American Thanksgiving : The fairy tale built on a burial ground

Thanksgiving in India doesn’t make a lot of sense except this incessant need to ape the west.

It is not a religious event and is in fact an American holiday to celebrate the allegedly peaceful meal shared by the pilgrims (the colonising Europeans) and the Natives( the tribal original native American community).

Nothing can be further from the truth. Textbooks, popular culture and historians with vested interests and partisan politicians have twisted history to make Thanksgiving a fairytale experience.

The truth is quite ugly, dark and nothing like what has been popularised in the name of Thanksgiving. It is a day of mourning for the local native Americans whose land was forcefully taken. They were subject to slavery and they were exposed to many diseases.

Infact the white colonists wouldn’t have survived if it wasn’t for the help extended by the local native Americans who are now disrespectfully called American Indians. A term given by the white people who are the actual foreigners living off the natives.

History textbooks may be telling you that it was the white settlers who saved the Native people. It was the other way round.

This sort of rings too close home.

The Britishers came to India for the purpose of trade to a rich, modern, forward, technologically and scientifically ahead civilisation. They looted it and made it poor. Ruled over it and yet our history books don’t tell us about the real genocide and holocaust that Indians and the original Hindu natives under the Mughals were subject to.

In Fact the Mughals also before that did forced conversions and harmed the native Indians and looted the country. They destroyed temples and the culture.Through history books, popular culture, textbooks, historians and even Cinema has painted a picture that is quite rosy.

The Portuguese too forced conversions and pushed the native Hindus out of Goa. In Fact Goa was once a major holy site for the Hindus and is still considered a  pilgrimage site which is a little known fact. It is home to Mahadev Temple, the only surviving structure of the Kadamba Yadava dynasty.

It survived from the Portuguese as it was situated next to a stream in the middle of a small clearing, hidden in a dense jungle.

Coming to the American Holiday of #Thanksgiving. It is a mourning day for the Native Amercians and an ugly reminder for them of their unfortunate fate.

President Abraham Lincoln, proclaimed a national Thanksgiving Day, to be celebrated in the year 1863 .It was a political move in the middle of the American Civil War. In 1870 it was officially made into a National holiday.

The Americans are sitting on the burial ground of many Native Americans and their culture. It has been painted as a peaceful celebration and has been recognized as a major family holiday for the Americans. It also of course has helped the economy with the many events like the family get-togethers around turkey and mashed potato dinners, going to watch sporting events and shopping with the family.

This is a perfect example of a typical colonial way of doing things and then whitewashing it with some sugar syrup to sweeten the effects of a dark truth.

Let us not celebrate a dark day in history.

I do believe that we must give gratitude everyday and celebrate family and peace and harmony.

But let’s debunk myths around Thanksgiving and let us not support books, Cinema or popular culture that lies to us.

As Indians we know how much history has been whitewashed and it is still nicely preserved in our school textbooks.This culture of narratives whether on local or foreign land must be stopped. The only way to do it is to look for the truth beyond the books and in between real human experiences.

The past has many lessons and stories , we have to go beyond what we are being fed. History on the other hand is albeit ‘His’ ‘Story’ in many ways and on many occasions.Now more than ever we must use our discretion with the truth.

Say no to American #Thanksgiving.

Say yes to gratitude everyday !