Thanksgiving, Giving Thanks

The Thanksgiving Holiday has come in for a lot of criticism lately, some of it well-placed. But for all the truth in the complaint that is romanticizes relations between whites and Native Americans and obscures the terrible history of colonialism, that point itself obscures the profound message at the hear of the holiday — namely, that the first European settlers (and many who came after) were utterly dependent upon the generosity of Native Americans for their survival.

And as the holiday underlines, the most basic feature of that generosity lay in the sharing of food. The foods that Native Americans had perfected over centuries not only nourished starving settlers, they became the basis for cuisines around the world. It’s this Native American Cornucopia that we celebrate at our house.

From the hands of countless Native American farmers over countless generations, the world is blessed with an abundance of crops we seemingly could not live without.  Corn, that incredibly abundant plant, was bred in Middle America and by the time of the European invasion had spread to Peru in the south to Maine in the north.  It was cultivated throughout North America with the exception of the Pacific Coast, where our dry summers, and abundant alternative foods, never allowed corn culture a foothold.  Now it is a staple in large parts of Africa, China, Southeast Asia, and Italy.  In China, in the sixteenth century, it saved large parts of the population from starvation, as displacement and population growth overwhelmed traditional resources. In the hill country of Souteast Asia, corn, along with other New World imports like sweet potatoes and casava, became the mainstay of farmers fleeing the oppressive rice-growing states of the lowlands. As polenta it rules parts of Italy alongside pasta and rice. Here in the United States, it fueled illegal whiskey production for two ceturies and more but also became the basis for that Southern staple, grits. And its abundance prompted our0 industrial food system to co-opt and bastardize it, making it the basis of most of the cheap foodstuffs that afflict the North American diet.  But don’t blame the plant or it’s first and most talented breeders!

Beans, called “common beans,” were common only to the Americas before Europeans spread them abroad.  And not just phaseolus vulgaris, but Lima beans and runner beans and tepary beans.  Peanuts, like beans a legume, originated in South America but were cultivated as far north as Mexico. Squash’s five varieties, several of which do not cross-breed, testify to multiple centers of origin in the Americas; and all of them provide a level of nutrition that rivals that of the European grains.  Sweet potatoes and casava, too, originated in the Americas and have become staples around the world.

Then there is the tomato, without which Italian cooking would scarcely be Italian, and which founds or graces dishes in nearly all cuisines today.  And the pepper, from the tiny, fiery chiltepin of the Sonoran desert to beefy bell peppers, from hardy Poblanos to spicy jalapenos, originates in a vine from Central America.  Eggplants, too, have come to find a place in Mediterranean cooking, Indian cooking, and East Asia, each area with it’s distinctive varieties.  And potatoes, whose vast variety has been reduced in our supermarkets to just a handful, are the cherished work of Andean growers, who even today manage dozens of varieties for uses of all sorts.

These are the gifts that will adorn most American tables on Thanksgiving Day. But there are fruits as well. One, the North American cranberry was part of Native American diet at the time of the Pilgrims. Though it grew in bogs, it was probably cultivated through thinning and other techniques like foraged plants throughout the Americas. The Amazonian peoples cultivated tree crops of all sorts two to three thousand years ago. Many of the fruits are unfamiliar to us, but passionfruit and, lately, acai have become known in the United States. Cacao, the raw source of chocolate, is also a native of the Amazon, but was cultivated in Central America, as well. Pineapples were grown in the Caribbean and Central America at the time of the Conquest and used as the basis for an alcoholic drink. Avocados, guavas, papayas, and a rich array of other fruits were first cultivated in Central America and southern Mexico but soon spread to tropical and sub-tropical areas of throughout the Americas.

These and more are the products of careful, observant Native American farmer breeding.  The giant seed companies and university breeding programs, with or without genetic engineering, cannot rival the work of centuries nor do anything but tweak the abundance already available to us.  Let’s give thanks!

At our family gathering on Thanksgiving, we sometimes recite a version of the Haudenosaunee Thanksgiving Address, the thanksgiving words of the Haudensaunee people, members of the Iroguois Confederacy, recited before many public events. The version that follows is a translation from the Mohawk, posted at: https://mountainhermitage.org/2021/10/30/from-the-onondaga-nation-thanksgiving-address-words-that-come-before-all-else/. Not a cultural appropriation, any more than growing beans or corn, because the Haudenosaunee see this, too, as a gift to be shared with all, as Robin Wall Kimmerer tells us in her wonderful book, Braiding Sweetgrass.

Haudenosaunee Thanksgiving Address, or Words to be Spoken Before All Others

The People
Today we have gathered and we see that the cycles of life continue. We have been given the
duty to live in balance and harmony with each other and all living things. So now, we bring our
minds together as one as we give greetings and thanks to each other as people.

Now our minds are one.

The Earth Mother
We are all thankful to our Mother, the Earth, for she gives us all that we need for life. She
supports our feet as we walk about upon her. It gives us joy that she continues to care for us
as she has from the beginning of time. To our mother, we send greetings and thanks.

Now our minds are one.

The Waters
We give thanks to all the waters of the world for quenching our thirst and providing us with
strength. Water is life. We know its power in many forms- waterfalls and rain, mists and
streams, rivers and oceans. With one mind, we send greetings and thanks to the spirit of Water.

Now our minds are one.

The Fish
We turn our minds to the all the Fish life in the water. They were instructed to cleanse and
purify the water. They also give themselves to us as food. We are grateful that we can still find
pure water. So, we turn now to the Fish and send our greetings and thanks.

Now our minds are one.

The Plants
Now we turn toward the vast fields of Plant life. As far as the eye can see, the Plants grow,
working many wonders. They sustain many life forms. With our minds gathered together, we
give thanks and look forward to seeing Plant life for many generations to come.

Now our minds are one.

And many more — we have many to thank! The Address ends by coming back around to the people and the Creator:

The Enlightened Teachers
We gather our minds to greet and thank the enlightened Teachers who have come to help
throughout the ages. When we forget how to live in harmony, they remind us of the way we
were instructed to live as people. With one mind, we send greetings and thanks to these
caring teachers.

Now our minds are one.

The Creator
Now we turn our thoughts to the Creator, or Great Spirit, and send greetings and thanks for all
the gifts of Creation. Everything we need to live a good life is here on this Mother Earth. For all
the love that is still around us, we gather our minds together as one and send our choicest
words of greetings and thanks to the Creator.

Now our minds are one.

Closing Words
We have now arrived at the place where we end our words. Of all the things we have named,
it was not our intention to leave anything out. If something was forgotten, we leave it to each
individual to send such greetings and thanks in their own way.
Now our minds are one.