Bear's Den: "Giving of Thanks to the Creator"
David Walks-As-Bear
November 24, 2009
Ya know, Indians have always worn feathers. For everyday wear, they would don a ´Casual Friday´ wing feather. But, for ceremonies and warfare, you can bet that they wore their best – a tail feather. It´s akin to wearing jeans and a sweatshirt for lounging, and, say, spiffing up for work or church, eh. I think that for the American Indian, these days are times of changing feathers. And, lately, folks are changing their notion of the fake Indian culture to that of the real traditional one. I mean, no traditional Indian prays to crystals or trees – follow what I´m saying? And this switch in thought is the feather change.
Now, as a game warden, I can tell you that all wild critters change, too. Uh-huh, just as we two-leggeds adapt, other of the Great Good Spirit´s creations do the same. Humans put on warmer things once papoonwi (winter) begins breathing his icy exhale upon us, and so do rabbits, deer, and all other four-leggeds. Yep, they take on heavier coats, too. Sure, and those wiskilo´thas (birds)… the ones that remain here in winter and do not fly south… well they, too… change their feathers. They get more of them, and thicker ones, eh.
I was reminded of this idea of the changing feathers recently when asked questions that I still inevitably get every November, "Why´d the pilgrims pick the turkey to be the main meat?" and "How come the Pilgrims invited the Indians to their first Thanksgiving, anyway?" While these questions are becoming fewer in number every year, I still get ´em. Ah… but the fact that they do grow fewer… might be indicative of the feather change… don´t´cha think? Anyway, the answer to the first query about the pelewa (turkey) is, to my notion, that the turkey was there on that split-log table because it was probably a ´dish to pass´ that the Indians brought to the affair and not… the Pilgrims. To most Indians, this big bird was an easily obtained meat source.
The ancient, generic American Indian symbol for ´meat´ is a turkey. That´s right, folks, it´s not a buffalo, deer, elk, bear, moose or antelope – uh-uh. It is your standard model, #302, plain old wild turkey. Sure, now my assessment will probably ´tick off´ a few dedicated turkey hunters who are staunch believers in the turkey´s craftiness. It may even make old Ben Franklin – who wanted the turkey to be our national symbol rather than the eagle – roll-over in his grave. But, the wild turkey was fairly easy for a good hunter to bag in the old days. Indians didn´t hunt by any set rules and they could get their food anyway that worked for them. So, when you take away all of the modern game laws, I´m sorry, but you could easily be gobbling a gobbler. Now, a turkey isn´t as big as a deer, but an adult bird offers a sizable chunk of meat, easily obtained, and this is probably why it was on the menu back then. And, I figure this is what made drumsticks and white meat the main weothe (meat) that we all think of for Thanksgiving. Old William Bradford, a Pilgrim dude, wrote in his book, Of Plymouth Plantation: 1620-1647 that wild turkey was a primary meat at most tables in the early years; so, there you go.
Now, the answer to the second one – about why the pilgrims sent out RSVPs to the local heathens – is pretty simple. They didn´t. It was the other way around, eh. It was the Indians… that invited the Pilgrims to their annual ´Thanks to the Creator" celebration. It´s worthwhile to note that the ´where´ is not important – it´s the event of ´giving thanks´ that we´re talking about here. Now, I´m of the notion that if you live long enough, you´ll see amazing things in your time here upon the Earth Mother. These things range from a two-legged walking on the Tepe´kikiisthwa (the Moon) to the simplicity of an animal automatically changing its natural covering. I remember when Thanksgiving was absolutely and categorically referred to as a holiday derived from the Pilgrims in the ´New World´ of America. Since then, many folks are learning that the holiday is actually an Indian celebration of thanks started by the original people in their ´Old World´ of America. Teachers in schools are beginning to teach these actual truths rather than the older, inaccurate version, eh. And while I´d never disparage the good things that the Pilgrims gave us – and there are many – I ain´t so dumb, either, as not to know that if it hadn´t have been for the Indians, then every one the Pilgrims would´ve croaked that first winter here in our land.
