This week is Thanksgiving, which is a holiday only here in the United States. It is the day set aside to commemorate the first harvest of the settlers who came to the New World and established colonies, which eventually became our country.

There are nostalgic images of pilgrims and native Americans sharing a turkey, eating maize they had taught the colonists to plant, and the seeds of religious freedom being planted with the move across the sea from persecution. However, a darker image of these times resides in the pages of literature (eg. The Crucible, The Scarlet Letter, The Witch of Blackbird Pond) and history books (eg. the trail of tears).

Native Americans were displaced by the government that was to come. The pilgrims were completely unprepared for the new terrain and life they embraced. The harvest was hard, and the winters were harder. Religious freedom from their own persecution led to the persecution of others. So thought heathen Indians were converted or killed, their land taken, and non-protestant religions banned (eg. Witch trials).

Thanksgiving is supposed to be a time of celebration and thanks, but it is haunted for some by the history of the time in which it is wrapped. We should be thankful for what we have been given and we should be able to enjoy a national holiday, but also need to acknowledge the injustices doled out to the native inhabitants of our lands, who were once so glad to embrace their new neighbors and share their good fortune of harvest.

I thank the native tribes who still struggle for imparting their ancient knowledge and maintaining their identities. As I cook my turkey in the tradition of my family I will remember the traditions of yours.