Reclaiming Thanksgiving
Every Thanksgiving, we ask the same question: Whose land are you on?
This year, we’re challenging the myth behind this “holiday” in one of the most NRFF ways possible. We’re centering the native foods, nurtured by generations of Native people, that will have starring roles on tables across the country this week.
The words we’ve included are from the languages of a few first contact communities. We strongly encourage you to learn these words in the languages of the tribal community(ies) where you’re located and support communities’ efforts of maintaining and restoring Indigenous languages:
⭐Identify the tribal community(ies) that calls where you live home by entering your address on Native-Land.ca
⭐Determine the language spoken by the area’s first inhabitants on @nativelandnet and find a dictionary in that language
⭐Look up the ingredients for your Thanksgiving meal, add these Native words to your vocabulary, and then keep going! Learn the words for plants, animals, and the natural world, too
⭐Respect that in its current form, the US is a product of land theft, genocide, erasure, trauma, racism, and oppression and learn its accurate history
⭐Recognize that Indigenous communities are still here and learn about and join local restorative measures to rematriate land
Sources: Aquidneck Indian Council, Ohwęjagehka: Haˀdegae:nage, Lenape Talking Dictionary, Eastern Band of Cherokee, Penobscot Indian Nation: Cultural and Historic Preservation Department, @catawbalanguage, @cheroenhaka_nottoway_nation, Potawatomi Dictionary, provided by the Citizen Potawatomi Nation