Quotes from Braiding Sweetgrass

Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants

by Robin Wall Kimmerer

Milkweed Editions, Minneapolis, Minnesota, 2013         390 pages

“I could hand you a braid of sweetgrass, as thick and shining as the plait that hung down my grandmother’s back. But it is not mine to give, nor yours to take. Wiingaashk belongs to herself. So I offer, in its place, a braid of stories meant to heal our relationship with the world. It is an intertwining of science, spirit, and story, . . . a pharmacopoeia of healing stories that allow us to imagine a different relationship, in which people and land are good medicine for each other.” (p. x)

That is how Robin Wall Kimmerer introduces her book, Braiding Sweetgrass. Robin is a mother, scientist, decorated professor, and enrolled member of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation.

The first story she offers is:  Skywoman Falling

“She fell like a maple seed, pirouetting on the autumn breeze. A column of light streamed from a hole in the Skyworld, marking her path where only darkness had been before. In fear, or maybe hope, she clutched a bundle tightly in her hand.”

The animals made generous sacrifices to assist this helpless human.

“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, 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.

Like any good guest, Skywoman had not come empty-handed. In her grasp were branches—fruits and seeds of all kinds of plants. These she scattered onto the new ground and carefully tended each one. Wild grasses, flowers, trees, and medicines spread everywhere.

It was through her actions of reciprocity, the give and take with the land, that the original immigrant became indigenous. For all of us, becoming indigenous to a place means living as if your children’s future mattered, to take care of the land as if our lives, both material and spiritual, depended on it.

I like to imagine that when Skywoman scattered her handful of seeds across Turtle Island, she was sowing sustenance for the body and also the mind, emotion, and spirit: she was leaving us teachers. The plants can tell us her story; we need to learn to listen.” (pp. 3-10)

-- quotes submitted by Fred C.

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