THANKSGIVING: THE REAL DEAL
Holiday or Day of Mourning?
By: Iron Thunderhorse
On this subject I speak as the Long Water Land Mequantout ("He Who Remembers").
ACQTC, Inc. gets lots of emails and correspondence about the annual holiday in America known as “THANKSGIVING”… seeking answers to hard questions.
The truth is a 2-sided coin, or a double-edged sword. There are two sides to this tale. The Puritan side and the Algonquian side. Only you can decide for yourself which version you choose to accept.
I've put together a small but informative collection of both past and recent data we have on file at the ACQTC National Office archives.
Thanksgiving represents a day of celebration for descendants of the Puritan Theocracy and simultaneously it represents a Day of Mourning for descendants of our ancestors, who were victims of ethnic cleansing by that Theocracy. Instead of reconciliation and repatriation, the “myth” of THANKSGIVING was invented as Puritanical propaganda. THANKSGIVING is a day of remembrance for those still in DENIAL, and is a day of condolences for those who WILL NEVER FORGET the atrocities.
This collection begins with a column I wrote for the Branford Review entitled, "Thanksgiving: the complete history; and the story of Squanto," published on Wednesday, December 5, 2001. Not long after it appeared in print, Gregor Barnum of Yale 3D Radio interviewed Gordon Fox-Running Brainerd (who is an elder Sachem of the Bear Clan and Registered Agent for the Quinnipiac Tribal Council Maweomi at Totoket/Branford). The column chronicles the important events associated with Thanksgiving.
This collection includes an essay and poetic eulogy to the Pequot ancestors who were massacred and an original woodcut by one of the English Captains who participated, with a synopsis of the event. These contributions by Little Owl Thunderhorse are very powerful and expressive.
A recent feature by Mike Michaels in Shore View, from the Madison, CT/Hammonassett area of Long Island Sound, presents a very personal and respectful retrospective look at the roots of this celebration by the Quinnipiac "Shoreliners" (a contemporary ethnonym for the Long Water Land People).
Lastly, I include three emails (a sample of many similar ones over the years) on this subject … one from a Quinnipiac University sophomore … my answers to her questions … and finally one from a descendant of a Connecticut Puritan family expressing his regrets.
THANKSGIVING is inherently linked to the fateful landing of the MAYFLOWER at Plimoth Rock.
On the 350th anniversary of that landing — on Thanksgiving Day in 1970 — the Commonwealth planned a massive celebration with parades, a re-enactment of the mythical first thanksgiving, etc. A replica of the Mayflower was commissioned and anchored off the coast just due east of Plimoth Rock.
At dawn, when the celebration was about to begin — the Commonwealth was greeted with a grim reminder of reality.
The Mayflower replica and Plimoth Rock (a bedrock formation) were painted bright RED. The motto of the allied New England Algonquian Confederacies was also painted in giant red letters for everyone to see. It read: 'WE ARE STILL HERE!!!!!"
Biwa biko Paddaquahas
Thanksgiving Collection
