Ceremonial words of thanks make land and people know each other reciprocally

Evidence

I was pretty sure that no other family I knew began their day like this, but I never questioned the source of those words and my father never explained. They were just part of our life among the lakes. But their rhythm made me feel at home and the ceremony drew a circle around our family. By those words we said “Here we are,” and I imagined that the land heard us—murmured to itself, “Ohh, here are the ones who know how to say thank you.” — Robin Wall Kimmerer, Braiding Sweetgrass, 122

Categorization

• DEFINE: The imagined land-voice ‘here are the ones who know how to say thank you’ is the book’s compact definition of the human role in reciprocity: to be the ones who give thanks.
• XREF: connects to: Earth is created cooperatively from animal gifts plus human thanksgiving — Robin Wall Kimmerer, Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom,…, 27; Ceremony reawakens knowledge and the land recognizes even a lost person — Robin Wall Kimmerer, Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom,…, 129; Ceremony is a vehicle for belonging to family, people, and land — Robin Wall Kimmerer, Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom,…, 133 (+3 more)

Broader Connections

• Gifts returned to the land come back as unexpected reciprocal gifts #corroborates (0.85) — Robin Wall Kimmerer, Braiding Sweetgrass, 979