Greetings All,
I am going to be out of town for a few days and I did not want to leave y'all without a little Thanksgiving.
I don't really celebrate the the traditional thanksgiving story. You know the one about how the white people were starving and the Indians saved them by bringing them some cranberry sauce for the turkey. Can you believe what the white people did to them after they were gracious enough to bring a condiment? It is a nice story, I liked it in grade school but then I started asking too many questions.
I don't know, but I think it was the small pox blanket thing that kind of spoiled the whole togetherness thing for me. I take it a little personal as I am part Cherokee and the US Government made my great-grandmother walk all the way to Oklahoma from the North Carolina mountains I now call home. I burn an incense out on my porch for her sometimes and I feel the Cherokees presence here still, very strongly.
It is always a good idea to be thankful and taking a day to devote to that is not a bad idea...as long as you keep it real and don't forget the Indians : )
This is the first Thanksgiving I have really had a "family" gathering since my Grandmother passed away many years ago. I don't really have much of a family of my own. I still have my mom in East Texas but we will be traveling to Mobile for a big get together with my girl's family this year.
So, how ever, what ever and who ever y'all find yourselves thankful for this Thanksgiving, I hope you have a great time with the people you love.
I will be back on Monday.
Peace Y'all
12 comments:
Well I hope you have a safe and wonderful Thanksgiving this year Kim. Sounds like it will be filled with plenty of family this year. We have our kids that are grown and gone but we do not see them much as they live in different towns or states far away. I do have my daughter and two grand babies here though, so you know where I will be, lol! Again have a wonderful Thansgiving.
Enjoy your time off. I'd love to hear the Native Americans' side of the story, which will be closer to the truth.
Wa-do is kind of like "Aloha," actually. A lot of meanings, depending on how the word is being used.
My relatives didn't make the trek; they are still in North Carolina. I go down when I get a chance, and almost always get this huge twang of sadness upon leaving. The place is a thousand times better than it was when I was little, but I understand why dad didn't hang around all the same.
"Don't forget the Indians". I love how you put it. Sad to say, it is not to "their" interest to remember. The saga of the Indians is the tale of the indigenous people's everywhere. Like your people, my people have been displaced by the so called "majority" culture and the big mining industries from their homeland. The struggle to get back home continues for us.
I find it funny that so many people talk about Native Americans like we don't even exist...went extinct or something. HA!
Yes, I am thankful, but not for that part of our history...that is so often ignored by others.
While your on the Native American track, what about the scalpings? I always thought it was odd that the English offered a bounty for the scalp of anyone from a tribe but when the tribes did the same to them(which was not part of their culture) they got the savage label and the blame for the act. Happy Holidays, Kim.
Samoset, the 1st one to make contact with the Pilgrims, was from a sister Tribe from here in Maine. He spoke some English from dealing with the fishing outposts set up here by the English & French and was asked by the locals living near the Plimouth Settlement to 'check them out'.
As far as 'Native American', to me that's just a label applied by others. To me, even though I'm near 'pure-blood' as my only known ancestor with European geneology was my paternal great-grandfather who was French/Irish, anyone born on this continent is a 'Native American'. Perhaps I'm just an old cranky sort, but at least when I was called 'Indian', 'Injun', or the like, I knew it meant I was 'different' from the speaker. Something which I'm still immensly proud to be.
This world is big enough and wondrous enough for all to share it's beauty. So sad so many from all peoples everywhere can't seem to see the logic in this.
Peace, whatever you celebrate, as long as it's not a celebration of human failings toward his fellow man or any of the world's many forms of life.
Old Geezer Indian Fella:)
P.S...our Tribal history relates that the 'scalping' was instituted by the British as a 'bounty proof' of having dispatched a Frenchman during the many conflicts over which of them, Brits or French, 'owned' OUR lands. After winning a US Supreme Court case the lands were held to be OURS! Settlement was finally made after many tens of decades of illegal occupation.
My apologies, Mayhem.
Have a happy and safe Holiday.
Can't wait to hear all about it. Ours was sweet and simple.
The neo-cons are quick to point out that we should mention the violence perpetrated on the LGBT community on a daily basis (as though it's in the past). And, most of them have no clue what the White Man did to the indigenous people of our country - and are still doing for that matter.
I spent my Thanksgiving with a friend whose husband (he was out of town) is Sioux and Chickasaw, so you can bet that we didn't forget the real heroes of Thanksgiving! neither did my Cherokee friend in work fail to remind me.. ;-)
I'm English, and have been living in the States since 2000, and I've spent the last year learning a lot about the history of the First People from my beloved friends, and it's breaking my heart.
One thing I'm very thankful for are my 2 Native brothers in particular, they've really shown me a lot this last year.
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