Reader FAQ: Pagans and Thanksgiving
Thursday November 6, 2008
A reader writes in with an interesting dilemma. He says, "My family wants to have a big Thanksgiving celebration, but I don't want to participate. I object to this holiday as a protest of the treatment of Native Americans by my white ancestors. Any ideas on how I can survive Turkey Day and still hold true to my Pagan ideals?"
You know, you're not alone. There are a lot of people in the Pagan community, and not just Native Americans, who feel that the day everyone calls Thanksgiving should instead be a day of mourning rather than celebration. Personally, I've always thought Thanksgiving was a silly holiday anyway, because I'm thankful for stuff all year long, but that's just me. And in some families, really, you have to pick your battles. With the holidays approaching, it's a tricky balance to find indeed. Sometimes, the best you can hope for is to educate your family a little bit. Here are some ideas on how you can deal with this dilemma: Pagans and Thanksgiving
Also, readers, chime in! Do any of you refuse to participate in Thanksgiving because of the cultural annihilation it represents to some people? Or should we all just sit down and eat our turkey, and save our protesting for another day? Chime in down in the Comments section, and tell us what you think.
You know, you're not alone. There are a lot of people in the Pagan community, and not just Native Americans, who feel that the day everyone calls Thanksgiving should instead be a day of mourning rather than celebration. Personally, I've always thought Thanksgiving was a silly holiday anyway, because I'm thankful for stuff all year long, but that's just me. And in some families, really, you have to pick your battles. With the holidays approaching, it's a tricky balance to find indeed. Sometimes, the best you can hope for is to educate your family a little bit. Here are some ideas on how you can deal with this dilemma: Pagans and Thanksgiving
Also, readers, chime in! Do any of you refuse to participate in Thanksgiving because of the cultural annihilation it represents to some people? Or should we all just sit down and eat our turkey, and save our protesting for another day? Chime in down in the Comments section, and tell us what you think.
Comments
I participate in the Thanksgiving Day ritual with my family out of respect for my family. For us, it’s not about observing or waxing nostalgic about Pilgrims and Indians, rather the holiday is an opportunity for the family to come together under one roof for a day of feasting and reconnecting.
Now, if someone wants to get into the whole Pilgrims and Indians, I’ll be glad to educate him/her on the real story of Thanksgiving, complete with the eventual Xian decimation and relocation of Native populations.
We can celebrate Thanksgiving as a family holiday, a final Harvest Feast, or as an excuse to have a day or two off - no Pilgrims and Indians required.
I can’t remember a Thanksgiving where pilgrims or Native Americans were even mentioned. I think most people celebrate it as a day to give thanks for what they have and to be with family. It’s one of the few times I have to be with my family as I don’t live near any of them. I’m also a vegetarian so the food definitely isn’t a big draw for me either, it’s all about getting to spend time with my family.
I agree with the previous posters - I, too,never had any Pilgrim and Indian stuff around Thanksgiving except at school. My dad made the holiday crap by hating the whole season because a wife left him many many years ago and he never let go of it. Even through two more wives and 50 years of life. It should be time to just celebrate and be thankful for what we have here and now and the people we get to spend the day with. If you want to include honouring Native Americans there are tons of beautiful childrens’ books or movies you can share with your family. It would be better to stress the honour and leave the horrors for other times, though.
To me, Thanksgiving is another opportunity to celebrate the harvest, to give thanks (thus it’s name!) for the bounty in my life, to spend time with our extended families … and to watch the Macey’s Parade (the only parade I like to watch), ushering the holiday season. I’m not a holiday exclusionist choosing some and avoiding the others. I love and embrace them all, regardless of what name anybody gives them, and celebrate each one with enthusiasm and love and gratitude (and lots of food).
I was born and raised in a farming community. To my family and many others around us, Thanksgiving is and always has been a harvest celebration. What I was taught in school was that the pilgrims and native tribes celebrated together at the end of harvest time. After the slaughter and harvest were done, both peoples came together to celebrate a good year. It never had anything to do with the mistreatment of the native peoples by whites. It was a celebration of cooperation between these two races.
At its heart, Thanksgiving is simply a time to celebrate the harvest and our bonds with one another. Think of it as a time when you can enjoy a Pagan-like festival with family members you might not get to celebrate with usually!
I make it a harvest celebration as well. I’m like Leisl, I embrace them all and enjoy the festive air that the holidays give.
Blessed Be
well, sometimes thanksgiving falls on the anniversary of my mothers death, and coming as the first holiday after samhain i continue the samhain theme.
i give thanks for those living and mark the passing of those that have gone before.
and those that think that thanksgiving day is the day that the NA and pilgrims feasted really need to read some history. its the day the indians saved the pilgrims collective butts! they(pilgrims) came to america thinking it would be spring and ready to plant, imagine how upset they were when they found out it was the start of winter?
The celebration that my family and I enjoy has nothing to do with what happened several hundred years ago. Sense the dawn of man, there has been wars, murder and humanity trying to rule humanity. I think before we can say “I dont like what it stands for Im not celebrating”, we need to look at history. Every single country and belief system has had its wars and man trying to rule man. Even the Pagans. Seems like all celebrations have there dark side if you really want to get into history.
I agree with the previous posters. My husband is descended from Native Americans, and ironically I have often thought am descended from the Mayflower settlers. We celebrate where we are now not where we were. As with decsendants of slaves and slave owners we cannot change the past but learn from it to better the future. I have done my best to teach my daughter both sides of her heritage and be proud of what both sides of her heritage have accomplished. Because she is what I am most thankful for anyway.
I agree with others. My partner and I host the family gathering and it’s a time to be together and enjoy everybody’s company. We have developed some traditions for the day including watching the Macy’s parade, and going to an event called the “Fantasy of Trees” where the proceeds go to support the East Tennessee Children’s Hospital.
I have never looked at Thankgiving as a negitive thing, Yes it was so wrong what happened to the Indians. and for that I’m ashamed of my own race. But I look at Thankgiving as a time to be with your family and have treated it like an addition to Samhain, Let me Explain,….We are gathering to give thanks for the Harvest during this time of year and honor our loved ones that have crossed over. Thanksgiving is no different(except where the History books are concerned) But I see it as a time when we and the Indians lived together in peace befor all the wars began. They welcomed us to their land
and what followed was horrible and unforgivable. I wish things had played out differently between our races.I celebrate Thankgiving with my family also as time to prepare for Yule/Christmas. Most of my family
are Christian, and not pagan like me, but most are of an open mind and heart so we celebrate our holidays together with a mix of both spiritual paths. And it works out great.
I love it when two Spitual paths can unite together like that.
I only wish the rest of the world could follow.
I will be holding a special ritual Thanksgiving day in Honor of the Native American Indians and for what they sacrificed for this nation. Their Lives and Their Ways.
They must not be forgotten.
Blessed Be!
Shelley.
Coming from the Navajo reservation, Thanksgiving doesn’t have to be about Europeans VS First Americans. How about just a nice chance to get together with loved ones that perhaps you cannot see at other times? No matter how many Thanksgivings you give up doesn’t change the past. How about doing something nice for your neighbor if you insist on feeling guilty.
I married into a cherokee family and they celebrate thanksgiving. Its one of the few events you cant really take a pass on. Everyone shows up and you get to enjoy each others company long enough to last you to Yule/Christmas. Yes what happened was horrible. You yourself are not responsible. Instead of focusing on sins of old why not respect your families wishes and try to turn it into a family event you can respect going to.
Thanksgiving is what you chose to make it. Did the Native Americans get a raw deal, you better believe it, they still do. But in reality, what does that have to do with present day celebration? To me, they are two separate issues. If you are thankful for your family, friends, and community…show them by sharing time and a meal. If you wish to be involved in advocacy for Native American groups, go for it. They can be two exclusive activities without connection, if you allow it. And if you still feel they need to be connected, offer up a loud verbal prayer for the spirits of the exploited.
I guess I havent really looked at Thanksgiving as a time of being thankful. For the most part it was a day off of work, the family meeting at my brothers house and I dont have to cook. But then again I go and cook the same meal at my house so we can have the leftovers. For me it is just time away from work and being able to be with the ones I love. I honour the earth and she provided this food for me. May peace be with all. moonshadow
Personally I see no problem in celebrating Thanksgiving. The holiday has turned into something different than what it use to be. Most people I know celebrate the holiday because it is a time to see reletives and eat until you cant breath, and also it is a great time to get together and discuss December holiday plans. So in short, I see no reason to not celebrate Thanksgiving because to most people the original meaning behind it is lost.
