Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!

[Richard]

Peace to you all and may this holiday season afford each of us those opportunities to count our blessings.

[Sily]

:D

[DreamTime]

Wow Richard...never heard you so profound before.

Happy Turkey Day.

Forgive the ancestors, Native Americans, but just so you know, I wasn't there.

[Richard]

DT, here’s an article that follows up on your post.

Happy Thanks (for what?) Giving

By Judy Andreas
11-26-8
 
"Thank you"
 
Now there's a phrase that sounds good. It's a feel good phrase too. I've been appreciated....smile.
 
"GEE THANKS"
 
Hold on a minute....was that gratitude or attitude? Did I detect a note of sarcasm in that last phrase? Inflection is very important.
 
Teach your child to be polite. Wind him up and send him into the world of manners. He'll leave a trail of warm fuzzies wherever he goest.
 
Don't get me wrong. I love to hear "thank you" and, even more, I love to say it. But, most of all, I love to mean it. In order to mean it, I mean really mean it, I have to know its meaning.
 
On the fourth Thursday of each November in the U.S , families gather together.
 
Some..... to give the Lord Blessings; others....to enjoy a secular ritual over a Turkey surrounded by holiday accouterments.
 
Food abounds and forks make many trips to the serving platters. A common phenomenon, at Thanksgiving time, is for people to stuff more than the turkey.
 
"I am so full I cannot eat another bite."
 
This moment of satiety lasts as long as it takes for the dessert to exit the kitchen.
"Maybe I'll try some pumpkin pie." "Ah...hot apple pie. Put a little ice cream on that, please."
 
Gobbling a Turkey is an American tradition. Lying there with its legs up in the air, the turkey has become a celebratory centerpiece.
 
"Who will carve the bird?"
 
Carving has been elevated to an art form. The slices should be juicy and thin. Once perfectly formed, they are put on board the gravy boat.
 
Conversation presents a challenge. Nobody wanted to sit next to Uncle Mike, with his combination of chewing while spitting food. He seems to be the only one at the table who is unaware of the bits of turkey that fly through his teeth as he entertains everyone with the same story he told last year.
 
"Is it the Tryptophan, or am I growing sleepy?"
 
Bob and Betty haven't spoken for years, yet each Thanksgiving they find themselves sentenced to Mom's prison table.
 
"Please, be nice....do it for me. It's only once a year."
 
And, eventually, " this too shall pass, " as arms reach into sleeves, and coats hop on backs.
 
"Goodnight and thank you"
 
Thank you? There's that phrase again.
 
Thanks (giving). What is this holiday and why has it become an American tradition?
When I was in Elementary School, my teachers told me the story of Thanksgiving. It was a heartwarming story indeed. The Pilgrims had come to this new world, America, and found the place inhabited by Indians.
 
"Hi Chief, nice to meet you" "I'd like to invite you to dine with us"
 
In 1621, near the end of the Plymouth Colony's first year in America, the settlers gave thanks for a plentiful harvest. They joyously invited their new friends, the Indians, to share in their good fortune. The Pilgrims and the natives dined together.
 
"Pass the stuffing, Squanto"
 
The Pilgrims arranged something called a "peace turkey" and everyone feasted on geese, ducks, deer, corn, oysters, fish and berries. And....they lived happily after.
I am afraid that the teacher had taught me the expurgated version. Her first Thanksgiving might've appeared on a Hallmark card, but not in the early United States. The teacher did not mention the many subsequent Thanksgivings during which the Pilgrims gave "thanks" for their victories over the indigenous people.
 
In Mitchel Cohen's piece called "Why I Hate Thanksgiving" he draws upon the writings of Historian, Howard Zinn, to describe how Columbus massacred the Indians.
Columbus had written:
 
"The Indians are so naive and so free with their possessions that no one who has not witnessed them would believe it. When you ask for something they have, they never say no. To the contrary, they offer to share with anyone."
 
Columbus concluded his report by asking for a little help from the King and Queen, and, in return he would bring them "as much gold as they need, and as many slaves as they ask."
 
Slaves? Gold? My mind traveled back to the childlike sketches I'd made of the Nina the Pinta and the Santa Maria as my second grade teacher entertained us with stories about Chris the Courageous. Why had I not been taught about Christopher the Cruel? Christopher the cold blooded?
 
Mitchell Cohen continued , "Columbus's men murdered more than 100,000 Indians on Haiti alone. Overall, dying as slaves in the mines, or directly murdered, or from diseases brought to the Caribbean by the Spaniards, over 3 million Indian people were murdered between 1494 and 1508. "
 
Is this any way to say "Hi?"
 
The stage was set for the Thanksgivings that followed.
 
"Three hundred thousand Indians were murdered in New England by the Puritan elite who wanted the war, a war for land, for gold, for power. And, in the end, the Indian population of 10 million that was in North America when Columbus came was reduced to less than one million. "
 
The practice known as "scalping" was introduced by the English..
 
