Ricing stick

{{Short description|Agricultural tool}}

File:Chippewa wild rice harvesting.jpg of Chippewa Indians, in the Bad River Bend of Lake Superior in Wisconsin.]]

File:Manoomin picking, 1905, Minnesota.jpg

A ricing stick ({{Langx|oj|bawa'iganaak}} (singular), {{Langx|oj|bawa'iganaakoog|label=none}} (plural){{Cite web |editor-last=Livesay |editor-first=Nora |editor2-last=Nichols |editor2-first=John D. |title=bawa'iganaak (na) |url=https://ojibwe.lib.umn.edu/main-entry/bawa-iganaak-na |access-date=2023-05-19 |website=The Ojibwe People's Dictionary |publisher=University of Minnesota}}), also known as a flail, knocking stick,{{Cite web |last=Bowe |first=Nathan |date=2015-09-09 |title=At camp, people learn the traditional Ojibwe ways of harvesting, processing wild rice |url=https://www.dl-online.com/news/at-camp-people-learn-the-traditional-ojibwe-ways-of-harvesting-processing-wild-rice |access-date=2023-05-19 |website=Detroit Lakes Tribune |language=en}} or rice knocker, is an agricultural hand tool used for threshing wild rice.{{Cite web |date=2022-03-28 |title=A River Knock {{!}} Wisconsin Sea Grant |url=https://www.seagrant.wisc.edu/blog/a-river-knock/ |access-date=2023-05-19 |language=en-US}}{{Cite web |date=2023-02-15 |title=The future of wild rice may depend on an unlikely alliance |url=https://thefern.org/2023/02/the-future-of-wild-rice-may-depend-on-an-unlikely-alliance/ |access-date=2023-05-19 |website=Food and Environment Reporting Network |language=en-US}}{{Cite web |title=Wild Rice Harvest |url=https://www.nature.org/en-us/magazine/magazine-articles/ojibwe-wild-rice-harvest/ |access-date=2023-05-19 |website=The Nature Conservancy |language=en-US}}{{Cite web |last=Pember |first=Mary Annette |date=September 30, 2020 |title=‘Manoomin will carry you through’: The healing power of the annual wild rice harvest transcends the pandemic |url=https://www.indianz.com/News/2020/09/30/indian-country-today-ojibwe-people-carry-on-wild-rice-tradition-amid-covid-19/ |access-date=May 19, 2023 |website=Indian Country Today}}

Ricing sticks have been traditionally used by Anishinaabe peoples of the Great Lakes region.{{Cite web |title=Traditional Harvesting and Finishing |url=https://www.1854treatyauthority.org/wild-rice/traditional-harvesting-and-finishing.html |access-date=2023-05-19 |website=www.1854treatyauthority.org}} The ricing sticks are used to harvest wild-growing rice by knocking the ripened grains off of the stalks of rice. This harvesting is typically performed by canoe—as the plants grow partially submerged in shallow water—and the sticks are used to knock the rice into the canoe or a collection vessel. Any stick can be used, but ricing sticks are normally tapered, blunt sticks, sometimes with a flattened end, with a thicker end, sometimes lined in cloth, meant to be held in the hand.{{Cite web |title=When Everybody Called Me Gabe-bines, "Forever-Flying-Bird": Teachings from Paul Buffalo |url=https://www.d.umn.edu/cla/faculty/troufs/Buffalo/PB14.html |access-date=2023-05-19 |website=www.d.umn.edu}} Ricing sticks can be used two at a time, one in each hand, while a companion rows the canoe.{{Cite web |last=Milgroom |first=Jessica |title=Wild Rice and the Ojibwe |url=https://www.mnopedia.org/thing/wild-rice-and-ojibwe |access-date=2023-05-19 |website=MNopedia |publisher=Minnesota Historical Society}}

While the tool has ancient roots, it continues to be utilized in modern society, even by non-indigenous people, and use of ricing sticks on public or tribal lands is often regulated.{{Cite web |date=2014-08-24 |title=A hard day of ricing makes the beer go down easy |url=https://www.mprnews.org/story/2014/08/24/side-hustle-ricing |access-date=2023-05-19 |website=MPR News |language=en}}{{Cite web |last=Press |first=Aaron Ogg {{!}} The Grand Rapids |date=2010-09-12 |title=Campers pay homage to American Indian tradition of gathering wild rice |url=https://www.mlive.com/outdoors/2010/09/campers_pay_homage_to_american.html |access-date=2023-05-19 |website=mlive |language=en}} For example, in Minnesota, wild rice on public land can be harvested only using hand-operated ricing sticks which must be "round, smooth wood no longer than 30 inches and weigh no more than one pound."{{Cite web |title=Wild Rice Regulations |url=https://www.dnr.state.mn.us/regulations/wildrice/index.html |access-date=2023-05-19 |website=Minnesota Department of Natural Resources |language=en}} According to the 1854 Treaty Authority Ceded Territory Code, ricing sticks must be “round, smooth cedar, no longer than 32-inch,” while in Wisconsin, they can be up to 38 inches.