The document contains questions and answers about an excerpt from the book "Keeper nâ€TM Me". It discusses the importance of land claims to the Anishanabe people, as the land is sacred and connects them to their identity, teachings, and sense of being part of something larger. It also describes a personal ritual performed by the character Garnet, where he spends four days alone in the forest as a way of balancing himself and learning from the land. The document notes how Garnet experiences the sounds of the forest as a musical "orchestra" and "the sounds of creation". Garnet's tobacco offerings are said to symbolize thankfulness and gratitude for life. Finding an eagle feather after making offerings signifies

1. Keeper n’ Me Reading Response Questions #6
1. Why are “land claims” so important to the Anishanabe? (p. 156)
Because they want to protect their connection to the land. The land is the most sacred thing in the
Indian way of seeing, it’s where life comes from, all teachings, and their philosophies that keep
Indians alive comes from the land. If you lose the connection with the land you lose the connection
with yourself. You lose the connection of being apart of something bigger.
2. What is Garnet’s personal ritual? Why does Keeper think this is important? (p. 156, p.
162)
He disappears across the lake in a canoe for four days of living on the land all alone about the same
time every year. It’s a part of learning to use the mother’s gifts and for balancing himself.
3. How does Garnet describe the “music” of the forest? (p. 157)
“I could hear the orchestra of the birds all around me” It was like listening to the sounds of
creation shrugging it’s shoulders and moving back to life again.
4. What do Garnet’s tobacco offerings symbolize? (p. 177)
Thankfulness, Gratitude for things for life all around him. Not just for your home and food but for
being grateful for the world around and for what it has taught you.
5. What is the significance of the eagle feather that Garnet finds after making his
offerings? (p. 179)
It tells him that he has been doing the right thing by learning the teachings. You earn an eagle’s
feather by living right and good. It also meant home for him. For him he finally had a piece of
home that he could take with him everywhere, physically and metaphorically.