Had it not been for the humanity of the Indigenous people, the Pilgrims would not have survived that first difficult year. The Indians brought them deer meat and beaver skins. They taught them the skills they needed to survive on the land. They taught them how to navigate the waters, fish and cultivate vegetables. They told the Pilgrims which were the poisonous plants and showed how other plants could be used as medicines. They treated the Pilgrims with dignity and kindness. And how were they "thanked?" Not at the party table passing the "peace turkey" (unless "massacre" means "thank you" in Pilgrimese")
 
It's November again and people have begun planning this years festivities. The day before Thanksgiving is the biggest travel day in this country. And while people are flying to see their loved ones (and not so loved ones) do they ever think about the real meaning of this holiday? Or are they content to remain in second grade with myths and distortions protecting them from the "difficult to stomach" truths. While they busily make their reservations, do they wonder how this holiday is experienced on the Indian Reservations? While they are busy defining the word gluttony, do they consider if the Native Americans of this land have enough to eat?
 
"Thank you" is a beautiful phrase. I feel it each and every day.
 
Today I am alive, and Mother Earth has cradled me in her arms. I have wonderful, caring friends and family and an opportunity to make a difference, personally and professionally.
 
Do I want to pull the plug on the Turkey Dinner? Not really. Do I want to storm off the computer with my "Why I hate Thanksgiving Part 2" No, not at all. What I would like is to redefine this holiday and, in doing so, reserve my thanks for places more appropriate and not weighted down with the symbolism of cruelty and suffering.
 
The bloody history of Thanksgiving is incompatible with the simple and honest gesture of giving thanks.
 
http://www.rense.com/general84/thanks.htm

[Richard]

THE FIRST THANKSGIVING PROCLAMATION

JUNE 20, 1676

Did you know that Thanksgiving was originally in the summer?

"The Holy God having by a long and Continual Series of his Afflictive dispensations in and by the present Warr with the Heathen Natives of this land, written and brought to pass bitter things against his own Covenant people in this wilderness, yet so that we evidently discern that in the midst of his judgements he hath remembered mercy, having remembered his Footstool in the day of his sore displeasure against us for our sins, with many singular Intimations of his Fatherly Compassion, and regard; reserving many of our Towns from Desolation Threatened, and attempted by the Enemy, and giving us especially of late with many of our Confederates many signal Advantages against them, without such Disadvantage to ourselves as formerly we have been sensible of, if it be the Lord's mercy that we are not consumed, It certainly bespeaks our positive Thankfulness, when our Enemies are in any measure disappointed or destroyed; and fearing the Lord should take notice under so many Intimations of his returning mercy, we should be found an Insensible people, as not standing before Him with Thanksgiving, as well as lading him with our Complaints in the time of pressing Afflictions:

The Council has thought meet to appoint and set apart the 29th day of this instant June, as a day of Solemn Thanksgiving and praise to God for such his Goodness and Favour, many Particulars of which mercy might be Instanced, but we doubt not those who are sensible of God's Afflictions, have been as diligent to espy him returning to us; and that the Lord may behold us as a People offering Praise and thereby glorifying Him; the Council doth commend it to the Respective Ministers, Elders and people of this Jurisdiction; Solemnly and seriously to keep the same Beseeching that being perswaded by the mercies of God we may all, even this whole people offer up our bodies and soulds as a living and acceptable Service unto God by Jesus Christ."

http://whatreallyhappened.com/RANCHO/POL...c.txt.html

[Richard]

Happy Thanksgiving Day ! - plus Some Real History

2003-11-27 | Today is Thanksgiving Day in the United States. It is a special day, set aside to give thanks for the bounties of Nature, by sharing food with family and friends, in gratitude for their Blessings.

Unlike the Harvest Festivals of other societies, Thanksgiving Day does not feature references to a particular religious view of Divinity. This is due to the fact that the United States was founded as a Deist - or agnostic - country, allowing all forms of worship, while designating no specific religion as “official”.

Deism, in its most basic form, holds that while God may exist, it is inherent in human nature to seek and discover such knowledge and that the best way to do so is by studying Nature.

Much earlier, when the first European settler-colonists landed upon North American shores, they encountered many Native American cultures, all based upon a high regard for Nature and the belief that a Creator - who could be described by the English Language term “God” – had created Humanity, as part of Nature and not separate.

Modern American Legend holds that the “Pilgrim Fathers” who landed in Massachusetts and their Indian hosts sat down together at “The First Thanksgiving” and shared their food in Peace.

This legend could be an example for all peoples everywhere and could provide the basis for a global rapprochment, respecting all beliefs of all peoples.

Sadly, this is difficult, for the legend itself is flawed. While the Pilgrim refugees from Britain and The Netherlands were indeed advised by their Native American hosts, as to what could be harvested in the harsh climate of Massachusetts, the reward for this hospitality was far from a spirit of mutual “Thanksgiving”. Instead of “supper”, the Pilgrims gave slaughter.

The Pilgrims were also called “Puritans”and were scorned by their European compatriots for their harsh interpretation of the Bible and their belief that they alone were designated by God as a “Chosen People”, superseding and surpassing the Jews of the Bible.

They also believed that Nature, by its very nature, was a source of “temptation” that must be conquered.

