Known by Many Names

Probably like many of you who are reading this, I grew up celebrating Thanksgiving. I loved the traditions associated with the holiday – gathering with family, watching the Macy’s day parade, eating turkey and watching football. In my family, we’d go to church on Thanksgiving Day and I remember that each year we’d get a small baked bread at church that we would eat during our meal. These were special times.

And I was also raised on the myths and stereotypes that surround this holiday – narratives that distort history and cause harm to native peoples. What many in the wider United States culture call “Thanksgiving” is referred to as a “national day of mourning” in many indigenous communities.

This day has many names, and it is important that we honor all of them.

If you gather today for a Thanksgiving celebration, I would urge you not to just focus on the gratitude part of things. While this is an important practice, truth-telling and the naming of the complicated histories that we have inherited must also become part of our rituals and gatherings.

We can start this process by learning the real histories behind this holiday and acknowledging what has emerged as a result of these histories (some of which are in the link below). And beyond learning history, this is a time for us to take meaningful actions that help to heal these histories (also in the links).

In the early Christian church, the disciples identified the life and witness of Jesus with the prophet Isaiah who would come to “level the uneven ground and make the rough places a plain.” While we may not have created the systems we live in, they are ours to smooth and make level. This is the work of our faith that we are invited into this day and everyday.

https://www.culturalsurvival.org/news/8-ways-decolonize-and-honor-native-peoples-thanksgiving