My perspective on the Turkey Day divide
In recent years, Thanksgiving has become quite the controversial topic. On one hand, it is the same old wholesome holiday that is both cherished for the delicious food and dreaded for the extended family. On the other hand, Thanksgiving has become a symbol of white colonial imperialism, to be protested and disavowed. That is an extreme of course, but it speaks a lot to the changing attitudes and politics of the university campus. Before I left my small rural Ontario town for Guelph, I had no idea that Thanksgiving was anything more than an excuse to eat a lot of food and see family you try to avoid, and since being here at U of G I don’t think it should be anything else.
Thanksgiving, at its root, is North America’s version of a harvest festival, something that people across the globe have been celebrating for millennia. In the wider historical context, the holiday came out of colonists being thankful that they even survived, which they could never have done without the help of Indigenous people. To me, that doesn’t sound like a malicious motive for a holiday. Thanksgiving is a secular event to be celebrated by anyone, no matter your race, religion, or background. It’s for sharing a fattening meal with friends, family, or both, so that in the old days without central heating we might survive the lean winter ahead.
For those who are still convinced Thanksgiving is a malicious affair, I would like to know why. In my view, protesting Thanksgiving seems to be a broader protest against colonization and the damage that has been done to so many through its implementation. That is absolutely valid, colonization is a terrible thing, but it still happened and I’m not sure what preventing people from participating in a feast that forces them to be thankful for what they have in their lives is going to accomplish.
Protesting Thanksgiving for the excess waste we produce during it is one thing, but subverting the meaning of Thanksgiving and attacking it for historical wrongs that aren’t directly connected with it is something different entirely.
Protest the continuing mistreatment of Indigenous people, but don’t do it through the holiday that’s supposed to be celebrating them and their kindness. The national narrative has positioned Thanksgiving as an innocent, family holiday for decades, so the recent outrage thrown at it is difficult to understand. It seems that neither side understands the other, and no one gets anywhere. Instead, everyone just seems to get angrier. This is not the way that we will fix this problem. Only with understanding and compassion for each other will we begin to heal, and come together as the nation we should be.
There is no right way to celebrate Thanksgiving. It can be with friends, family, or strangers, with a turkey or tofurkey, and whether you’ve lived in Canada your whole life or have only just arrived. Thanksgiving should be just that, for giving thanks.
Photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons