ãGracias, Madre Tierra!

The Thanksgiving Address of the Haudenosaunee is much more than a poem, a speech, or a prayer: it is a great song of greeting and gratitude for all living beings. It has been recited collectively in the morning over centuries, in a territory that embraces part of the United States and Canada. It is also an inventory of the natural world, in which each element of the ecosystem is given thanks for its contribution to the prodigy of life. We must pay special attention to the original format.