Reply #41: Respectfully disagree.

[H2O Man]

It may seem odd to you, or strike you as someone merely looking for something to complain about. That strikes me as rather curious, coming from a self-professed "mellow" person.

Yesterday, I posted a version of the Haudenosaunee Thanksgiving prayer. I noted that the harvest festival was common among agricultural peoples around the world. The European version of Christianity suppressed this and other traditions in those lands. When Europeans began coming to the Americas, they were re-introduced to Thanksgiving. The Pilgrim version is not the first example: Spanish people participated in such festivals in Florida, as did other Europeans in Canada.

The Wampanoag tradition, which involved the Pilgrams, is a wonderful story for little children. It serves a good purpose. But by the time children reach junior high school, it is good to teach them the full story of the relations between the Euro-Americans and the tribes of the Wampanoag. By this time, these children should have also learned the truth about Santa, the Easter Bunny, and that great American hero, the Tooth Fairy. I'm confident that they can handle the actual history of Thanksgiving, and of Euro-American and Native American relations.

No dam ever built can hold back waters already spilt. We cannot go back and change history. But we can make a conscious choice of if we learn and teach an accurate, full history, or if we edit the truth to meet our need for comfort. As the Haudenosaunee Thanksiving prayer that I posted notes, there are benefits accrued from putting our heads together, recognizing the truth of everyone's experience, and attempting to create a better future by working together today.

This may seem odd to you, or even a bitter attempt to argue over some old complaint. However, I hope that in time you will come to recognize that it is something very important to many people -- and certainly not just a segment of Indians or angry folks. Nor is it a threat to Thanksgiving. Indeed, it is the essence of the festival, especially the Wampanoag & Pilgrim version.