I am of Native American decent ( both of my parents were what was known as “half breeds”)
We have always celebrated the Thanksgiving holiday for many of the same reasons the previous posters have mentioned. A time to come together as family, celebrate the harvest and be reminded to not take for granted the gifts we have been given in our lives. When our family would come together we got some of the best stories from the elders, memories I wouldn’t trade for anything. Most of those elders have passed to the spirit world and I now host this time with my family and my generation now passes the stories of our lives onto the younger group.
I usually use Columbus Day to help people remember the atrocities committed by European Americans upon the native population. Like most everyone else said, Thanksgiving in my family is more about just getting together and eating. This year, though, I’m thinking about blowing off my regular drill and spending it with my Coven family… my blood-kin, though I love them, are just SO far removed from my world… we have virtually nothing in common outside our DNA.
My Family is Mowhawk, we celebrate thanksgiving. Just a little differently.
We gather at an elders house, both sadly and happily this year it’s my fathers house. We use it as a time to prepare for the winter. The girls bustle around the house preparing all the food and the guys are ooutside, chopping wood and getting the amimals ready fixing the barns and what not.
Then at the end of the day we all sit down and feast until we bust! We have turkey and other foods that some maynot consider “thanksgiving foods” like corn soup, cornmeal mush, and a squirrel or 10 hehe.
That’s how it’s always been for us, for at least as long as I can remember anyway.
Thank you all for letting me share!
BB
A
Oddly enough,some of the native americans practiced a “feast” during this same period of time.This was referred to as(in translation) “harvest time” This was held at the full of the moon, in the fall of the year. As there were no methods of preserving certian foods that were grown during the season, the last of the crops were eaten before they spoiled. This was also a period in which a number of marrages occurred.There were many other things that were attached to this time, but I will not elaborate on them here.
Suffice to say, as a native american I have no problems with the “Thanksgiving” feast. Allthough when My great grandfather was alive this lasted for three days and nights!
I do miss the drumming and dancing..
If you want to be upset over a “settler” holliday, some of us are a bit testy over Columbus day.
I agree with the previous posters in that for me, Thanksgiving is a time for me to spend with my family. The last time I had even thought about Pilgrams was back in school so many years ago. My Great Grandfather was a full-blooded Cherokee, and he too celebrated Thanksgiving as a day of family and friends.
I certianly don’t approve of what the pilgrams did, but to me and my family, this day has never been about pilgrams anyway. I say take it and make it your own!
Brightest of Blessings!
Ogeon
I’m a descendent of both the Plymouth Pilgrims AND Native Americans. I’m sure I’m not alone. I’ve even felt guilty, in the past, about how my ancestors treated each other (neither side is totally guilty or innocent). I like Thanksgiving…it gives me a chance to celebrate with friends & family before the chaos of the December holidays.
On October 12th, instead of celebrating Columbus Day, I celebrate Dia de la Raza, the Day of the Race, the day the first Hispanic Americans were conceived, the day the beautiful Hispanic culture began.
I believe it is important to remember the evil perpetuated on Native Americans beginning with the first settlers and continuing to this day on our reservations and border with Mexico. Those memories should inspire us to action not just be a day to remember the past.
I look at Thanksgiving as a day to celebrate with friends and family . A day to replenish the bonds that tie us all together and to celebrate the harvest.
Blessed be to all my brothers and sisters at this time of year.
Hmm, well a lot have said what I think. Also Thanksgiving is a good time of year (well November in general) because:
18:My Cousin’s Birthday
19: My Niece’s Birthday
25: Mine and my other Cousin’s Birthday
26: My Step-Grandma’s Birthday
And inevitably my birthday lands on Thanksgiving day every once in a while. Why not protest how the Native Americans were treated the days it actually happened instead? Why bear their besom for them? Why do you have to feel such resentment towards your people for what happened how many centuries ago? If I am wrong that you’re not of the Caucasian race, then forgive me. I know there are still some Natives somewhere that harbor bad feelings and bad blood about it all, but my question is Why? What good does it do you? Do you think it helps your blood pressure by bein angry about it? Do you think it helps your stress level when you dwell on it? Do you think that you’ll destroy others’ holiday? Sure they may feel bad you can’t join in, but chances are when the celebrating is going on, in the long run, they’ll still celebrate!
