Imagine

Everything could be different

Nov 24, 2023

A Tale of Two Days and Five Days…all in One Day

Imagine how different these five days of Thanksgiving could be and feel. If only…

Side Note: There’s a lot more to this day. A LOT more.
The first National Day of Mourning demonstration was held in 1970 after Frank "Wamsutta" James's speaking invitation was rescinded from a Massachusetts Thanksgiving Day celebration commemorating the 350th anniversary of the landing of the Mayflower. The commemoration occurred at Plymouth Rock, Massachusetts—yes, THAT Plymouth Rock.
NATIONAL DAY OF MOURNING
Since 1970, Native Americans have gathered at noon
on Cole's Hill in Plymouth to commemorate a National
Day of Mourning on the U.S. Thanksgiving holiday.
Many Native Americans do not celebrate the arrival of
the Pilgrims and other European settlers. To them,
Thanksgiving Day is a reminder of the genocide of
millions of their people, the theft of their lands, and
the relentless assault on their cultures. Participants in
National Day of Mourning honor Native ancestors and
the struggles of Native peoples to survive today. It is a
day of remembrance and spiritual connection as well as
a protest of the racism and oppression which Native
Americans continue to experience.
Erected by the Town of Plymouth on behalf of the
United American Indians of New England.

The National Day of Mourning takes place on the fourth Thursday every November, coincidental with a different intention for the day. For us, that was yesterday. Did you know this?

Well, now we do. And we can’t ever un-know it; we may forget, yes, but we know. And yet, despite it all, we are still taught by the Native ancestors how to give proper thanks in the most eloquent of ways. We may forget, but we know…

The Words Before All Else

The Haudenosaunee Confederacy is a constituency of six Indigenous/Native “First Nations” peoples dating back, it is said as part of the folklore and creation story, to time immemorial. It is this Confederacy that has as part of its culture and governance the longest lasting democracy in all of human history. The values, norms, cosmology, and governance structures of the Haudenosaunee heavily influenced the creation of the “American” constitution.

The Haudenosaunee also gave the world something just as important and, indeed, sacred, that I, personally, have come to value as part of my own private celebration of Thanksgiving. It is called: “The Haudenosaunee Thanksgiving Address: Greetings to the Natural World.”

The Thanksgiving Address (the Ohen:ton Karihwatehkwen) is the central prayer and invocation for the Haudenosaunee (also known as the Iroquois Confederacy or Six Nations — Mohawk, Oneida, Cayuga, Onondaga, Seneca, and Tuscarora). It reflects their relationship of giving thanks for life and the world around them. The Haudenosaunee open and close every social and religious meeting with the Thanksgiving Address.
It is also said as a daily sunrise prayer, and is an ancient message of peace and appreciation of Mother Earth and her inhabitants. The children learn that, according to Native American tradition, people everywhere are embraced as family. Our diversity, like all wonders of Nature, is truly a gift for which we are thankful.
When one recites the Thanksgiving Address the Natural World is thanked, and in thanking each life-sustaining force, one becomes spiritually tied to each of the forces of the Natural and Spiritual World. The Thanksgiving Address teaches mutual respect, conservation, love, generosity, and the responsibility to understand that what is done to one part of the Web of Life, we do to ourselves.
(https://danceforallpeople.com/haudenosaunee-thanksgiving-address/)

Among the 18 recognitions (Forces) formally addressed in the Address, here are three:

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The People:

Today we have gathered and we see that the cycles of life continue. We have been given the duty and responsibility to live in balance and harmony with each other and all living things. So now, we bring our minds together as one as we give our greetings and our thanks to one another as people.

Now our minds are one.

The Earth Mother:

We are all thankful to our Mother, the Earth, for she gives us all that we need for life. She supports our feet as we walk about upon her. It gives us joy that she continues to care for us as she has from the beginning of time. To our mother, we send our greetings and our thanks.

Now our minds are one.

The Creator:

Now we turn our thoughts to the Creator, Shonkwaia’tîson, and send our greetings and our thanks for all the gifts of Creation. Everything we need to live a good life is here on this Mother Earth. For all the love that is around us, we gather our minds together as one and send our choicest words of greetings and thanks to the Creator.

Now our minds are one.

“The Onondaga ("Hill Place") people are one of the original five constituent nations of the Haudenosaunee Confederacy in northeast North America. When the author of the acclaimed “Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants,” Robin Wall Kimmerer (professor, botanist, and elder of the Potawatomi Nation), asked the Onondaga Faithkeeper Oren Lyons about sharing the Thanksgiving Address in her book, he said, ‘Of course you should write about it. It's supposed to be shared, otherwise how can it work? We've been waiting for five hundred years for people to listen. If they'd understood the Thanksgiving then, we wouldn't be in this mess.’”
(emphasis mine)
~ as quoted in the address reprinted here by static1.squarespace.com
(Note: I take this, as well, as my permission for I have no Native blood in me—though I would want the Elders and Ancestors to see the purity of my heart, intention, and soul. Each day I move one day closer to understanding the Thanksgiving.)

For the Haudenosaunee, Thanksgiving isn’t about “a day.” They never intended for the Address to be “only about” the fourth Thursday in November—it was never about “that.” Instead, it is about a way of life; a way of Being on this earth in relationship to every single other thing.

Every. Single. Other. Thing.

Imagine. Everything could be so different.

This has become personal for me as I’ve grown a growing disdain of our society’s usurpation of Thanksgiving toward the gods and saints of capitalism and consumption (namely St. Black Friday, St. Small Business Saturday, and St. Cyber Monday—thus spanning the five “holy” days of Thanksgiving. However, ever question how Thanksgiving happens to fall, now, within the two weeks of Black Friday? Yes, it’s TWO weeks now! Honestly, I wonder, question, and worry about us when I ponder why we value what we value. What we value teaches others, and especially our children, who we are.)

Because I know it doesn’t have to be that way, at least for me, I choose different.

Just as there are so many ways to give thanks, there are as well so many ways to mourn. And reasons for doing so.

But never stop giving thanks.

Over the course of the Holiday, and at some other times during the year, I add into my mindfulness practice and devotions multiple recitations of the Haudenosaunee Thanksgiving Address. Because I know. And by doing so, I am reminded of the spirit and intention of this special day, which does NOT including getting 40% off my purchase*—it’s a grounding practice to remind me of what is actually truly important. It is a humbling part of my Alchemy.

[*Disclaimer Note: Amazon makes no money off me during this Holiday. Sorry Mr. Bezos.]

[On second thought, not sorry.]

Choices, choices, choices.

Allegedly, we all gave thanks yesterday for various blessings and, if we are wise, our various challenges too. So, are we good now for the year? Till the next fourth Thursday in November?

Or what?

Imagine if our minds could truly be one—if for no other reason than to know why, and to whom, and when, it is vital we give thanks. Hmm…. It is impossible, at least one would think, to harm or destroy that for which one is grateful.

Hmmm.

Can our minds ever be one?

Always and Ubuntu,

~ k

I live on the unceded, Sacred, Native Snohomish, Indigenous, and Ancestral Tribal land of the Salish Peoples in the Sultan Basin watershed of Washington state. I honor and respect all the great Spirit Elders and Ancestors past, present, and future—and I ask for their guidance, protection, and forgiveness.

🙏🏼