When most kids think Thanksgiving, they drool over drumsticks, pumpkin pie and a couple days off school.
When Native American kids think about the holiday, their feelings are often more complicated.
Jennifer H., a 13-year-old Native American who lives in Chicago, thinks it’s unfair that Thanksgiving is considered a Pilgrim holiday. “It was Indians who taught the Pilgrims how to hunt turkeys, and when we had a feast to celebrate a good harvest, we invited them to join us, not the other way around,” she says. “Even all the food we eat at Thanksgiving – turkey, potatoes, squash, corn – that was originally Native American food.”
Jane B., 13, another Chicago Native American, agrees. “We befriended the Pilgrims. They wouldn’t have survived if it weren’t for our help,” she says. “But they took advantage of it. Making Thanksgiving into their own holiday and leaving us out is just one example.”
Alan L., 13, from Flossmoor agrees completely, even though he is not Native American. “They should certainly be given more credit for their part in the original Thanksgiving. The Pilgrims would not have survived their first winter without help from the Native Americans. That should be recognized.”
Besides feeling used and neglected, Native American kids are also troubled by the stereotypes that crop up at Thanksgiving-time.
Chicagoan Gabriel G., 10, feels hurt when “other kids make fun of Indians. They always whoop, `Haya, haya, haya,’ and act like they’re hopping around a fire with a tomahawk and a bunch of feathers. No real Indian does that.”
He also dislikes the cartoon-type pictures of Pilgrims and Native Americans that are put up at school in November because they depict Pilgrims as “civilized and in charge” and his ancestors as “wild and dumb.”
“It’s the whole cowboys and Indians thing,” Jane adds. “But it just gets so much worse at Thanksgiving, because that’s the only time people think about Native Americans. But the way they think about them is wrong. They’re not scalpers, killing whoever they see, and wearing a skimpy loincloth.”
Even though Native American kids feel like they’re not given enough credit, most of them still celebrate Thanksgiving, says the St. Augustine’s Center for American Indians, in Chicago. How come?
Nine-year-old Chicagoan Bradley B. does because “it was an important day to my Indian ancestors, a time when they were at peace with the Pilgrims, and so it is an important day to me.”
Though Bradley’s family has a turkey on the table, they celebrate the holiday a little differently from most American families. “We do Indian dances, sing Indian songs, play the drum and eat some Indian foods,” like wild rice and fried bread.
Before gobbling the gobbler, Jane’s family has a ritual of putting bits of all the different foods into a plate, then saying a special prayer over them.
Liza V.’s family celebrates Thanksgiving by going to “a Native American pow-wow where we play drums, dance, have a pot-luck meal, say prayers, and older people pass traditions and stories along to younger people.”
Jane explains that she celebrates the holiday because “it was a feast of unity between the white people and the Indians. And that’s what it still means. I just want everybody to be educated about Thanksgiving.”
Jennifer agrees: “We should take the time to learn about what really happened back then, not just forget about it and stuff ourselves with food.” Because in the end, she says, “We only have one Earth, and we’ve all gotta find a way to share it.”
