A New Thanksgiving
Think about what you were taught about Thanksgiving. For many, this can include hand-turkeys, funny pilgrim costumes, and the idea of a giant table surrounded on all sides by both natives and pilgrims alike. Every year, we invite our extended family over and enjoy a variety of dishes. In some ways, the origin of Thanksgiving is forgotten. It’s become a tradition of family, the way Christmas has become commercialized. To some, it’s best that false histories are shrouded by grand feasts. The story often goes that Native Americans met the settlers in the 1600s and taught them how to survive in America before having an enormous dinner.
The reality is that Native Americans met settlers prior to this, and their interactions were not always peace and love. There were various tribes, so to assume that every single one allied with white settlers would be a lie. What continued between tribes and settlers was political. It’s a romantic idea to believe that alliances happened through the power of friendship but what actually motivated them was years of trying to survive colonization (and maybe some conflicts with neighboring tribes). There was also, of course, the lure of trade and the subsequent bloodshed that followed when the trade began to include the natives themselves, who were often tricked into enslavement.
An article from The Atlantic explains why Wampanoags accepted peace with the English: “...as Plymouth’s William Bradford and Edward Winslow recounted, ‘he has a potent adversary in the Narragansetts, that are at war with him, against whom he thinks we may be of some strength to him, for our pieces’—guns—’are terrible to them.’” This idea of friendship brought on through pilgrim accounts of the events was actually a play by both sides.
The false retelling of Thanksgiving is harmful in portraying Native Americans throughout history as subservient people when these were their realities. Diseases brought by settlers nearly wiped out their population and the King Philip’s war resulted with Metacomet, sachem to the Wampanoag people, being beheaded and dismembered, with his head impaled on display for anyone to see for the next 25 years. Is this the story of peace being taught to children?
So what now? Is Thanksgiving cancelled? For many people, this is a no. It is important to know and listen to native experiences and stories no matter what your stance is. Many peoples choose to reject the holiday while others want to reclaim it considering that before settlers came, natives were already having Autumn harvests.
What you choose to do on this holiday is your business, but remember it’s origin. From Native Hope, a group addressing injustices towards Native Americans, asked Steven Peters his views on the holiday. “Steven Peters, a Wampanoag Tribe spokesman, was asked about his views on Thanksgiving and the fact that most people still gather to eat turkey and give thanks. Here's what he had to say: ‘I think it's great. My ancestors had 4 harvest festivals throughout the year. Gathering with family, enjoying our company, sharing our blessings, and giving thanks for all that we have is a good thing. I say have more thanksgiving events throughout the year. I also ask that you take a moment in that day to remember what happened to my people and the history as it was recorded and not the narrative that we had been given in the history books.’”