Although the Deist founders of the United States had a different view of Nature, the legend of the “Pilgrim Fathers” has had lasting effects.

One may see in the historical development of the United States, from its conquest of the continent and near total genocidal policies toward the Native American, to its current quest for global domination, the roots of a pathology of superiority, born from the beliefs of the Puritans, much revered as “the Pilgrim Fathers”.

Fortunately, there are many Americans who see in Thanksgiving, the seeds of a greater “Universal Thanksgiving” where the legend will blossom into a world harvest of Peace.

In the hope that this will come to be, we wish everyone a most Peaceful and Happy Thanksgiving Day and hope that the Thanksgiving Legend may soon come true !

We also hope that you will read the following article on “The First Thanksgiving” and that through a thoughtful re-examination of American History, we may all find ways to live together peacefully.

Paul V. Rafferty

The First Thanksgiving

From the Community Endeavor News, November, 1995,
as reprinted in Healing Global Wounds, Fall, 1996

The first official Thanksgiving wasn't a festive gathering of Indians and Pilgrims, but rather a celebration of the massacre of 700 Pequot men, women and children, an anthropologist says. Due to age and illness his voice cracks as he talks about the holiday, but William B. Newell, 84, talks with force as he discusses Thanksgiving. Newell, a Penobscot, has degrees from two universities, and was the former chairman of the anthropology department at the University of Connecticut.

"Thanksgiving Day was first officially proclaimed by the Governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1637 to commemorate the massacre of 700 men, women and children who were celebrating their annual green corn dance-Thanksgiving Day to them-in their own house," Newell said.

"Gathered in this place of meeting they were attacked by mercenaries and Dutch and English. The Indians were ordered from the building and as they came forth they were shot down. The rest were burned alive in the building," he said.

Newell based his research on studies of Holland Documents and the 13 volume Colonial Documentary History, both thick sets of letters and reports from colonial officials to their superiors and the king in England, and the private papers of Sir William Johnson, British Indian agent for the New York colony for 30 years in the mid-1600s.

"My research is authentic because it is documentary," Newell said. "You can't get anything more accurate than that because it is first hand. It is not hearsay."

Newell said the next 100 Thanksgivings commemorated the killing of the Indians at what is now Groton, Ct. [home of a nuclear submarine base] rather than a celebration with them. He said the image of Indians and Pilgrims sitting around a large table to celebrate Thanksgiving Day was "fictitious" although Indians did share food with the first settlers.

Republished in conjunction with:
Global Network Against Weapons & Nuclear Power in Space
PO Box 652
Brunswick, ME 04011
1 (207) 729-0517
[email protected]
http://www.space4peace.org

Please also see:

The First Thanksgiving Proclamation;
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info...le5302.htm

Sacred sites and the ‘Concentrated will’ of the West
Special to Indian Country Today;
http://www.indiancountry.com/?1068221807
and
America’s First Welfare Case;
http://www.indiancountry.com/?1069428905

Wesley BadHeartBull
"no thanksgiving at our house"
http://www.geocities.com/lisbethduck/thanksgiving.html

The Dark Historical Roots Of Our 'Thanksgiving'
Lest We Forget...
From Tristan;
http://www.rense.com/general45/thanks.htm

'Why I Hate Thanksgiving'
By Mitchel Cohen with much material contributed by Peter Linebaugh
and others whose names have over the years been lost;
http://www.rense.com/general45/thanks2.htm

Hunger increasing around the world after earlier decline - UN food agency;
http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=8986&Cr=food&Cr1=hunger

Native Blood - The Myth Of Thanksgiving

Don't forget to watch Farm Aid 2003 on PBS this Thanksgiving evening!!

Musicians Teamed Up to Support Family Farmers
This Thanksgiving, after the turkey is gone and the table's been cleared, settle in to watch Farm Aid 2003: A Soundstage Special Event presented by Silk Soymilk on your local PBS station from 9:00 p.m.-11:00 p.m. EST (check your local listings).

Premiering for the first time on national public television, this musical celebration features performances by artists who have rallied to make this event a powerful social force in supporting farmers and strengthening America. Farm Aid 2003 was taped September 7 at the Germain Amphitheater in Columbus, Ohio. This two-hour primetime special features performances by Willie Nelson, Neil Young and Crazy Horse, John Mellencamp and Dave Matthews. Also taking center stage for the cause are Sheryl Crow, Brooks & Dunn, Emmylou Harris, Los Lonely Boys, Hootie & the Blowfish, Billy Bob Thornton and Trick Pony.

For information about how you can support family farmers and guarantee your access to fresh, healthful food, visit: http://www.farmaid.org/

To learn more about food irradiation, visit: http://www.citizen.org/cmep/
 
http://www.unobserver.com/index.php?pagina=layout5.php&id=5403&blz=1

[MC]

Happy Turkey Day folks.Just so that you know,we did eat turkey in this part of the world.:D

[lankerpank]

Cool.... wish I had my face planted in some cranberry sauce and potatoes today :p

[SHAMAN]

happy thanksgiving, nice words really. Happy thanksgiving days to all :)