My Thoughts on Reciprocity
On this beautiful spring day, I’m grateful for the warmth offered to us by Grandfather Sun. It makes me mindful of an Indigenous value that has stood the test of time, the concept of reciprocity. It is one of the most beautiful Indigenous ways of being that we can all learn and benefit from, as we strive for more harmonious relations with each other and with Mother Earth. Whenever Indigenous people take something from Mother Earth, they offer something in return. For example, when we harvest berries or sweetgrass or anything else from the land, we start by offering tobacco and prayers to the land. When we hunt, we thank the animals who offer themselves to us by giving them tobacco as well and praying for their spirit. This also extends to how we live with each other. When we ask an elder for advice, to pray for us or to find us a spiritual name through ceremony, we first present them with tobacco and a gift. In Dene communities, when a child is born, they are linked to an older person in the community. That older person is then in charge of teaching the child as it grows. Once the child is grown, they are responsible to care for the elderly person including bringing them food, clothing and helping them with what they need.
Different nations would also honour this value when they would trade with each other, exchanging goods that were sometimes difficult to obtain, offering food when that nation was struggling to survive or trading to build trust and stronger relationships. Within communities, families would help each other with large tasks such as buffalo hunts and share the meat. The trading of goods in this way assisted the development of various Indigenous arts. Different types of paints would not have been available in certain regions. Red clay used to make sacred pipes was only sourced from a few holy sites which were often far away. Also, different shells and beads made from bone used to decorate clothing and sacred objects would often be traded and hold high value.
However, reciprocity is more than just a simple trading of goods. It is a spiritual acknowledgement that we are grateful for the gifts that we receive, that we are all related and that we care for each other. We offer reciprocity to all of our relatives including our two-legged relatives, our four-legged relatives, the winged ones, all that crawl and swim, the earth, the water, and the air.
If we all embraced this concept of reciprocity, and tried to apply it in our lives, the world would be a different place. If people saw themselves as related to all living things and started protecting them as their family, there would be no more war, no more environmental devastation, no more racism, better sharing of earth’s resources. We would have stronger communities living more sustainably and in better harmony together.
