Maine Maple Sunday: a Ritual of the Mainer Civil Religion

 

    Traditionally held on the fourth weekend of every March, locals and the occasional tourist show up to over a hundred local sugarhouses across the state of Maine. A tradition that has been going for forty-three years as of a couple weeks ago, people from all across the state (and outside, too) make the trips to rural shacks, often tucked away on hills or deep in the forest. In the middle of March and with regards to the New England weather, this is no small feat; while the sun peaks out every once in a while, most weekends on the tail end of winter entail icy roads, slush, and a perpetually grey sky in Maine. Most sugarhouses are run by families, many of which are multi-generational. Somehow, the lines and crowds--probably small by any other state's standard--make each sugarhouse that weekend feel like the center of Maine. In reality, the few hands, rurality, and small size of the state are what's truly at hand. People, dressed in all different manners from work clothes and large rubber boots to fancy scarves and coats, all of which have no shortage of plaid, mill around the sugarhouse's grounds. They stare into the steaming vat of sap boiling down, taste the different gradients of syrup, observe the unique historical signage of the particular sugarhouse, eat fresh pancakes off of styrofoam plates, or buy some maple candy and a t-shirt. Most prominently though, visitors and members of the sugarhouse alike talk with a shared collectiveness that almost never appears in day to day life of Maine's residents.

    I spent the first thirteen years of my life in central Maine. When people imagine that environment, often their first thoughts are ones of the touristy forests or the coastline. Yet, so much of the state is a collective of rural towns. While they are few and far between, their size is small. Farming is prominent and there is little to no diversity in race outside of the few cities, if they are even large enough to be considered as such. Over ten percent of the state lives below the poverty line, with that number skewing even more once one moves away from the wealthier parts closer to tourist towns or the Atlantic. Despite this, the state is incredibly diverse in differing views; from religion and politics to the environment and things significantly less trivial, in my eyes. I see this as a product of a wide variety of differing backgrounds and stories combined with New England stubbornness. While parts of all of this are great in their own ways, it truly is a double edged sword in process. For every argument that leads to someone learning something new about an obscure part of Maine culture or a new place to fish, there's always a different event, like people showing up with unconcealed firearms to a local rally. Beyond all of that, though, pride for the state of Maine is a sentiment shared by the vast majority of the population in practice. It isn't always apparent, through the stay-in-your-lane mentality most Mainers shoulder or the rurality and lack of material diversity. Yet, it's a constant if you know where to look, one most apparent during Maine Maple Sundays.

    A theoretical analysis on the whys and hows of Mainers' stance on their state is described by Robert Bellah and his theory on the overarching religion of America itself. From Civil Religion in America, Bellah defines American civil religion as a "public religious dimension that is expressed in a system of beliefs, symbols, and rituals" (Bellah 1967:4) that is separate from a private religion, like Christianity or Judaism. This religion of sorts is fundamentally functional and has its roots in a culture's shared history instead of a traditional theology. From this shared history, a common identity and set of ethical guidelines are created, ones that "[reflect a people's] private as well as public views" (Bellah 1967:8). In a Durkheimian sense, this same overarching religion creates individual solidarity, something vital to a community's collective consciousness. In process, the civil religion is made apparent (and is necessary) from many sources of affirmation of said religion, specifically through rituals and totems. Both define and draw attention to what is sacred and profane in civil religion, as they themselves act as a form of reification to a culture's people. In short, totems and rituals alike are vital. To any out-group, the existence of a civil religion doesn't always make sense and is very apparent; to the in-group, or the people who hold the religion, the existence of the religion is seen as justification in and of itself; they are "largely unaware" (Bellah 1967:15) of their exact situation. 

    In Maine, civil religion shows up in the form of being a Mainer. Maine Maple Sunday exists as a ritual, one that reaffirms the aforementioned religion that is transcendent across the state's community, regardless of specific personal beliefs or private religion. From a Durkheimian point of view, specific Maine totems appear front and center in the ritual that is Maine Maple Sunday, all of which are unsubtle from the outside looking in: the Maine state flags, the breadth of knowledge of trees and sap quality unknown to the majority of America, the often locally sourced blueberries in the homemade pancakes, and the wide variety of the plaid and woolen clothes that are a staple across the state, to name a few. Due to the solitary and individualistic culture of New England, coming together from across rural communities (and farther) reaffirms the unity of being a Mainer with others who understand, despite the often vast amount of personal differences that come up even in the smallest and closest knit of towns. While there are many parts of the state I grew up in that I find myself happy to have left in New England, I still hold a detached part of the civil religion that I grew up with, one that I can't imagine myself without. 

Works Cited:

Bellah, Robert N. 1967. "Civil Religion in America." The MIT Press Vol. 96 (No. 1): 1-21

Jamie. (2021, September 30). Visit a maple sugarhouse in New England: New england bucket list. The Daily Adventures of Me. https://thedailyadventuresofme.com/home/new-england-maple-syrup-tour

Maine Maple Producers Association. (2026, March 12). Maine maple Sunday Weekend. Maine Maple Sunday Weekend. https://mainemapleproducers.com/events/maine-maple-weekend/#!directory/map