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Is Thanksgiving a National Myth?
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wolfthinker said:
on November 1, 2009 12:21 PM ET
edited on November 1, 2009 12:30 PM ET
. I celebrate the holiday of Thanksgiving. This may surprise those people who wonder what Native Americans think of this official U.S. celebration of the survival of early arrivals in a European invasion that culminated in the death of 10 to 30 million native people. Thanksgiving to me has never been about Pilgrims. When I was six, my mother, a woman of the Dineh nation, told my sister and me not to sing "Land of the Pilgrim's pride" in "America the Beautiful." Our people, she said, had been here much longer and taken much better care of the land. We were to sing "Land of the Indian's pride" instead. I was proud to sing the new lyrics in school, but I sang softly. It was enough for me to know the difference. At six, I felt I had learned something very important. As a child of a Native American family, you are part of a very select group of survivors, and I learned that my family possessed some "inside" knowledge of what really happened when those poor, tired masses came to our homes. . When the Pilgrims came to Plymouth Rock, they were poor and hungry -- half of them died within a few months from disease and hunger. When Squanto, a Wampanoag man, found them, they were in a pitiful state. He spoke English, having traveled to Europe, and took pity on them. Their English crops had failed. The native people fed them through the winter and taught them how to grow their food. These were not merely "friendly Indians." They had already experienced European slave traders raiding their villages for a hundred years or so, and they were wary -- but it was their way to give freely to those who had nothing. Among many of our peoples, showing that you can give without holding back is the way to earn respect. Among the Dakota, my father's people, they say, when asked to give, "Are we not Dakota and alive?" It was believed that by giving there would be enough for all -- the exact opposite of the system we live in now, which is based on selling, not giving. . To the Pilgrims, and most English and European peoples, the Wampanoags were heathens, and of the Devil. They saw Squanto not as an equal but as an instrument of their God to help his chosen people, themselves. Since that initial sharing, Native American food has spread around the world. Nearly 70 percent of all crops grown today were originally cultivated by Native American peoples. I sometimes wonder what they ate in Europe before they met us. Spaghetti without tomatoes? Meat and potatoes without potatoes? And at the "first Thanksgiving" the Wampanoags provided most of the food -- and signed a treaty granting Pilgrims the right to the land at Plymouth, the real reason for the first Thanksgiving. What did the Europeans give in return? Within 20 years European disease and treachery had decimated the Wampanoags. Most diseases then came from animals that Europeans had domesticated. Cowpox from cows led to smallpox, one of the great killers of our people, spread through gifts of blankets used by infected Europeans. Some estimate that diseases accounted for a death toll reaching 90 percent in some Native American communities. . By 1623, Mather the elder, a Pilgrim leader, was giving thanks to his God for destroying the heathen savages to make way "for a better growth," meaning his people. In stories told by the Dakota people, an evil person always keeps his or her heart in a secret place separate from the body. The hero must find that secret place and destroy the heart in order to stop the evil. I see, in the "First Thanksgiving" story, a hidden Pilgrim heart. The story of that heart is the real tale than needs to be told. What did it hold? Bigotry, hatred, greed, self-righteousness? We have seen the evil that it caused in the 350 years since. Genocide, environmental devastation, poverty, world wars, racism. Where is the hero who will destroy that heart of evil? I believe it must be each of us. Indeed, when I give thanks this Thursday and I cook my native food, I will be thinking of this hidden heart and how my ancestors survived the evil it caused. Because if we can survive, with our ability to share and to give intact, then the evil and the good will that met that Thanksgiving day in the land of the Wampanoag will have come full circle. And the healing can begin. Jacqueline Keeler is a member of the Dineh Nation and the Yankton Dakota Sioux. Her work has appeared in Winds of Change, an American Indian journal.
http://www.alternet.org/story/4391/
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i've noticed the past few years that thanksgiving is becoming sort of a forgotten holiday. just another day off from work or school that falls somewhere between halloween and christmas.
and let's not forget going to bed very early on thanksgiving night only to get up at 3 a.m. to fight the maddening crowds to get the best deal on all the christmas gifts that the advertising people think we need.
i am working this thanksgiving, as i generally do every year. healthcare does not take a day off. my son/family and i will get together for dinner that friday.
whether it's on the holiday or any other day, it's nice to get together with family and friends to celebrate and be thankful for what we have.
