The Other Thanksgiving

This short piece was originally intended to be in my weekly blog post - a resource for my YouTube audience, with links, images, and the upcoming schedule for the week. At the last minute I decided not to include it there instead am posting it as a stand-alone editorial - Allan

To those of you in the United States, this week is Thanksgiving week, arguably the second most widely celebrated holiday of the year, and certainly one of the most disruptive. It seems as if half the country will hop in a car, or board a plane, at some point in the coming week, to go visit the other half of the country for the opportunity to share in what can somethimes turn into the most stressful meal of the entire year.

A chalcid hatchling

Thanksgiving is a harvest festival, not dissimilar to the festivals celebrated across Europe at this time of the year. The history books tell us that this season grew out of the shared sense of gratitude felt by early North American Settlers and the indigenous Wampanoag, who had taught the newcomers how to grow crops in the harsh northern winters, for their first successful harvest since establishing the Plymouth Colony. This romantic notion of cooperation, solidarity, and survival formed the basis for the holiday, eventually signed into law by Franklin D. Roosevelt and set as the fourth Thursday in November, the focal points of which are gratitude, the family, and feasting.

Just south of loch ness

This all sounds pretty noble and it seems, on the surface, to be a  legitimate reason for families to set aside any petty differences for a day of gathering, feasting, and, well, thanksgiving. But in reality, this holiday, like the Christmas and New Year holidays to follow, a month later, appears to be associated with a spike in family violence which has been linked to increased stress and a surge in alcohol consumption. This harsh reality was summarized in a sobering article from November 2023, published by the organization “Connections for Abused Women and their Children”, CAWC, and linked here - https://www.cawc.org/news/why-domestic-violence-increases-during-the-holiday-season/?utm_source=chatgpt.com -  I urge you to look at this piece and consider the implications. One way we may be able to better understand the dynamics of this very real problem in today’s world is to start with a more honest appraisal of what really happened in 1621.

Mobile Bay before the storm

It is true that the Wampanoag with Chief Massasoit at the helm, had indeed cooperated with the Pilgrims, teaching them how to grow food in the new and unfamiliar environment. But the relationship was less one of brotherly love, and more one of strained mutual desperation, as only 10% of the Wampanoag had survived the devastating European epidemics brought as house-warming gifts by pre-Pilgrim explorers.

Latenight overpass

In the years following that first celebration feast, the Wampanoag saw their lands taken from them, just as forced conversion to Christianity stripped them of their cultural identity. And novel epidemics brought by each new wave of settlers continued to inflict terrible losses, year after year. Between 1675 and 1678, most the few remaining Wampanoag were killed outright or sold as slaves during one of the most devastating conflicts of colonial America. The stragglers that did survive were marginalized and lived under a regime of open discrimination.

Bench overlooking Mobile Bay

There are two Tribes of Wampanoag, the Mashpee and Aquinnah, still in existence today, and for them this coming Thursday is not a day of celebration. The fourth Thursday of November is a National Day of Mourning, and it is observed in Plymouth, Massachusetts - as if it could be anywhere else. So with Thanksgiving right around the corner, I am left pondering this question -  if our focus were to shift from a celebration of the convenient and comfortable fiction that is the Thanksgiving holiday, and if were to become instead a heartfelt contemplation of the price paid by the Wampanoag, and other indigenous American peoples, for the unparalleled bounty we enjoy today, what effect might this have on our interactions with friends and family during the inevitable and stress filled disruptions of the coming week? Would such a shift in our thinking bring us closer together, make us more tolerant and patient with one another, or help us overlook the petty disagreements that seem to bubble to the surface at times like this?

I may be wrong, but it seems to me that this would not be a bad place to start.

Saltwater marsh - Baldwin COunty

I wish you all a happy and peaceful Thanksgiving