Ambivalent holidays
They call it Thanksgiving, and it’s the beginning of the retail gold rush. The global merchant class from Beijing to Geneva start to salivate in anticipation of the consumers in the world’s most advanced economy giving up their hard-earned cash in exchange for trinkets from Taiwan, chocolates from Switzerland, wines from France, and cars from Germany.
The folks from Madison Avenue have their hands in the game as well of course, convincing us that trinkets are a genuine expression of love.
Native Americans have always had a somewhat ambivalent relationship with the holiday, considering that after being welcomed and fed by the local Native American population the so-called “pilgrims” embarked on a program of murder, rape and genocide against those very same people.
Indeed, in less then 100 years, Massachusetts Bay Colony would be offering a bounty on Indian scalps. Forty pounds sterling for the scalp of an Indian male, and twenty pounds for the scalp of an Indian female, or a child under 12 years old.
It is little wonder that American Indians take the colonial claims to being religious and civilized with more than a little salt.
But the giving of thanks, and setting aside a time to do so, is a fundamental part of Native culture and has always been so. Giving thanks to the Deity has been a part of human culture and experience since long before Abraham or Melchizedek, since the very dawn of time, since the days of Adam and Kanati, humans have sought to give thanks and to fellowship with their creator and with each other.
The Indigenous peoples of Turtle Island (the Americas), have celebrated thanksgiving festivals at various times for at least 8,000 years. That is when they say that corn was first domesticated. Since that time corn has been the foundation and cornerstone of many native cultures and the traditions of celebration and thanksgiving to the Deity around the time of harvest developed concurrently with the development of settled and civilized societies that corn made possible.
Depending on their particular political philosophy, many Native Americans celebrate the holiday called Thanksgiving with public protests, or with private ceremonies of remembrance for the ancestors sacrificed on the altar of a strange god the colonials called Manifest Destiny. For others, it is perhaps a time to simply give thanks for survival.
Regardless of how one addresses the many conundrums that inevitably accompany any discussion of history from a Native American perspective, it is worth remembering that the time is a time of feasting and fellowship. And irrespective of one’s religious persuasion or cultural background, we all share at our foundation a tradition of feasts at harvest time and of thanksgiving to the Deity. As to the feasting part, let us remember that the traditional thanksgiving menu was brought to you by the American Indian.
Without the American Indian there would be no turkey. Without the American Indian there would be no potatoes, mashed or otherwise. Without the American Indian there would be no cornbread stuffing. And without the American Indian there would be no chocolate.
The contribution made by Native Americans to the world’s daily diet is probably one the most overlooked in the history of men. We remember who invented gunpowder, we remember who invented dynamite, we remember who invented the cannon. And every school child is taught about the guy who invented the atom bomb. But no one ever talks about who put the food in your belly.
During this time of fellowship and thanksgiving take a moment to reflect, and maybe give thanks, to the native woman who, almost 9,000 years ago, brought you the corn for your cornbread stuffing, and the potatoes too, for that matter. Take a moment to remember the native man who brought you the cacao that makes the chocolate that goes in your peppermint mocha.
Let us truly give thanks to the Deity and celebrate in fellowship and peace. Break bread as brethren. And remember, if you ate today, thank an Indian.