A Great Deal to Teach: The Endurance of Culture and Spiritualism In Indigenous Nations

Introduction

I want to thank Henry, Lida, and Lisa most of all for struggling with me. And I think you know what that is all about.

We have gathered together, so our cycle continues. We are given the duty to live in harmony with one another and other living things. Our people still share the knowledge, and the new faces are coming towards us. For this we give thanks for mankind in mind, health, and spirit.

The mother earth-she has given us strength in health; she supports our feet as she was instructed. The women and mother earth are one: givers of life. We are her color, her flesh, and her roots. Once we acknowledge and respect her role, a true relationship begins. All that is from her returns to her: the plant life; the medicine plants; the strawberries; the three sisters, corn, beans, and squash; the bodies of the water.

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