tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11683707.post125984722650898272..comments2024-03-27T02:28:02.916-07:00Comments on TiyospayeNow: Thanksgiving, Hope and the Hidden Heart of Eviljfkeelerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05976798387187770375noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11683707.post-10867496155949089262013-02-05T17:25:32.580-08:002013-02-05T17:25:32.580-08:00Thanks Garfunkel. I see what you mean, but as it w...Thanks Garfunkel. I see what you mean, but as it was the Wampanoag that brought the food to the first Thanksgiving and the English had been living off their kindness throughout that hard, first winter, I see this story as not having a direct tie to the traditions you outline. And certainly as a staple of American history it does not serve that purpose, either. The purpose is one of American myth making in order to make the taking of the land okay in the mind of high-minded but morally worried Americans. If you grow up here being taught the story in elementary school you would experience that first hand as I did and see that is the case.<br /><br />America is a very racially-minded place and I am constantly being asked (every single day!) by white people to explain "who I am" "where I am from" because the assumption is that if I am not white, I must not be from here. So, for my own well-being and sense of self, I must understand my indigenous roots. Also, my Navajo grandparents were traditional (they spoke only Navajo, no English) and were so until they died a decade ago in the 21st century. This is who we are even today. I could pretend in my mind to be white - blanca, a blank American slate, but no one else would see me that way and it would be like cutting of my arm, or cutting out my heart. It is who I am and my culture and traditions are precious to me.<br /><br />Peace - Hozhojfkeelerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05976798387187770375noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11683707.post-18721519850760043552012-12-08T13:44:03.988-08:002012-12-08T13:44:03.988-08:00Hey, this piece has been really duplicated all ove...Hey, this piece has been really duplicated all over the net by now.<br />I'm a european male currently living in germany and I've been sympathetic to some, what I believed to be, native american views of living.<br />I kind of wanted to point out things and get into the thanksgiving origin debate, because it kind of saddens me, but it really seems to not be worth it.<br /><br />I liked what you added at the top, though it does not diffuse the article, but I was wondering... Could you not just be yourself instead of trying to think of what it means to be a native american? It seems to just be an empowering limitation, a label.<br />I'm not saying a culture should be ignored or anything like that, absolutely not. It may be good if you need to unite. Just..<br /><br />Europeans used to eat a lot of cabbages and apples, turnips, broad beans, cheese. And bread and meat if you were rich. Wheat was very fundamental.<br /><br />The small villages (30 homes maybe) around here all still celebrate the end of the harvest. And they all do it a week apart from each other so that means they all go to one village on one weekend and get drunk and the next weekend they all go to the next one and get drunk and so on. I think it was even before the christian church that people were thankful (dankbar) for the harvest (ernte), there were a lot of pagan gods, for practical plants like the elder (holunder) for instance.<br />It's all very simple and very human really.<br /><br />I guess I leave this comment in the hope that there is a common ground somewhere.Garfunkelnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11683707.post-58727150471047727912007-11-20T20:05:00.000-08:002007-11-20T20:05:00.000-08:00I loved this post so much when it first appeared o...I loved this post so much when it first appeared on "Truthout" that I've been searching for it all week.<BR/><BR/>There is a whole lot I could add here, but your new preface says it for me too. This year, I am grateful for your words flowing down this electronic river where I could find them again.Radiohumperhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16423370035373293117noreply@blogger.com