Haudenosaunee Thanksgiving Address: Greetings to the Natural World

Haudenosaunee tradition teaches that peace requires gratitude, starting with gratitude for the living world. Everything people eat and drink comes from the Earth, and the tradition treats that relationship as the ground peace grows from.

At the Onondaga Nation, nearly every social, cultural and political event still begins and ends with the Thanksgiving Address, the “words that come before all else.” The speaker gathers everyone’s minds together to give thanks, one by one, to the people, the earth, the waters, plants, animals, birds, bushes and trees, the winds, the sun, moon and stars, and the unseen spiritual forces. Each greeting ends with the same line: “Now our minds are one.” (This description draws on the Indigenous Values Initiative’s page on the Thanksgiving Address, Ganonhanyonh.)

Many Native American traditions give thanks for the gifts of life, and the Haudenosaunee say these words at gatherings all year round. As you read, think about what in nature you’re thankful for. What is your relationship to the plants, animals, water and air around you?

How the Address goes

The best-known English version was published in 1993 by the Six Nations Indian Museum and The Tracking Project. It is copyrighted, so we don’t reproduce it here. You can read the full text in the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian’s copy.

It opens with the people gathered: “We have been given the duty to live in balance and harmony with each other and all living things.” From there the speaker greets, in order, the Earth, the waters, the fish, the plants, the food plants, the medicine herbs, the animals, the trees, the birds, the four winds, the Thunderers, the Sun, Grandmother Moon, the stars, the enlightened teachers and the Creator. Each section names what that part of the world does for people, and each ends with the same line: “Now our minds are one.”

The closing words leave room for whatever was missed: “Of all the things we have named, it was not our intention to leave anything out.” Anyone listening is invited to give their own thanks in their own way.

Using it as a practice

You don’t need to belong to a tradition to learn from the shape of the Address. It moves slowly from what is closest to us outward, and it doesn’t skip anything because it seems ordinary. Water, food, wind and the people in the room each get named.

Try it yourself. Sit for ten minutes and go through the things that keep you alive today, one at a time, in your own words: the water you drank, the food you ate, the people you depend on. Notice which ones you usually take for granted, and which ones are hard to feel grateful for right now. Both are worth knowing about yourself.

Thanksgiving Address: Greetings to the Natural World. English version: John Stokes and Kanawahienton (David Benedict, Turtle Clan/Mohawk). Mohawk version: Rokwaho (Dan Thompson, Wolf Clan/Mohawk). Original inspiration: Tekaronianekon (Jake Swamp, Wolf Clan/Mohawk). Published in 1993 by the Six Nations Indian Museum and The Tracking Project. All rights reserved by the publishers.