Reciprocity: a Value System

Reciprocity.

If you’ve read Robin Wall Kimmerer’s books this is a familiar word/phrase. Simply put, it’s giving a gift for a gift. But if you truly want to embody the concept, it’s not simple; it extends beyond politeness and good manners to a deep sense of responsibility for your community, based on unbounded mutual exchange.

You are not giving because you’re expecting something in return.  You exist in generosity and gratitude because that’s who you are as a person.

And “community” isn’t just your human relatives, but your plant, animal, and mineral relatives as well.  Every sunset is an opportunity for reflection on the blessings bestowed upon your little human life that day.  Every sunrise is a clean slate; another chance at a new day to be kind and generous to your community.

Yesterday I beat the sunrise to the grass here in Tom Miner Basin (southwestern Montana at the edge of Yellowstone NP: the aboriginal territories of the Crow (Apsáalooke), Shoshone (Newi), Salish (Séliš), Blackfeet (Niitsitapi), Nez Perce (Nimi'ipuu), and Kootenai (Ktunaxa)).  I thanked the day for the fridged temperatures and cloudy skies which gave me the opportunity to pause fieldwork while the bees nestled themselves away to avoid the wind and cold.

I glanced the forecast a few days ago and excitedly filled an agenda: Yellowstone First People’s Celebration Cultural Tour, Tribal Art Market, Chico Hotsprings, Bozeman First Friday Art Walk.

The whole day was flawless, but the “Cultural Tour” was the highlight. We met Amskapi Pikuni (Blackfeet) sisters Carrie Lynn (Catch Them Again Woman) and Lailani (Bear Chief) as the morning rays struck the Mammoth travertine terraces.  What transpired over the next few hours was nothing short of sacred (to me).

As we hiked along the “Beaver Ponds” trail Lailani and Carrie Lynn delighted and moved us with stories, prayers, and songs.  As we meandered into the forest the small group dynamic deepened.  We all held space for each other to listen and learn, to pose hard questions, to ask advice, to adjust our view, to absorb answers.  

I was overwhelmed with gratitude to be able to talk about my work and talk about what it’s like to live with the land every day; to talk about the reverence that I have for buffalo and talk about how I feel like the buffalo are my family with women who know exactly how I feel.

Right then and there a community was formed with the people, the logs and ground we sat on, and the nearby trees, the trail, the flowers, the leaves, and the bumble bees. Our little community was tied together with threads of welled-up tears, laughter, belonging, reverence, and reciprocity.  

Today I’m bringing you along with us for “International Day of the World's Indigenous Peoples.”  Let’s celebrate!  

Here are a few suggestions…

  • Check out Lailani’s website Iron Sheild Creative, where you can find where to follow her on social media, join one of her cultural tours, and learn about her work.

  • Find Lailani and Carrie Lynn’s “Sasquatch Aunties” YouTube channel here, you read that right – BIGFOOT!!

  • A friend of mine from the Women in Ranching community, Chiara Hollender, is one of the creators behind the PBS series, “Women of the Earth,” the first episode, “How Reviving Buffalo Could Revive a Way of Life,” is out now.  Watch here (it’s only 17 minutes).   

  • Purchase the little book, The Serviceberry, by Robin Wall Kimmer from your local bookshop.

  • Read (or listen) to a shorter version of the book, in essay form, “The Serviceberry: An Economy of Abundance” here.

  • Check out the “Indigenous Led” podcast, specifically (my favorite) episode two: Braded Science.

  • Also check out the “Indigenous Led” website for scientific resources here.

  • Go outside, sit on the ground, put on your headphones and listen to “Blackfeet Flag Song” by (Blackfeet) Amskapi Pikuni tribal member Arlan Edwards, grandson of Blackfeet Chief Earl Old person.

  • Learn a new phrase or word of the language from the first people who were where you currently sit, or where you grew up. 

  • Here are my new favorite Amskapi Pikuni (Blackfeet) words:

    • Oki: Hello, greetings

    • Iikaakiimaat: Try hard, persevere

    • Iinnii: Buffalo, bison

  • Here are some words that I remember from growing up in Southeast Alaska (Haida, Tsimshian, Tlingit):

    • Skookum: Strong, impressive

    • Kushtaka: A shapeshifting demon trickster up to no good

    • Yáahl: Raven

Thank you for reading and celebrating the day with me!

“Humankind has not woven the web of life. We are but one thread within it.

Whatever we do to the web, we do to ourselves. All things are bound together. All things connect.”

 - Chief Seattle / Si’alh, Leader of the Suquamish and Duwamish Native American Tribes

Sarah Red-LairdComment