I searched up the definition for Thanksgiving and two popped up. One is ”the expression of gratitude, especially to God.” The other definition is “an annual national holiday held in North America marked by religious observances and a traditional meal including turkey. The holiday commemorates a harvest festival celebrated by the Pilgrims in 1621, and is held in the U.S. on the fourth Thursday in November.” I think the best definition that resonates best with me is “a national holiday that commemorates people appreciating being a human and living on Earth, regardless of religious beliefs”. I’m not a religious person so I don’t tend to focus on the religious part of Thanksgiving. I mainly focus on spending time with family and resonating with your culture. Thanksgiving is a holiday where most everyone in your family comes together as one. I relate back to the chapter from the book Braiding Sweetgrass by Robyn Wall Kimmerer. The chapter is called Allegiance to Gratitude and it talks about how the Onondaga Nation has a similar saying to the Pledge of Allegiance. Instead of saying the Pledge of Allegiance they say the Thanksgiving Address.
The Thanksgiving Address is said by different grades inside of the Onondaga school by a different grade each week. They either say it in their own language or English. The Thanksgiving Address is said to show gratitude and resonating with Mother Earth, the Creator, and each other. In the saying they show appreciation to each thing that provides something to them and at the end of each individual saying it says “we are one“. I feel like the Thanksgiving Address shows how much different things you should be thankful and show appreciation for. The author states “Just as all beings have a duty to me, I have a duty to them” relating to reciprocity. She resonates back to reciprocity because of the Onondaga people giving back to the things that are given to them.
I resonate with the reciprocity part because I think giving back is the most important part of Thanksgiving. Giving back to people is a big part in my culture. To give back something in my culture shows how you show respect towards yourself and other people. Respect is actually one of our values to follow in my culture. The values are there to better understand who you are as person and understand your culture. Knowing and understanding your culture shows essentially knowing and understand more of your ethnicity and who you are as a person.
I think Thanksgiving is not only about the food. It is about people gathering and bonding more with each other, even if they see each other everyday or not. I realize how much I needed family time after the holiday because sometimes before the holiday your soul can be missing something, like family time, and you wouldn’t even know it. Thanksgiving is there to realize who and what you are grateful for and who or what gives something to you. Showing that you acknowledge the little things in your life is the most important part of Thanksgiving.
Madison Sawyer
I enjoyed your blog on Thanksgiving. It seems as though Thanksgiving sometimes gets overshadowed by the upcoming holiday – Christmas. Growing up, I was taught that Thanksgiving is about being thankful for who and what you have in your life. The Thanksgiving meal is a big part of the holiday, and the meal to me is just a way to bring people together and also enjoy some delicious food. My family is quite small so we don’t really follow the tradition of family traveling to come together. But we have our own traditions which are just as special and significant. Thanksgiving is a special holiday and it carries the heavy message of family importance which is a great thing to have come around every year.
Brendon Mowery
Hey Dilyn,
Great job on your post for this week. I really liked the layout of it and it was really easy to follow. As a religious person, I had a different perspective and idea of what Thanksgiving is but it is still interesting and informative to learn and hear about someone else’s view of it. To my family, Thanksgiving is all about thanking God for our family, friends, house, and basically everything. Sometimes we spend it up in Fairbanks with our extended family but this year we are planning on staying home and having another family over.
It’s interesting because I don’t usually think about the first Thanksgiving, the pilgrims, or the Thanksgiving address on Thanksgiving. However, on Christmas, all we do is focus on the first Christmas and what happened then. I think that people should spend more time focusing on the first Thanksgiving and being thankful for the people in your life, and less on the food. Great job on your post and keep up the good work!