My general feeling on the mistreatment thing: GET OVER IT! It happend centuries ago, they’ve gotten compensation for it, they get to have casinos and take all the white people’s money, they also get to have eagle feathers, and peyote, and I can’t really think of anything else that they get to have that we can’t, but I think they do.
I always participate in Thanksgiving because for my family it is not about how horribly Native Americans were treated, it is about coming together as a family. I get to see relatives that I’m lucky to get in contact with more than once or twice in a year. I have fun helping cook and clean before everybody gets there.
Now before anyone jumps the gun about me forgetting all the travesties that befell the Native Americans, please know that I am Native American through both my parents and that I always push for Native American rights when those rights are being trampled upon. I simply don’t believe that negative connotations should win out because that is how negativity takes a firmer hold in ones life. I still celebrate coming together with my family on Thanksgiving and I always intend to.
I’ve never really thought of Thanksgiving as all that much of a thankful holiday for the same reason that we should be thankful everyday. However, I have always looked forward to it for the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade and seeing family that I rarely get to see. But I do see the mourning side of it as well and think that the Native Americans should always be remembered.
I just recently learned the true story about Thanksgiving from a radio talk show. I am shocked how they teach our children in schools the false story. I did tell my daughter the true meaning of Thanksgiving. I also agree that we should choose our battles wisely. I look at that day as a time to get together with family that we do not see throughout the year. Is there any books available on the true story of Thanksgiving?
My grandparents survived countless hardships and many terrifying, life-threatening experiences in Europe before coming to the US. When they got here they maintained their Russian celebrations but added the American holiday of Thanksgiving to that annual cycle because they were so grateful to be here and have a chance at a safe, comfortable life.
My grandmother has been hosting this annual feast since 1950. She makes a turkey and mashed potatoes in a nod to the American tradition, but the rest of the food is heavily Russian-influenced. It’s one day out of only three in the whole year when everyone comes together, now that a lot of us have moved away.
To refuse to celebrate for any reason would be to dishonor my grandmother. She has been there for me in so many ways my whole life, she is like a living goddess to me. I gladly, gratefully and wholeheartedly participate in her Thanksgiving.
At our house Thanksgiving is a big buffet. That is about it. There are really no traditions or rituals we associate with this holiday, unless you count the family getting together.
like a pervious poster, i have a problem with Columbus day not thanksgiving day.
since tomorrow is the full moon, this is when the whole thankfulness will be a theme for our family. Delightfully it is also the day that the Thai people, as a whole community, send light and beauty down their river. Since we have a thai student living with us we will incorporate these time honored traditions with peace and love and thanksgiving!
blessings
November is not a fun month for me. It’s a reminder of the fact that both my parents died right around Thanksgiving/their anniversary. I choose to celebrate Thanksgiving though because it is a time for me to be with the family I still have and all my friends who have become family to me. We have never mentioned Pilgrims or Indians even when I was a child. I see the holiday as being a celebration of family and friends, and I choose to surround myself with both that weekend.
Usually before my family arrives, I say a word to honor the Native Americans who lost their lives for this so called day of celebration, but for me I take time every day to give thanks for my blessings
Ah, the pictures we paint are all but reality. It is truly sad and pathetic to know we are such hippocrites. I don’t celebrate Indian massacre day. It erks me to know that Indians gave the undeserving pilgrim jerks priceless gifts such as knowledge, food and shared their lands and bounty only to be rewarded with death.
Thanksgiving has always been pagan this was the Indian’s way of celebrating and giving their thanks to Mother Earth for her bountiful gifts of harvest from the closing season. (Harvest or Harvest solstice).
How disrespectful is everyone here?
I can’t believe that out of the mouths of fellow Pagans, they “poo poo” a holiday that is supposed to bring families together.
It has nothing to do with “Xians” (Christians, and what a terrible connotation that brings about when using that term. Shame on you all for using that!) and there isn’t a need to explain the background. Can’t you just enjoy being with your family?
This is why I remove myself from the Pagan community, because of STUPID comments such as this. Same goes with any other “holiday”; it’s just families coming together.
Please get over yourselves, if not for you then do it for your FAMILY!
I never really have enjoyed Thanksgiving so I take my husband and kids away for a total reconnect time. We usually go down to Galveston, but don’t know if we will get to this year because of Hurricane Ike. But everyone is so busy now a days, so we reconnect, just me my husband and our two kids.
