Lullaby for Tree/ Une berceuse pour l’arbre

The long winter is just starting to settle in, and in the land I live in, the land of the Anishinaabe, Haudenosaunee and Huron-Wendat, and the First Peoples of the Williams Treaties, we have received two good snow falls recently.  It hasn’t been snow that will stay; it’s almost as if the land is tossing and turning, not quite ready to go to sleep for the winter.  Perhaps a song is needed to help her nod off to dreamland…  

Thinking of the land in this way is an Indigenous Way of Knowing that I have been learning about over the last decade.  The first time I had heard someone talk about the land in this way was when Raven Murphy, an Anishinaabe speaker, visionary, author, musician and teacher, gave a workshop to educators in my school board.  It was a very cold, wet, mucky spring day.  She started her workshop by sharing her perspective that the land wasn’t ready to wake up yet and do the hard, busy work that lay ahead.  This Way of Knowing captured my curiosity; my heart and head were hooked.  And so, I have had my heart, my eyes, and my ears open to learning more about this over the years.  

I learned more from Robin Wall Kimmerer, a mother, scientist, professor, member of the Potawatomi Nation, and an author.  Her book, “Braiding Sweetgrass”, in its entirety, has had a profound impact on me; however, in light of the song I am sharing with you, I will focus on the chapter entitled “The Grammar of Animacy”.  In this chapter, Kimmerer shares her journey of developing her understanding that all living things are animate.  She shares how we have an opportunity to relate differently to all living things when we use language to honor their animacy, rather than reducing them to a ‘thing’ or an ‘it’.  Kimmerer opened a door for me, and I started walking in the land with a new perspective.  I have spent many hours walking and sitting in the land, considering this, and what has been profound for me is the deepening sense of connection and belonging I feel throughout my being as I connect with the land I live in in an intimate way, honouring the animacy of all living things.

A year ago, I began a course to become a Forest School Practitioner with the Child and Nature Alliance of Canada.  This work included learning with Hopi Lovell Martin, of Lenni-Lenape, English, and Eastern European descent, and his teaching bundle.  This experience also led me further along the path of connecting with the land in a new way.  

It was during the time of working with Hopi and his teaching bundle that the song “Lullaby for Tree” was written. The first snowfall of the year had come, and I was considering the question, how would you sing the land to sleep?  Considering how sweetly I sing my children to sleep every night, I contemplated how one might offer that same, sweet intimacy to the land, who has provided for us all year long.  That is the question that tugged at my heart, and when I was driving home one cold, dark, late night, this song landed in my heart; melody and lyrics all at once.

I consider this song to be one of the greatest gifts I have received, and I in turn share it with you.  You may find that you want to listen, maybe learn it and sing along.  You may want to gather the loved ones in your life in the land that you live in, and sing or play the song for them, taking a moment to bask in the sweet, soft, gentleness of the first snowfall.  You may want to consider how you may find your own way to sing the land to sleep.  In our family, this song is now a part of our Winter Solstice Celebration, sung on our annual late night lantern walk, under the cedar grove, alongside the creek that runs through our town.

If I may make two further suggestions, one is to buy and read “Braiding Sweetgrass” by Robin Wall Kimmerer, and give a copy to loved ones on your list this year.  The second is to join Hopi Lovell Martin and his special guests in the “Land as Teacher” webinar series that he is hosting, with the York Region Nature Collaborative.  There is a new teaching broadcast virtually around the new moon of every month.  Hopi is teaching with his teaching bundle, and there is so much for us all to learn.  I hope to ‘see’ you there!

Thank you for reading and sharing in my journey. I hope you enjoy the song, and may the snowflakes fall gently on your face!

Tiiu

NOTE:
French version of song HERE.
Click “Download” to link to downloadable and printable version of lyrics and chords: