sugar maple and oak trees turn red as well as the yellow and orange of the birch. How many of you have heard of birch-bark-biting? Well here's a bit of information about it from Wikipedia:

Mazinibaganjigan (plural: mazinibaganjiganan) is an ancient folk art made by the Ojibwa (Anishinaabe) by biting down on small pieces of Birch bark to form intricate designs. In some areas, it is also known as ozhibaganjigan(-an).

Using the eye teeth to bite, the bite pressures can either pierce the bark pieces into a lace or just make certain areas thinner to allow for light to pass through. If the bark piece is carefully folded, symmetrical designs can also be made onto it.

Birch bark bitings can be used in storytelling, as patterns for quillwork and beadwork, as well as finished pieces of art.

What other method is there of storytelling? On paper of course! And birch bark has a history of being used as paper in two very different places.

In India the thin bark coming off in winter was used as writing paper and is known as bhoorj patra. Bhoorj is the Sanskrit name of tree and patra means paper.

This bark also has been used widely in ancient Russia as note paper which is called beresta.

Hope you enjoyed learning about birch bark, I know I did. Have a great weekend and keep up the reading during the week!