This year for Thanksgiving, I am doing something totally different than usual. I am cooking and serving in a soup kitchen so the homeless and disadvantaged people can get together and enjoy a nice meal. I just got so bored with my families attitude regarding Thanksgiving. Its like everyone gets together and eats themselves into a stupor, then fall asleep in front of a football game on t.v. Then everyone gets up at the crack of dawn the next morning to fight the crowds at the mall to see who can get the best holiday bargains. It is all so extravagant and stupid. They are honoring no one. Its just another excuse for them to over indulge. This year I will be spending my time with people who may actually enjoy being alive and happy.
Thanksgiving holidays when I was growing up in a “christian” household basically consisted of families gathering to argue and stress out. What fun eh? NOT! I spent the majority of the time hiding up in the canyon above our house… even in the snow!!!
As an adult and a witch, I tried doing the “thanksgiving dinner thing” for the sake of family teadition, and it was a total disaster year after year.
I finally had had it when some members of the fam dictated who I could or could not invite because “they” didn’t like “them”. My non-pagan husband agreed with me that we would chuck ALL the family christain celebrations and do Pagan holidays only from now on.
THANK THE GODDESS!!!! My mother is a little confused why we have turkey dinners on Sept 21 for Mabon… but oh well!!! Viva la Craft!
Bright Blessings
Lady Q
Lori(28) — if you click on the link above, it takes you to my main article on Pagans and Thanksgiving. There’s an awesome book mentioned in there called “1621,” which tells the story from the Native American perspective. It’s lovely, and was sponsored by the Plimoth Plantation historical society.
patti
For many families the holidays are the only time we all get together as a family. I am thankful for that time to share and learn and teach with my family members who are not pagan. I think so many of the old traditional holidays have taken on new more updated meanings. If you really are against it then don’t go, but you are potentially missing out on some important moments with family who you may never see again.
Thanksgiving is for those who came across on the Mayflower. I just let them celebrate it, for at first they did have a lot to be thankful for. But then after a while they took over and murdered and stole from my people, I do have some Irish blood runnning through my vains, but Thanksgiving like Columbus Day is a very bad taste in the mouth for my ancestors and brothers and sisters of today. Just celebrate what “you” feel is right.
Dohyi (Walk In Peace) Oganali-i (My Friend)
I, also, have Native American blood in me, though it’s nine generations back. Plus Scotch-Irish, German, French and English. I am a lesbian who has been with my partner for 12 years, and she is three-quarter Cherokee. We have both became Pagans(Roman/Latin for (”country dweller)about 8 years ago. My partner says Paganism and the Earth religions are very close to her Native American beliefs anyway, and we do not look at Thanksgiving as a horror story about what happened to the Native population after the white people took over the country. Instead, we look at it as just another Harvest festival, and truly a day of Thanks, for what we have, and how lucky we are to have what we have(like each other, and our children, and our home, and my job, and transporation to get TO that job). There are many in this world who don’t even have the basic necessities, like food, water and shelter, people who have to struggle and fight to get even that. So we are thankful to have these things, and we cook a turkey for this occasion,(the meat lasts forever, and we have a new fridge to put the meat in, plus a freezer to put surplus food in)for which I am thankful for, if I had not a job, we wouldn’t have this humble home or a roof over our heads and food in our stomachs. So we give thanks, to the Creator, and to the animals who gave their lives so we can eat their flesh to live, and celebrate our good and bountiful lives. Life is short and often hard, be thankful for what you DO have that is good.
I agree with a lot of what’s on here, but I have to say, even though I don’t celebrate most of the Christian holidays, or even ones like Thanksgiving traditionally, I do have to be there with my family because I love them and I know it’s important to be there for them.
Instead, though there is often protest in my heart, I think of each of these times in a pagan way, in the case of Thanksgiving, a time to be grateful for what I have, and for those with me. The idea of praying for those injured along the way, like the native americans is a really good idea to help ease the pain and assist in the healing process.
Often when my family members pray, I will say “Amen” just not usually join in on the prayer in the Christian sense. I will pray to the Goddess and God and thank them for the harvest. It’s clandestine and sort of an individual celebration, but it’s a way to celebrate without “celebrating” or a better word might be “supporting” the ill choices by and treatment of some of America’s ancestors.
blessed be!
