Skip to main content

The true meaning of Thanksgiving





Thanksgiving is a time where friends and family get together and reflect on what they appreciate most, but what exactly is the historical background of this holiday?

Lisa Marie Anselmi, an archaeologist and department chair of anthropology at SUNY Buffalo State College, describes Thanksgiving as predominantly “a constructed American myth or narrative,” which all began in 1621 Plymouth, Massachusetts with the Pilgrims hosting a Harvest Festival.



“They feasted in such a way that they were firing off their guns and cannon, so they have imbibed a bit too much alcoholic beverage,” she said.

The sounds of the gunshots piqued the curiosity of the Wampanoag warriors, who “entered into a tentative alliance” with the English and went to see if they needed their assistance.

What resulted was a three-day feast and the Wampanoag warriors brought foodstuff like venison.

Anselmi says that there are two primary sources about the “so-called first Thanksgiving,” but in reality, it was not celebrated as a holiday until it was recognized by our sixteenth president in 1863.

“He does that because he is trying to unify a country in the midst of the Civil War,” she said.

However, not everyone celebrates Thanksgiving traditionally.

Otisha James, a student majoring in journalism and minoring in political science at SUNY Buffalo State College from Guyana, says that she doesn’t celebrate because she feels that it’s not as important to her and her family as Americans interpret it.

“Half of my family, like my mom, she’s Amerindian, which are like Indigenous people. They’re natives, so she doesn’t celebrate it at all,” she said. “I’ve never seen it growing up.”

Kashmir Bowser, a student majoring in anthropology and minoring in Indigenous studies, says that she doesn’t celebrate the traditional holiday.

Rather, Bowser, who is gayogo̱hó꞉nǫ’ of the Six Nations of Grand River, uses it as a time for family, cooking and taking advantage of the day off.

“Me and my spouse, we usually host dinner at our house, and my sister and parents will come,” she said. “It’s a time for us to be together, and to enjoy spending time together as a family for a couple hours a day.”

Whether Thanksgiving is celebrated or not, we all know that it’s really the food that brings people together.

Bowser said that she makes corn soup, a Haudenosaunee traditional meal made with a type of salty meat, hominy and kidney beans.

“My family uses salt pork, but other families will use ham,” she said. “There’s different variations, but that’s a meal that my grandmother’s grandmothers have made.”

James says that although she doesn’t celebrate Thanksgiving, Christmas in Guyana is a big celebration, and one delicacy is pepper pot.

“It takes about two days to make it because you have to let it simmer down. It consists of several different meats, spices, and all natural stuff that comes from our country,” she said.

If you do celebrate, why not try skipping the turkey this year and try something new?

Regardless of celebration or not, one piece of advice is certain: use this time as a time for a break.

Check out the Thanksgiving edition of Let’s Talk Buffalo episode 3 here!





Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Highlighting Indie Bookstores for World Book Day: Always Buying Books

Back row (left to right) Amelia Faulkner and Gary O’Dell;  Middle row (left to right) Bree Thuma and Tina Schmidt. Front row (left to right) Alyse Foley and Bob Wolfe  photo courtesy: Bob Wolfe JOPLIN, Mo. — In Webb City, 10-year-old Bob Wolfe would walk almost every day from his house to the public library. He couldn’t wait to devour the next set of "The Hardy Boys" books and lucky for him, he lived less than a mile away. “I didn't read 'The Hardy Boys,' I became the third brother. I lived them, I loved it,” he said. On the way home, he’d read one book while he carried the rest of the haul stuffed into his shirt. He was so absorbed in the story that he'd sometimes step off a curve, run into a tree or walk two blocks past his house without even realizing. Now, 74, he owns a bookstore of his own called Always Buying Books , in Joplin, the birthplace of Harlem Renaissance writer Langston Hughes. BOB WOLFE'S FAVORITE BOOK: Wolfe grew up in a family of reader

'A Second Reckoning: Race, Injustice and the Last Hanging in Annapolis' book review

pc: Cait Malilay "A Second Reckoning: Race, Injustice and the Last Hanging in Annapolis" by Scott D. Seligman delves into the historical case of John Snowden, a Black man charged under circumstantial evidence for murdering a White woman named Lottie Mae Brandon in 1917.  Seligman , an award-winning writer and a historian, walks readers through the case and the historical time period of Maryland's capitol, focusing specifically on race relations, while occasionally touching on gender norms and laws that restricted women from participating in government. Seligman presents the book in such a way where he's not setting out to prove whether Snowden was guilty or innocent, but rather simply stating the facts. There are many characters that help push forward the investigation, which made national headlines, one of them being Mary Grace Winterton Quackenbos Humiston. Humiston was a detective from New York who was hired by The Washington Times to solve the case.  She came fro

'The Neutral Ground: A Story About Sore Losers' SUNY College at Buffalo 'Beyond Boundaries: Dare to Be Diverse Screening and Discussion Series' panel recap

The screening of "The Neutral Ground: A Story About Sore Losers," which took place last Thursday at 7 p.m. at the Burchfield Penney Art Center as part of the  Beyond Boundaries: Dare to Be Diverse Screening and Discussion Series , was followed by a discussion panel with Chief of Staff to President Katherine Conway-Turner and State University of New York College at Buffalo Chief Diversity Officer Crystal Rodriguez-Dabney; John Torrey, a professor who holds a doctorate in philosophy and Mikaila Morgan, an Africana studies major. Directed by CJ Hunt, a field producer for The Daily Show With Trevor Noah, this first movie to launch the spring semester chronicles New Orleans’ fight over Confederate monuments and “America’s troubled romance with the Lost Cause.” “When we talk about racism and all these deeply embedded prejudices, they’re institutionalized, and when we talk about the way they’re in our institutions, it’s not just the statues,” said Ruth Goldman, an associate professo