Reply to Post
Beautiful words, Lu! Profound. Caring. Thank you for them.
This country has a lot to be thankful for, especially considering the people who truly brought it to fruition.
The American Indian, who was forced to take on a new religion, and language, forced to give up their land, and live like cattle on a ranch, with no chance to rebuild.
The Black man, who was forced onto ships, and live a subhuman life, at the beck and call of rich white landowners.
The China man, who came for a better life, then ended up working on the railroad, He was owned by the company building the railroad, he was belittled, tormented, and made fun of for his customs.
The Italian, who thought this was the promised land, As soon as he got off the boat, He had the letters **** stamped on his head, ( with out papers) and was put in the coal mines, also owned by the company store, most of them died from the coal dust before their children were even raised.
And lets not forget the "average" white man, just trying to scrape out a living in the dust bowls, fighting the weather, the insects, and the trying to hold onto their land, fighting the railroad companies, mining companies, and rich land barons.
And then we had the Orphan Trains, where these little children , who's parents had died, because of there dream
for a new life in America, and the children who were put on this train, by other countries, because they had no parents to care for them in their own country, they were sent into serfdom. where they lived and died, because it was impossible to buy their way out.
All of these people, from every country, were abused, and belittled, and suffered great humiliation.
And now look at us, I am a proud, Greek, American Cree, German, and Irish person.
and in my family, I believe I can find someone, of just about every nationality there is.
We range in color from red, to black, to yellow, to brown, to white.
THIS is what we have to be grateful for, the sad beginnings of the majority of people in this Nation, are what has united us, and made us the best Nation in the world,
We might not always like the direction our leaders take us, but our past has made us strong, and we have the freedom to change what we don't like.
What a wonderful gift. Giving is receiving, don't you think?
We have family gatherings, harvest celebrations, or it is ok to do nothing at all. This year, I am watching my diet, so I will give instead of receiving. Being in school this semester, I can't visit the reservations, so I'll serve in a soup kitchen.
edited on November 1, 2009 02:38 PM ET
Its typical of people to re-invent history and want to make it better than sometimes it actually is. The USA consists of human beings who are not perfect so we shall find that the country has never been perfect nor will it ever be.
But the article is entertaining and informative and I liked it.
The way I celebrate Thanksgiving has changed from the time I was a child, through adulthood and into my senior years. Nothing in my life has ever stayed the same and for someone who doesn't like change, its not always been well received by me.
Thank you for the heartfelt post. What are some of the ways you celebrate or not, the Thanksgiving holidays? If you have any particular stories, prayers, please post them in the group forum or group journal. It would be an honor to have them here.
edited on November 1, 2009 01:29 PM ET
No good deed goes unpunished.
As the child of Native Americans, this lesson of American Indian pride was often taught to me along with the lesson of respect for all nations. We were all made in the image of the Creator, and were born with free will. As an adult, I still marvel at the wisdom and capacity for love and forgiveness in my people. The elders of all nations knew that the winds of change were coming. No one could have imagined the horrors that ensued, but we knew it was time to evolve to the next level.
In preparation for this change, our inipi's were turned to face the east, so that when the winds of the west came, we would survive this new beginning. We are still standing. We still have our traditions and our medicine. And, we are still healing from our wounds.
Even with the massive amount of mental and physical damage done to our nation, our sanity through the senior years have remained in tact. While the rates of geriatric suicide for white men is projected to be 48% by year 2020, the rate is 9% for American Indian man and 0% for American Indian women. Our cultural values have sustained us. The same love that we gave the Pilgrams has been our saving grace.
And still, we celebrate and honor the 4 nations, red, white, black and yellow.