I do Thanksgiving every year out of respect. I was raised pagan and know several native americans, so I’ve come to view Thanksgiving like this: For that one moment in history people gathered together in peace and shared a sacred human ritual- eating together. There was a bond there, and I celebrate that. They might have tried to rip each others faces off, but thats later in the story, lol. But no one group of people is ever the enemy, no matter which way you look at it. So I try to tap into the Great Mother as many before me have and make my own reason for a holiday.
The original Thanksgiving has nothing to do with the Pilgrims or Native Americans.It was a day declared by George Washington as a day to thank his troops in defeating the British. Somewhere in the 20th century one of the presidents declared it a holiday of thanks.It was a day of giving thanks for the great nation that had been built here.It was a day of thanks for those who helped create this country.I saw this on a PBS documentary several years ago.
I feel that you can celebrate Thanksgiving if you just ask, if you may add a few things or if you give the dinner your self make it your own , if you feel the Indians were wronged ( which I do) then you can write a prayer for that purpose to say or decorate to represent them or make some of the native dishes that they might have ate.its more about being with the family then a religious holiday in a lot of family’s if your family is religious then you need to make the decision as to either giving your own dinner or being the bigger person and put your feelings aside and go for family sake.
it seems to me that protesting or feeling guilty about things you had nothing to do with much less participated in is not just silly but stupid. why not focus your energy on the possitive and protest something you can actually do something about
As far as I am concerned Thanksgiving is another harvest celebration and thus has a strong Pagan undercurrent. We don’t utilize the Pilgrim/Native American legend in our Thanksgiving celebrations. So if the nation wants to give me a day off to overeat in observation of another confiscated Pagan holiday I have no objections, I just apply my beliefs to it.
Why choose to not attend something because its xian? Isn’t that discriminating? For me its about Family and Friends enjoying each other no matter what religion, race, or any of that. As a pagan I’m thankful for everyday I have on this earth, So this “Holiday” is about family and friends for most people
Brightest Blessings to All
How about growing up and lightening up, for pete’s sakes! There are much more important things to protest about than the killing of turkeys and the actions of a bunch of ignorant pilgrims over 300 years ago. Thanksgiving is about giving thanks for our blessings today and here and now.
I would like to see Thanksgiving kept pure with out protest.
It is a time to celebrate with family and friends and be grateful for the bounty we have recieved from mother Earth.
I believe columbus day would be a better time for protest.
Peter Windshadow
hellos,
I usually celebrate the holiday because it I am expected to; not because I believe in it . To me , celebrating Thanksgiving is ethically wrong . On that day I light a candle , and meditate for about an hour , with the intent of learning from history , so I can do my best not to repeat it . I promise to the dead , that personally , I renew my vow of ” Never Again ” . I do not want it to happen again , I celebrate family bonds daily , so I can set aside mourning time .
I concur with most of the above posters, Thanksgiving is m=now a time of being thankful for your family and the blessings and gifts you have received from the Goddess in the past year.
It is a time to get together and renew the bonds of friendship with both family and friends.
The only time I remember an inordinate stress on the role of the settlers and the native Americans was when I was in Elementary school(over 50 years ago) in Connecticut. But that was another time and the mind set of the world has hopefully changed. If you want to do anything to make the day more meaningful you should meditate on all the current hate in the world and seek a way to relieve all the tribalism and religious hatred.
Until we can expect each other for what we are and rejoice in our differences we are doomed to repeat the past.
Well as a Native American, I don’t get that worked up about the holiday. But as the wife of a serviceman and as a veteran I’ve spent most of the holidays away from family, so I see it as a chance to reconnect and enjoy being together. We can put any meaning we want to the reason we as pagans are celebrating a particular holiday.
The appropriate time to celebrate “Thanksgiving” is at the holiday of Mabon (autumn equinox). This is the time for harvest home and harvest festivals. America is the only culture that celebrates a thanksgiving feast long after the harvest is over-wouldn’t you know it. Thanksgiving is put on the calendar in late November for strictly marketing and retail purposes. Again American greed. Look where it’s gotten us. I believe we are now reaping the bad kharma we set in motion when our ancestors displaced the NATIVE AMERICANS purely for colonization reasons over 250 years ago. The sins of the fathers?! Study the history of the holiday we call “Thanksgiving”. No wonder Thanksgiving gets overshadowed by Christmas/Yule/Winter Solstice more and more each year.