Earth is created cooperatively from animal gifts plus human thanksgiving

Evidence

Skywoman bent and spread the mud with her hands across the shell of the turtle. Moved by the extraordinary gifts of the animals, she sang in thanksgiving and then began to dance, her feet caressing the earth. The land grew and grew as she danced her thanks, from the dab of mud on Turtle’s back until the whole earth was made. Not by Skywoman alone, but from the alchemy of all the animals’ gifts coupled with her deep gratitude. Together they formed what we know today as Turtle Island, our home. — Robin Wall Kimmerer, Braiding Sweetgrass, 27

Categorization

• ADDENDUM: Dancing, singing gratitude as the very act that makes land grow parallels the reciprocity-as-creation logic — relevant to the reader’s eco-justice pedagogy work on gratitude as ethical practice.
• XREF: Reciprocity as the organizing ethic and creation mechanism — the braid hypothesis — anchors the reader’s integrative writing across all four courses. — connects to: Earth gives unasked yet may itself be nourished by our giving — Robin Wall Kimmerer, Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom,…, 353; Ceremonial words of thanks make land and people know each other reciprocally — Robin Wall Kimmerer, Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom,…, 122; The Andean principle ayni requires balanced reciprocal giving to earth and community — , A Year of World Stories, 10687 (+7 more)

Broader Connections

• Andean peoples bound humans, animals, land, and earth in a sacred web of reciprocity #corroborates (0.92) — , A Year of World Stories, 10887
• Earth gives unasked yet may itself be nourished by our giving #corroborates (0.90) — Robin Wall Kimmerer, Braiding Sweetgrass, 353
• Ceremonial words of thanks make land and people know each other reciprocally #exemplifies (0.90) — Robin Wall Kimmerer, Braiding Sweetgrass, 122
• Gifts returned to the land come back as unexpected reciprocal gifts #expands (0.85) — Robin Wall Kimmerer, Braiding Sweetgrass, 979
• The Andean principle ayni requires balanced reciprocal giving to earth and community #corroborates (0.80) — , A Year of World Stories, 10687
• Dene land relations frame reciprocal obligations between humans and nonhumans. #corroborates (0.80) — Max Haiven, Cultures of Financialization, 243
• The Thanksgiving Address obligates humans to live in balance with all living things #qualifies (0.72) — Robin Wall Kimmerer, Braiding Sweetgrass, 369
• Human culture originates in the socially mediated relation between man and nature #corroborates (0.72)