Thanks to the Maple [Hardcover]

Thanks to the Maple is from American anthropologist Lewis Henry Morgan's important 1851 workLeague of the Iroquoisin which he wrote of the complexity of Iroquois society. Thanks to the Maple describes in great detail the Iroquois first festival of spring, also called the Maple Dance. This significant annual ritual celebrated the rising of the sap in maple trees, and included speeches, dancing, games, and a great feast. According to Morgan, it was a festive day, awakening the eagerness of expectation in the minds of all.

This short work is part of Applewood'sAmerican Rootsseries, tactile mementos of American passions by some of America's most famous writers and thinkers. Along Parish Road in the small town of Worthington, Massachusetts, where my family has a cabin, more than a century ago stagecoaches sped up a hill that is now covered in mature maples. At the turn of the dirt road, in the corner of our gravel driveway, rutted with the run-off of spring, are the remains of a maple houserusting buckets, the rusted remains of a tub, and a few foundation stones to mark its location. Each spring, I go there to turn on the water, although March is often too early to trust that the weather wont turn wintry and freeze the pipes. But the maples, feeling their powerful potency after a long winter, pump their sweet lifeblood through their veins. It is a time of great celebration after a long winter. And who doesnt enjoy the sweet results? Phil Zuckerman, Publisher