Etuaptmumk, means two-eyed seeing in Mi’kmaq.
Netukulimk means protecting Mother Earth for the ancestors and for present and future generations.
How do we walk together to see the world through two eyes?
We wait, we listen, and we watch—and things are revealed to us.
Reading Walking Together, written in narrative form by Elder Albert Marshall and Louise Zimanyi, made me feel like I was being taught by an elder as we walked together through nature and noticed what was all around us.
The illustrations by Emily Kewageshig are beautiful brightly coloured native artwork that realistically depict the animals that bring the narrative to life.
We are encouraged to wander, and play, and to share wonder in nature.
The messages of the Lands and Waters are shared to remind us that we are all connected, we are never alone, and we need each other.
In the Afterword of the book, we learn more about leaving Mother Earth a better place than how we found it. Through the Indigenous teachings we learn to look for different ways to know through our two eyes.
“Go into the forest, you see the Birch, Maple, Pine. Look underground and all those trees are holding hands. We as people must do the same.” —Chief Charles Labrador of Acadia First Nation, Nova Scotia
In honour of National Indigenous History Month in Canada and National Indigenous People’s day on June 21st, I’d recommend this beautiful book to help you (re)learn our connection to Mother Earth and it’s creatures.
It’s time to get outside and share your wonder and curiosity with the children in your life.
Helps with: Indigenous History Month, protecting Mother Earth, observing and listening to nature, honouring and embracing the land, animals, and plants as teachers, mindfulness, gratitude, wonder, curiosity, knowing through two-eyes, and Indigenous language revitalization during United Nations Decade of Indigenous Languages (2022 – 2032)
Author: Elder Albert D. Marshall and Louise Zimanyi
Publisher: Annick Press, 2023