For many in the Indigenous community, the annual holiday actually serves as a harmful reminder of how their land was stolen from them during colonization, how many of their people were killed, and how their culture was almost entirely stripped from them. Growing up on Nipissing First Nation—my traditional territory in northern Ontario, Canada—my family always celebrated Thanksgiving. Given the sheer volume of people, I remember often eating Thanksgiving dinner on the ground, sitting cross-legged among my many cousins seats at the table are reserved for the elders, obviously —they also got first pass at the food.
On the menu would be all the traditional Thanksgiving dishes: turkey, mashed potatoes, turnip, boiled carrots, huge pots of gravy. One year, my dad even cooked a pound turkey for the entire family, a record. Moose meat pies were also omnipresent, though I never partook in that dish.
Because Thanksgiving was something that our family always registered, I never thought twice about how ironic it was: a bunch of Indigenous people basically celebrating the history of their own suffering. Or it might be the traditions my family have made together. But there are many families opposite of mine. In fact, Thanksgiving should only be a time to be with family and friends.
These individuals consider Thanksgiving a symbol of the conquest of Native American land. While it is true that most of the land was taken from the Native Americans, in the beginning settlements, Americans bought the land from the them, according to Harvard University Press. The Native Americans wanted to create alliances with the colonists and buy goods from sellers. Thanksgiving should be a time to be with family and friends.
This can be a time to develop your relationships with family members. Thanksgiving was a day for me to proclaim what I was thankful for in my life. But also cultivate Thanksgiving into a day where you appreciate your loved ones and friends. Some say that the first Thanksgiving was simply a feast of unity between the Wampanoag and the pilgrims. Some say it was a celebration of only the pilgrims and although no Native Americans were invited, they showed up anyway.
Some say that it was a celebration thrown by the pilgrims after the massacre of the Pequot. And how do we acknowledge the half a century of brutal transgressions against the Native Americans? We teach every American child that pilgrims and Natives got along perfectly well.
We teach them lies. The truth has been completely abandoned and the made-up story we tell disrespects every Native American life that was stolen by the European settlers. Enjoy your alone time, if it comes to that. Go for a hike. Read a book or re-watch a favorite series on Netflix.
Don't feel guilty or weird. There are 41 million of us out there who won't cook or participate in grandiose poultry dinners this Thursday. We're okay. Thanks for the dinner invitation, really! But we've got plans. News U. Politics Joe Biden Congress Extremism. Special Projects Highline. HuffPost Personal Video Horoscopes.
Follow Us. Terms Privacy Policy. Part of HuffPost Wellness. All rights reserved. I really don't care about Thanksgiving. Suggest a correction. Marianne Smallwood, Contributor.
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