Sweetgrass is simultaneously a plant relative, medicine, and material for craft

Evidence

Our stories say that of all the plants, wiingaashk, or sweetgrass, was the very first to grow on the earth, its fragrance a sweet memory of Skywoman’s hand. Accordingly, it is honored as one of the four sacred plants of my people. Breathe in its scent and you start to remember things you didn’t know you’d forgotten. Our elders say that ceremonies are the way we “remember to remember,” and so sweetgrass is a powerful ceremonial plant cherished by many indigenous nations. It is also used to make beautiful baskets. Both medicine and a relative, its value is both material and spiritual. — Robin Wall Kimmerer, Braiding Sweetgrass, 29

Categorization

• DEFINE: Frames ‘remember to remember’ — the ceremonial definition of indigenous epistemology — as the core purpose of sweetgrass use.
• ADDENDUM: ‘Both medicine and a relative, its value is both material and spiritual’ — directly extends the Grafting & Growth article’s treatment of plants as more-than-utility relations and underused living materials (here as basket fiber, not just wood).