November 24, 2022
Thanksgiving
Robin Wall Kimmerer is the author of Gathering Moss and Braiding Sweetgrass. Robin is a mom, member of the Potawatami Nation, and professor of Environmental Science at SUNY college of Forestry in Syracuse, NY. As founding director of the Center for Native Peoples and the Environment, she and her students collaberate with tribal partners. Their mission is to restore ecological and cutural significance of plants and all living things working toward protections of land and human relationship in these ecological communities.
Below is a quotation from Braiding Sweetgrass I wanted to share with you today, Thanksgiving 2022.
I am grateful for all of you, family, friends, this life and this world we inhabit.
“Today we have gathered and when we look upon the faces around us we see that the cycles of life continue. We have been given the duty to live in balance and harmony with each other and all living things. So now let us bring our minds together as one as we give greetings and thanks to each other as People. Now our minds are one. . . .
We are thankful to our Mother the Earth, for she gives us everything that we need for life. She supports our feet as we walk about upon her. It gives us joy that she still continues to care for us, just as she has from the beginning of time. To our Mother, we send thanksgiving, love, and respect. Now our minds are one. . . .
We now turn our thoughts to the Creator, or Great Spirit, and send greetings and thanks for all the gifts of Creation. Everything we need to live a good life is here on Mother Earth. For all the love that is still around us, we gather our minds together as one and send our choicest words of greetings and thanks to the Creator. Now our minds are one.”
Good Thanksgiving Day to you,
Leslie