The Anishinaabe culture emphasizes the principle of the honorable harvest, which involves showing respect and gratitude towards nature. This practice includes seeking permission before taking anything from the environment, taking only what is needed, and ensuring that resources are left for others and future generations.
In this chapter we learn to take only what is needed, and leave the rest for the future or others. We also learn to be selfless and to make sure we're not the first or last to take something.
The Honorable Harvest covers one of the most essential aspects of Anishinaabe culture, the honorable harvest, which demands someone to recognize and repay whatever takes care of them. The procedure begins with them introducing themselves to (in this case, plants), followed by a request for permission before taking anything. To take only what is needed and then to express gratitude for what has been provided.
Collateral Damage
My take here is how we're all contributing to the destruction of our planet(not intentionally) and it's all mainly because of capitalism. The west focuses on gaining more, or producing more regardless of how it's affecting anything.
Kimmerer talks about the damage we do to our environment as well as to other people. She tells us stories about helping salamanders and frogs cross the road safely on rainy nights, and about the effects of roads on amphibians.
Food Sovereignty
My take here is how if we started adapting to food sovereignty, we would solve a lot of problems, like poverty, hunger, obesity, and climate change.
Food sovereignty is defined differently by different scholars and some scholars define it as "reclaiming the social, political, and personal health Anishinaabe people once had before colonization". The Anishinaabe people were forced to depend on the government during the 19th century after their food supply were destroyed, and are now trying to restore the practice and teachings of food sovereignty.
People Of Corn
My take here is how similar the story of creation is similar to Ibrahimic religions, again, how everything was formed before humans were created, how humans were made out of mud and the people of light being similar to angels. It's interesting to see people continents away having similar stories.
The creators of the world imagined the world by saying its name, then created fauna/flora, trees, animals, etc., but were not satisfied since the things that were created couldn't tell stories, so they created humans out of mud, wood, and light.
Windigo Footprints
What I've learned from this chapter is that we all have a dark side in us whether we like it or not, we need understand it but not let it control us. And if we don't try to recognize it, we won't truly understand ourselves.
The windigo is a mythical creature in the Anishinaabe culture, the creature is a human who turns into a cannibalistic monster. It can reach a height of 10 feet and has long arms and legs and white hair that hangs down. The word can also refer to our own internal hunger or greed, which will only continue to increase if we don't learn to control it.
Skywoman Falling
My take in this chapter is how similar the beginning of the story is to the teachings of Ibrahimic religions(Christianity, Islam, Judaism). How the flood was sent by the Gods to cleanse the world (similarly to the story of Noah and the boat)
To summarize the chapter, here's what happens: A great fluid was sent by gods to cleanse the world, and Skywoman landed on a turtle's back. The animals realized they needed land, so they gathered sand from a muskrat's paws and put it on the turtle's back.
Skywoman Falling was one of the first chapters we read and the chapter was an introduction to The Anishinaabe history. In the Chapter, we learn about how Turtle Island (North America) was formed.
Allegation to Gratitude
My take on this chapter is how Anishinaabe people prioritize giving thanks to the creators everyday. I think we should start adopting that practice and appreciate even the small things we have.
In this chapter, we learn about the morning rituals that is practiced by Anishinaabe people, where they gather to give thanks to everything they’re grateful for.
Defeating the Windigo
The chapter basically talks about defeating the windigo, as we've previously learned, windigo can be used to describe the excessive greed/hunger in people. According to Kimmerer ‘Gratitude is a powerful antidote to Windigo psychosis. It lets us hear the badgering of marketers as the stomach grumblings of a Windigo, and celebrates cultures of regenerative reciprocity.’(pg. 377) Meaning we need to learn to be grateful of what we have at the moment instead of trying to pursue more.
