A Thought On Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving! No matter how grim things may look these days, we all have something to be thankful for, some far more so than others. The holiday of Thanksgiving is very much tied up in the ancient tradition of a harvest festival. Here in the US, the current holiday is directly associated with the harvest festival celebrated by the Pilgrims in 1621. While the legend of that particular Thanksgiving is a bit more fiction than fact, it is true that the Pilgrims were warily joined by Native Americans at that first festival. The Pilgrims, representing England, had actually signed a peace treaty with the Wampanoag Nation in the spring of 1621 which basically said that both groups would watch out for each other. Despite the current myth around that first Thanksgiving, it was not nearly the “kumbaya” kind of gathering that has been passed down to us. The Pilgrims and the Native Americans largely lived separate lives with their paths occasionally crossing, as would be expected from peoples with a different language, different customs, and different traditions. But it was mainly the Native Americans who were looking out for the Pilgrims, not vice versa. And at that first Thanksgiving both groups celebrated the bounty that they had received in their own way, with their own customs.

We need to carry that spirit of Thanksgiving forward to today and in the days ahead. In many ways, with the split between urban and rural in this country, we are like the Pilgrims and the Wampanoag. We live largely separate lives, speaking an almost separate language and, in many ways, have different customs. But just like that brief time in 1621, we will need to warily come together and look out for each other. Some of the lucky ones will need to care for others who may be less fortunate while others may have to rely on people they barely know or even trust to care for them. If we can all remember to do that, we will all be better off for it. And if we can do that, perhaps we can avoid the disaster that befell both the Pilgrims and especially the Native Americans subsequently.