The Indians had survived for thousands of years before that Mayflower skipper gave shore leave to the crew back in 1620. It was hard to survive a winter in the days of no furnaces and houses made of wooden bark; they sported a really low ´R Value´, know what I mean? And food, gathered, hunted, fished and grown, was often scarcer than a toothpick when you need one. So, American Indians were smart enough to give thanks to the Great Mystery for whatever He provided. Uh-huh, thus Thanksgiving is, and has always been, an annual event celebrated by almost all American Indian nations in one form or another. It´s far older than the arrival of the guy who toted a blunderbuss and whose name John Wayne was always throwing around: ´Pilgrim´.
Just for the heck of it, I´ll note that until these Pilgrims from across the puddle came to America they didn´t do a ´Thanks-Giving" – nope. The closest thing they had to this in Europe was a Harvest Festival. That´s right, and unlike the American Indian´s celebration, which was all about giving thanks to God, the European festivals could last three days and were more along the lines of a party-like wedding reception, with or without booze. But while info is sketchy about that first red & white breaking of bread, I think it´s fair to say that the Pilgrims were a grateful bunch of palefaces – just to be alive, eh. So, I don´t doubt for a moment that they acclimated to this Indian custom easily. Heck yeah, and since they did the historical scribbling, you can see how things might´ve gotten twisted around a bit, hmm? Understandable enough, eh? That said, it´s also clear that those olden-day ´Men in Black´ with the funny-look´n buckled hats and footwear, didn´t know diddley about survival in the Great Good Spirit´s wildland. It was the Indians of the Wampanoag (People of the Dawn) who stepped in and showed them ´what was what´, eh. It was these Indian folks who taught the Pilgrims the art of, as song says, "Stay´n Alive". Sure, and that goes for inviting these religious freedom seekers to their annual God-worshiping shindig, too – the one which celebrated the harvest of all foods by giving thanks to the Master of Life, aka: Thanksgiving unto God, the Creator.
The Wampanoag, like all Indians, were used to giving thanks for nature´s bounty. They knew, to the marrow of their very bones, without having to be told by anyone – that this life-sustaining stuff wasn´t just out there because of some corny ´Big Bang´ theory – nah! Maybe they didn´t know how to make a fancy buckle for their headdress or moccasins, but they sure weren´t dumb enough to fall for anything as silly as the idea that God… was not totally in charge of their lives. Nature´s goodness and what they were fortunate enough to acquire for the coming winter, was due solely to the grace of Kiehtan, the Wampanoag word for God. Yes´sir, and that´s why, every fall, at the end of gathering, harvesting and hunting, they gave thanks to the Creator. Geeze, man, giving thanks is, after all… as much a part of being an Indian as is prayer, singing, drumming, dancing, hunting, fishing, warfare, etc.
Yes´um, and one Plymouth Pilgrim, there at on that first, Caucasian-attended Thanksgiving was a guy named Edward Winslow. He penned the ´only´ written eyewitness account of the first Thanksgiving. In a letter he wrote to England about the event, he was seems a tad surprised at the differences between his peoples´ traditional Harvest Festival and the American Indian bash. He said: "The Wampanoag would meet together and cry unto Him (the Creator)...sing, dance, feast, and give thanks." Sure, and so… there you have it. The Pilgrims didn´t invite the Indians to their ´Thanksgiving´ – it was the redskins who invited the pale people to their age-old annual ´Giving Thanks to The Creator" celebration. Um-hmm, and I´ll wager… that most of the Indians there had changed their headgear, too. You bet, man… because a sacred ceremony such as giving thanks to God, well, that would require pena-gashea, or… ´changing feathers´.
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David Walks-As-Bear is an Inter-Tribal Elder and Kispoko Shawnee Indian. He works as a private game warden and detective and is a novelist and syndicated newspaper columnist living in Northwest Michigan. Contact him at his home paper The White Lake Beacon: 231-894-5356 or visit his website at: www.Walks-As-Bear.com
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