resources for thanksgiving

This month is Native American Heritage month, and I’ve been reading books from Kaitlin Curtice’s list all month because I realized that I know so little about indigenous history. In having my eyes opened up a bit, I’ve been having trouble thinking through how we celebrate Thanksgiving. It has always been my favorite holiday because, to me, it is about gathering around the table and practicing gratitude. But since I’ve been reading so much about and from natives this month, I’ve realized that while Thanksgiving is about gathering and gratitude for me, Thanksgiving for native people has far more baggage and even trauma associated with it. The myth we tell ourselves about the first Thanksgiving isn’t an accurate retelling, and part of our work in moving forward together is learning the truth and its effects.

To that end, I am going to link to a few resources that have helped our family talk about these stories and their consequences. I haven’t done any of this research myself, but I thought it might be helpful to compile some links for others interested in learning more:

• Kaitlin Curtice has been my guide in beginning this work. She was at the Evolving Faith conference that Grant and I went to last month, and she led a land acknowledgement in which everyone looked up their home address using this website and then said the name of the tribe/s that originally inhabited their land. It was a beautiful, holy moment. We learned that our land was originally inhabited by the Miami Nation and the Haudenosauneega Confederacy, so we have been trying to read more about the history of the people that were here long before us. We plan to have a brief land acknowledgement at our table this Thanksgiving, pausing to acknowledge that we can be grateful for our time around the table and acknowledge that the roots of the holiday are, at best, problematic.
• Several native women and historians compiled an amazing list of resources that they titled “decolonizing Thanksgiving.” There are tons of great resources in this list, including sample letter templates to send to your child’s teachers, reading lists, and sample lessons to use at home, church, or school. I ordered a few of the recommended children’s books because I find that reading books together as a family is the easiest way to start these kinds of conversations.
• The natives in our sanitized version of the Thanksgiving story were actually people of the Wampanoag Nation. Read their version of the story here.
• Some additional helpful context and history via the Smithsonian written by a native author.
• National Geographic has a guided lesson on the native perspective on Thanksgiving. It is geared toward high school students, but I found it helpful for myself.
• Read about The National Day of Mourning, hosted by the United American Indians of New England on Thanksgiving day in Plymouth, Massachusetts.
• Kaitlin has a blog post with further reading and action items.

I think there is much beauty in setting a day aside for thanksgiving, and I am confident that we can appreciate the beauty of the holiday while also acknowledging its darker roots. In yoga, we say that if we don’t deal with our issues, they’ll deal with us. As Americans, we have much work to do in acknowledging the suffering that we have inflicted on native peoples (among others!), much like the truth and reconciliation commissions in South Africa, Rwanda, Canada and other places. In order for healing to begin, we have to first acknowledge the pain and suffering that we and our ancestors have caused. Being more honest about Thanksgiving around the table this year is a simple place to start.