By Toni Steffens
The Thanksgiving holiday most people celebrate is possibly a much different kind of celebration than the first Thanksgiving. The holiday we are familiar with focuses on family coming together and spending time enjoying each others’ company. The food is supposed to take second place after this joy of spending time together as a family. Turkey, mashed potatoes, and stuffing have become absolute necessities to the Thanksgiving dinner. Many families choose to use the day as an opportunity to express their thanks for everything and everyone in their lives. Some will avoid the holiday all together, often with good reason.
As with most things there is controversy about Thanksgiving. It is a day of mourning for some. A lighter controversy centers around the happenings on that actual day in 1621. Some claim that a Thanksgiving feast for the pilgrims would have been a religious holiday and the Wampanoag Native Americans would not have been invited at all. A traditional Thanksgiving for the pilgrims would have likely been a religious day, but there is no reason to assume they called it a traditional Thanksgiving day. The Wampanoag would have thanksgiving celebrations for many occasions through the year. Something that is agreed upon is that likely this day was not called a Thanksgiving by either side. There may have been talks about keeping peace, and there was food, venison and pumpkin, and yes some turkey too.
The results of this first Thanksgiving feast are probably the most heavily debated part of the whole holiday. It is known that it was only a short time before King Phillips War and it is also known that great atrocities were committed in the time between that dinner and the Thanksgiving many celebrate today. Perhaps the best way to consider this holiday in our current use is not so much as a celebration of that long ago day, but simply as a time to express our gratitude for what we have now, for all of the opportunity that is in front of us.
Thanksgiving celebrations now, whether the tales often taught to children are true or entirely false, are a terrific means to remind us of how lucky we are and of all the things we have to be thankful for. A family dinner, if that is an option, or the friends whom you have near you on campus are perfect people to share thanks with. There are of course many dinners and events to attend around the Valley and many different ways to enjoy the day. It seems most useful to remember that the current spirit and meaning of the day is to reminded us to be thankful. Not just to feel it for ourselves but to say it out loud. To tell those who you love thank you for being there. Take a moment of your day and say out loud all of the things you truly have to be thankful for; whatever the origin of the day it definitely has a good use in our society today.
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