“To All My Relations”
I’ve come to hear the Lakota prayer “Mitákuye Oyás’iŋ” (All Are Related or All My Relations) often as I’ve delved deeper into the work that connects me to ancestral wisdom — and frankly as I continue to explore my mestizo identify more since childhood. The prayer holds great simplicity, truth, and power much like the Maya “In Lak’ech Ala K’in.”
While acknowledging its proper use and being aware of how it should be used, and by whom, I also acknowledge the depth of impact it has had on me — especially in navigating my identity and place in this modern world.
One specific area and example is my thinking about the role and relationships we have with animals, and they with us. It has pushed me beyond thinking how we may consider a pet a “family member” and how we expand that into understanding familial relationships with all animals and our ecosystem at large.
This is beyond simple anthropomorphism or personification. There is plenty of that in our daily lives and culture. It is closer to empathy but rooted in ancestral knowledge that also acknowledges the sacredness, sacrifice, and honoring in relation to animals, especially when they are also consumed.
To me this came first hand in Mexico dealing with the awkwardness of how, even though I did have a dog as a pet, I also grew up with chickens, cows, and other animals that I treated as pets and friends — -but that were ultimately also raised for production or consumption. I recall one of the first times a chicken I grew up with was killed for a caldo. I was shocked and I certainly didn’t have the language for it back then. I didn’t know how to honor its life for what it was providing. That has become so crucial to me now in these modern times of how nature can be removed from us — it’s not just the presence and access of green spaces but that of the relationship with the living entities that form it. Our “Vitamin N” and our “Nutrient R.”
Thus, the moments I have consumed meat, I think back. I think back in terms of my childhood to the many times an animal I grew up was killed to feed the family. I think farther back to the ceremony and sacredness of how many indigenous communities honored that which they took because they were in familial relationship with all the beings in nature. Although use and utilitarian practices were there, care came first. Love preceded use.
I extend that to the wildlife I observe, be it the bird outside my window or the ground squirrel outdoors. They’re living their lives as I’m living mine. How are we impacting each other? How do I recognize that? How do I ensure I do not fall into a pitfall of binary separation and otherness? You may think it is too many questions to hold in mind for any time I encounter an animal, but I think the lack of having them is what has caused such harm — forgetting that growing up with animals changes us, expands our empathy, and reminds us of how special, and ancient, those connections are. They continue to help ground us in our re-connection with nature.
C/S
