• Jo Miran@lemmy.ml
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    11 months ago

    I’m my childhood the entire family would meet at a designated house, with each person bringing their designated dish. My family is Catholic and very religious. Thanksgiving was about thanking God for what we had, and about over eating and drinking too much. Pilgrims, Native Americans, colonization, or genocide was never part of the conversation. Just God and being thankful for each other.

    I think the history of Thanksgiving, like that of Halloween and to some extent Christmas, is lost on most everyone.

    EDIT: To be clear, I’m not defending the genocide of Native Americans. I’m just saying that many people are in ignorant bliss.

      • Jo Miran@lemmy.ml
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        11 months ago

        It’s especially funny to me when some people start screaming to “put Christ back into Christmas” then proceeded with using nothing but pagan symbols. Then they sing about the twelve days of Christmas and only celebrate the first day.

      • jaybone@lemmy.world
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        11 months ago

        All cultures do this, and I think this is part of that persons point.

        In mainstream culture now, Christmas is not about Jesus, or the pagan solstice the Christians took it from.

        Now it’s just about giving presents and being with family and other modern traditions driven mostly by commercialism.

        Just like thanksgiving isn’t about pilgrims or native Americans, Halloween isn’t about all saint or all souls or whatever it was. Easter isn’t about Jesus rising (or whatever pagan holiday that was probably originally based on) it’s just about a bunny and colored eggs.

        • NuXCOM_90Percent@lemmy.zip
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          11 months ago

          And I am politely refraining from explaining why converting “we dicked over the indigenous people but tell ourselves they liked it” to “we are truly blessed by God” is somehow even worse.

          Mostly because the subject of this protest does that for me

          • jaybone@lemmy.world
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            11 months ago

            Many people were not educated about the true history. So they weren’t celebrating “we dicked over the indigenous people” day.

            • NuXCOM_90Percent@lemmy.zip
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              11 months ago

              Yes. Propaganda is strong and critical thinking is low. That changes nothing and is just a blatant attempt to absolve oneself of any guilt

    • xerazal@lemmy.zip
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      11 months ago

      As an American, yea we kinda don’t know or care about the historical context anymore. We just get taught, and have reiterated, the whole “native Americans and colonists sat down together in peace to share a feast” aspect of it and forget the genocide and colonial violence that befell the Wampanoags.

      I don’t really celebrate it anymore because celebrating it kinda feels like celebrating the massacre and enslavement of natives by a colonial European power.