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2023-2024 Common Read - Braiding Sweetgrass: Shkitagen: People of the Seventh Fire

 

"We are the ones the ancestors spoke of, the ones who will bend to the task of putting things back together, to rekindle the flames of the sacred fire, to begin the rebirth of a nation." p. 368

Bow Drill

Image courtesy of Wikimedia

Controlled burn to benefit grassland breeding birds at Iroquois National Wildlife Refuge.

U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service - Northeast Region, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Inonotus Obliquus (shkitagen)

Phote by Tomas Čekanavičius, CC BY-SA 3.0 , via Wikimedia Commons

Regrowth after forest fire

Cooper Phyllis, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Reed Warbler's Nest

Image courtesy of Wikimedia

Flag of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation

Xasartha, CC BY-SA 3.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0>, via Wikimedia Commons

Keywords

Aesthetics: A pleasing appearance or effect. (MW)

Atavistic: relating to or characterized by reversion to something ancient or ancestral. (OL)

Convivial: relating to, occupied with, or fond of feasting, drinking, and good company. (MW)

Emulate: to strive to equal or excel, imitate. (MW)

Flora: Plant, bacterial, or fungal life (MW)

Green wood: wood that has been recently cut and therefore has not had an opportunity to season (dry) by evaporation of the internal moisture. (W)

Hardwoods: the wood from a broadleaved tree (such as oak, ash, or beech) as distinguished from that of conifers. (OL)

Indigenous Burning (also known as cultural burning): the traditional practice of planned and controlled use of fire on the landscape by Indigenous peoples for cultural and land management purposes. (BCWS)

Knowledge Keepers: Often taught by elders, or knowledge holders, they hold traditional knowledge, protocols, teachings, stories, and sometimes songs. They know how to care for these gifts and when and when not to share with others. (YA)

Softwoods: the wood from a conifer (such as pine, fir, or spruce) as distinguished from that of broadleaved trees. (OL)

Stipple: (in drawing, painting, and engraving) mark (a surface) with numerous small dots or specks. (OL)

Taiga: a moist subarctic forest dominated by conifers (such as spruce and fir) that begins where the tundra ends.  (MW)

Tinder: a very flammable substance adaptable for use as kindling.  (MW)

Additional Resources

Contact

James A. Cannavino Library

3399 North Road
Poughkeepsie, NY 12601
(845) 575-3106

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