Happy Turkey Day?

Someone on my children's literature email list recently linked to Oyate's document, "Deconstructing the Myths of Thanksgiving."  According to their website, "Oyate is a Native organization working to see that our lives and histories are portrayed honestly, and so that all people will know our stories belong to us." From what I can tell, it seems like a serious, legitimate, and honest organization. In the aforementioned document, they attempt to dispel several pervasive American cultural myths about the first Thanksgiving. 

As you can probably guess, the "pilgrims" (who were not actually pilgrims) did not get together with the "Indians" (who were not actually Indians) and have the big, happy, family feast that is portrayed in countless school pageants, greeting cards, and children's books. There was a lot of distrust on both sides, and the cautious truce between them soon dissolved into betrayal and violence.

I'm not sure what I'm supposed to do when I come across this kind of information. Should I go right to the shelves and delete any books espousing a traditional view of the first Thanksgiving? Oyate thinks so, and even provides me with a list of books to avoid (read: burn). I'm not the censoring type though, and besides, my patrons would kill me if I pulled a stunt like that.

Should I stop celebrating Thanksgiving altogether? Oyate lists "Thanksgiving is a happy time" as number 11 on its list of myths about the holiday.  "For many Indian people," they caution, "`Thanksgiving' is a time of mourning." Well, what if it's still a happy time for me - does that make me a heel? What if it's a time of celebration, of remembering my blessings, and of reconnecting with family and friends? Even if I don't pay much attention to the old Plymouth Rock story, am I still playing the part of the oppressor by perpetuating an insensitive ritual?   

I don't think so. What Oyate fails to recognize is that rituals, by nature, are incredibly complex. Even relatively new holidays like Thanksgiving have already gathered many layers of meaning. The story of the first Thanksgiving is only one of those layers, and an increasingly  minor one at that. It mainly seems to serve as inspiration to elementary school teachers looking for trite art projects to occupy restless pre-holiday classes. As new perspectives on the holiday emerge (and I applaud Oyate for providing one of those perspectives), the old story will probably fade into the background, as well it should.

Meanwhile, however, I fully intend to eat my weight (plus the extra baby pounds) in cranberries, sweet potatoes, and pie next week. And that's no myth, turkeys.

Comments

[Janette]

I agree about continuing to celebrate Thanksgiving - and not burning the books! I think the important thing is always increasing education, not decreasing access to information. All of those books are important in understanding the history of America. Thanksgiving seems to mean the family and the blessings more than the commemoration of a false legend to most Americans, and I don't think there's enough coming together and being happy & thankful in this world. Perhaps, though, there should be a moment to think about the hostilities between the English settlers and Native Americans, to look at how far America has come and how far it still has to go and that kind of thing. A reflective moment, like Rememberance Day or our ANZAC Day in Australia (we now have so many Turkish people in Australia that it's become a commemoration of the lives lost on both sides of the battle at Gallipoli now, instead of just the lives lost by Aussies and New Zealanders). Over here, I'm learning that a lot of Buddhist Vietnamese celebrate Christmas because they like being a part of a national celebration and they like the family togetherness. I think there should be more national holidays - international holidays, even - that are based on those nice values, rather than on a particular religion or historically inaccurate or culturally specific event.

[Claudia]

Revising historical facts to make a "good story" happens all the time. Consider the debate over how some acclaimed writers have portrayed girls and women in "historical" fiction for children, for example Avi's Charlotte Doyle. I agree with Avi that telling a good story is perhaps more important than factual accuracy in literature for children, because a good story both encourages children to read and (hopefully)offers them positive role models.

Historical fiction, whether accurate or modified to present a more positive view, presents an opportunity for discussion of "truth" and the way it is modified and represented in fiction. To enable this discussion, libraries should make it possible for readers to explore all sides of an issue, should have sufficient resources to allow them to recognize that there are multiple viewoints and to distinguish between myth and fact when considering the historical context of events "celebrated" as our "national holidays." It sounds like you are doing this.

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[Arley]

U know guys I just want to say hello :) Keep in touch ;).
I am from Islands and , too, and now am writing in English, give true I wrote the following sentence: "In an instant, your lips meet his, and exciting chemical changes in your brain begin."

With love 8-), Arley.