I realize that most of us here understand this..but...

[busterbrown]

We need to begin phasing our traditional Thanksgiving dinner the hell out!

How? I don't know...but this link is a beginning...

Spread it around...... So disturbing that we as a nation pay so little attention to the facts depicted on this link.

https://www.cnn.com/videos/us/2019/11/24/national-day-of-mourning-thanksgiving-blackwell-dnt-ndwknd-vpx.cnn/video/playlists/stories-worth-watching/

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

1. On the up side, Columbus Day is going away,

being renamed Indigenous People's Day in many places.

And on an individual level, you can choose not to do a tradition Turkey Day things.

[Kaleva]

2. The Native Americans who live on nearby reservations celebrate Thanksgiving like we do

[csziggy]

5. I met people in the UK who celebrate Thanksgiving

Even if they have never been to the US. One lady told me she had adopted Thanksgiving since it was such a nice way to get family together.

As a poster says, harvest celebrations have been with us for milennia. It's just a good way to have a gathering at a specific time of year. Same for a Yule time celebration, or a spring celebration, or a mid summer celebration.

It's just the names that change, the celebrations go on.

Edited to add: What we need to get rid of are the fake tales about the people involved in the US version of a harvest celebration. The Puritans and Pilgrims were awful people so we should stop pretending that they were decent.

Let's celebrate a more - ahem - realistic version:

[Kaleva]

8. Thanksgiving goes back to the days of the ancient Egyptians, Greeks and Romans.

[H2O Man]

3. Respectfully disagree.

Harvest celebrations have a long history. And they provide a unique opportunity to teach an accurate history of what took place in the NE of what became the United States. Onondaga Chief Paul Waterman used to task me with speaking at schools and colleges about this very topic.

[MuseRider]

9. Do you have that all written down?

I would enjoy reading what you wrote and talked about.

[H2O Man]

10. My boys wrote

a book about my work with Paul years ago. It included 330 pages, including interviews I did with him for a Native American newspaper, etc. As far as I know, it's out of print. I was Paul's top assistant on burial protection & repatriation and related environmental issues for decades.

I could probably find copies of those newspaper interviews somewhere. I did the first one when he was in the hospital, recovering from a stroke. His daughter had called me the night before, when things looked pretty bad. But when I got there the next day, he was entertaining the nurses. I got some paper and a pen, as I thought better not wait to get some of his knowledge recorded. He was an amazing man. Never met anyone like him. (My boys grew up thinking he was their third grandfather! Ha!)

[MuseRider]

11. A VERY long time ago

in the beginnings of the DU I bought a book, I don't remember if it was from you or just one you mentioned. Since we moved I have left most of my old books in a big box, there are hundreds of them but I bet I could find it if I had enough time. Do you remember anything like that? Were they sayings from a chief, probably from Waterman? I seem to have a memory of it being mostly white on the cover? LOL, of course at my growing age it could have been a dream. Anyway, thank you for answering me on this. He was, from everything you have ever written about him, a very amazing man and so are you for sharing with us so much of him and sharing yourself as one who learned much from him and have your own knowledge. Even just practical things like I am still amused by the explanation of why the old roads turned at a sharp angle rather than slowly curve. I would never have known that.

[EX500rider]

4. Harvest festivals and feasts are quite traditional around the world....

...and I see nothing wrong with the US having one.

[Squinch]

6. Nope. Nuh-uh.

[PuraVidaDreamin]

7. Celebrating with Native Americans in Plymouth is our tradition.

We go to hear the speeches From tribespeople usually the Wampanoag covering social injustice, equality for all and giving reverence to Earth, then join these beautiful activists in a march throughout this for better or worse, historic site.

We then break bread at home with family.

It feels good.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

12. Turns out I'll be going to a casino with some friends on Thursday.

Way to pay back, I think.