Trillium Guide Service

Day hikes, kayaking, paddleboarding, nature photography, waterfalls, and outdoor adventures.

06/03/2024

The legend of the Moccasin Flower, as the Lady Slipper is sometimes called. Long before this beauty was ever called the Lady Slipper, Indigenous People spoke about the Moccasin Flower. This tale was apparently passed orally over time so has different variations.

There is an old Ojibwa legend (Indigenous People from the Great Lakes area US/Canada) that begins in the depths of winter, when an Ojibwa village experienced a plague where many people fell terribly ill. A brave young woman ran barefoot through the snow to the next village to get medicine for all the sick people. While she did succeed in procuring the essential medicine, trouble followed. In her haste to return on her journey home she somehow lost her moccasins in the deep snow. With frozen bloodied feet she collapsed in a snowbank but luckily was found alive. The next spring where her footprints had touched the land as she ran through the snow, beautiful “Moccasin Flowers” grew ….a reminder of her bravery.

Another way to look at the lovely pink orchids popping up along the trails. A reminder that many moccasins likely touched the ground as the Mi’kmaq, Maliseet, Passamaquoddy, Penobscot, Wabanaki People of the Dawn headed to their summer grounds (along the coast) from their wooded winter camps further inland.

May the Moccasin Flowers be left undisturbed so future generations will also be touched by their beauty!