Katie Molho’s Reviews > The Serviceberry: Abundance and Reciprocity in the Natural World > Status Update

“The ceremonial feasts display the wealth of the givers, enhance their prestige, and affirm connections with a web of relations. The gifts received are likely to be given away at the next ceremony, keeping wealth in motion and cementing mutual bonds.”

Gift economies, from the informal to highly ritualized protocols, are known from traditional Indigenous communities around the world. Gatherings of our Potawatomi people often include a
"giveaway," a ceremony meant to reinforce relationships through gift giving.

“When the mother nurses her child, the boundary of the individual self becomes permeable and the common good is the only one that matters. The maternal gift economy is a biological imperative.
There is no meritocracy or earning of sustenance.”

“Recognizing "enoughness" is a radical act in an economy that is always urging us to consume more. Data tell the story that there are
"enough" food calories on the planet for all 8 billion of us to be nourished. And yet people are starving.
Imagine the outcome if we each took only enough, rather than far more than our share.”

“For me, the most important part of the word Bozakmin is "min," the root for "berry." It appears in our Potawatomi words for Blueberry (Minaan), Strawberry (Odemin), Raspberry (Mskadismin), even Apple (Mishiimin), Maize (Mandamin), and Wild Rice (Manomin). That word is a revelation, because it is also the root word for "gift."”

“Calendar plants like serviceberry are important for synchronizing the seasonal rounds of traditional Indigenious People who move in an annual cycle through their homelands to where the foods are ready. Instead of changing the land to suit their convince , they change themselves.”