11/26/2025
In 1621, colonists invited Massasoit, chief of the Wampanoags, to a feast after a recent land deal. Massasoit came with ninety of his men. That meal is why we still eat a meal together in November. Celebrate it as a nation. But that one wasn’t a thanksgiving meal. It was a land deal meal. Two years later there was another, similar meal, meant to symbolize eternal friendship. Two hundred Indians dropped dead that night from supposed unknown poison.
In 1637, anywhere from four to seven hundred Pequot were gathered for their annual green corn dance. Colonists surrounded the Pequot village, set it on fire, and shot any Pequot who tried to escape. The next day the Massachusetts Bay Colony had a feast in celebration, and the governor declared it a day of thanksgiving. “Thanksgivings” like these happened everywhere, whenever there were, what we have to call: successful massacres. At one such celebration in Manhattan, people were said to have celebrated by kicking the heads of Pequot people through the streets like soccer balls.
-Tommy Orange, “There There”
Our culture is lost. I wonder what percentage of people here are on medications just to make it to the next day. Our forests cut, rivers polluted, air filled with smog, food sprayed with chemicals the insects won’t touch, taxed for everything under the sun.I wonder what would happen if we shifted focus a little each day. What did the land we are on look like before colonizers? What did the peoples eat? How did they tend the land? What did living closer to the elements feel like in their bodies, minds, and hearts? What can we learn from the last peoples to live free in these lands, who lived in communion with all life? Where are their descendants and how are they faring in this ridiculous circus of a society we have created? Would they like to be included in stewarding lands again? Would they like to share their stories?
I encourage you to spend some moments tomorrow contemplating the land you are on. Are you in gratitude for being here? Are there any vestiges of the past nearby? Stories? Spirits? Do the children know?
