Comments on: PreThanksgiving post about Indians

By: Delayne

Delayne — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 19:20:50 +0000

Thanks for that post. I’m pretty much as white as white can be myself but my girlfriend is half African (I won’t say American because her father is from Africa) and half good old American Mix (including Indian – Cherokee I believe), though she was raised by the white half. She only celebrates Thanksgiving as a family thing. But she celebrates the Earth always. As do I, and we will teach our kid the same.

I celebrated Thanksgiving while in Scotland, with people from around the world. You know… from other countries that don’t celebrate Thanksgiving (although may have other harvest rituals and celebrations).

I know I’m a little late to the game with my comments but I did want to let you know Femme Fairy Godmother, that an award has been sent your way, check out my blog for the details.

By: Akki

Akki — Sun, 29 Nov 2009 19:38:50 +0000

Thank you Marini CJ. Are you single?

By: Martini CJ

Martini CJ — Sat, 28 Nov 2009 17:13:05 +0000

Great post and very interesting comments. I’ve often wondered how a group that was escaping from religious persecution could be so intolerant of those not believing as they do.

By: Akki

Akki — Sat, 28 Nov 2009 07:34:23 +0000

White guilt continues to astound me and make me want to puke up the butterball turkey from hell. I’m not referring to your white guilt. I admire your taking a stab at walking in two worlds and writing about it; perhaps, were you to have lived and grown up in the traditions…or lived and grown up as an undocumented pilgrim, one or the other you would have only the finite experience of that culture. So, bastardized turkey, not Tom or wild, not wild rice or healthy foods cooked and offered up to Mother Earth to thank her for her bounty, not celebrating the spirit in every living thing, but hey pass the cranberry sauce…I don’t know. The fact that bothers me most is that Native Americans were called savages for “worshipping” the spirit in every living thing. This resulted in the dominant culture changing the celebration to reflect their values of gluttony, eating indoors, praying indoors and taking from Mother Earth the very children for whom she provided the harvest and the feast in the first place. The past is not the past; it was my mother that grew up in that Catholic Boarding School, raped, beaten, hair shaved, beaten for talking her language, humiliated…it was my mother that grew up mentally ill from racism and my mother that could not accept me for being a lesbian. I will never be glib about the day to “stuff” ourselves like we stuff the bird as we shove bread up its ass. Thanksgiving does not equal food. Thanksgiving means actually giving thanks for what is provided for us. It means thanking Mother Earth, not raping her, for her bounty. Then, it means enjoying the food. This shit still pisses me off.

By: JMc

JMc — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 20:40:02 +0000

A toast to cultural holidays. Origin stories of all the holidays are interesting but irrelevant. I celebrate the holidays that have personal history for me…just like celebrating familial birthdays, its tradition.

And Thanksgiving? Well…food=love! Who can turn their back on that!

By: Andi

Andi — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 19:27:39 +0000

Scin – then we may actually be related somewhere down the line. William Brewster is on my Grandmother’s side on the Sears side of her family. Nelly May Sears – Paul S. Sears… that’s about as far as we know… odd yet really intriguing at the same time.

By: Cheree

Cheree — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 17:24:01 +0000

Here here!

How many families, really, treat Thanksgiving as a celebration of that first feast? I think Thanksgiving has become so homogonized that it’s largely like other holidays: a time to spend with people you love, feast on great good, laugh & share. OK, and remember what we’re thankful for. Who are you punishing, really, for choosing to abstain?

And I agree with you that colonization was inevitable. The pilgrims could have been allowed to starve, but the Native Americans were too noble for that. They were the better people and it should be an honor to recreate their feast.

By: Scintillectual

Scintillectual — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 17:03:18 +0000

I am a direct descendant of William Brewster, the preacher and pilgrim colonist leader who came over on the Mayflower. As you can imagine, my family is as WASP as they come. As BFFs, don’t we make strange bedfellows, indeed? I for one, honor your heritage, my dear. Every drop of mixed race blood that flows in your veins, every ounce of energy you put into discovering who you are, every conscious thought you have of the consequences of the actions of yore…they make you a truly incredible woman. I’m so lucky to have you in my life.

Now where’s that damn turkey?