Resources Honoring Indigenous People on Thanksgiving
by Holly Madden
These powerful words below are written by Potawatomi member and author, Kaitlin B. Curtice. This specific excerpt is copied from her free newsletter via her The Liminality Journal , Follow Kaitlin on Instagram.
“This year, I want Thanksgiving to be a beginning, not a destination.
In other words, I want us to show up tenderly to this moment, whether it’s in our personal lives or in our collective ones. I want us to think of Thanksgiving as a marker on our journey, or the beginning of something, not the final destination.
I think we put too much pressure on ourselves—to change, to say the right thing, to deal with people in the ways we think we should, to read the right books, to post the right things to social media. This is where the tenderness of words, of poetry, of the prophets of our time speak to us.
Slow down. Let the words come as they come. Don’t rush this process. You will be ready for everything when you’re ready.
It feels drastically different than what we say out there, though. These are the words of the soul, of the center of us, the spaces where we are tending to deep work that is meant to last.
In my book Living Resistance the last chapter is about livelong resistance, and I did that on purpose. I wanted to end my entire book with this idea that we are just beginning, again and again, starting new journeys, unlearning and learning something, re-crafting our world.
We have arrived, but we are still arriving.
So it is with something like this, a holiday that is complex, colonial in its origins, but meant to represent something tender and sacred: giving thanks.
As we move toward and around giving thanks, we do so with our hearts cast in all directions, remembering where we’ve come from, who we are in this very moment, and the future we long for.”
***AND acknowledging whose land you are on can be a deeply honoring way to start every service and every event. Below is an Indigenous Land Acknowledgement written by Becca Piastrelli in her book Root and Ritual
Indigenous Land Acknowledgment
“I would like to acknowledge the traditional, ancestral, and stolen lands of the ___(insert the names of the original ancestors of the land you live on)_____people (known today as___) on which we are gathering today. I know we are but guests here and would like to honor them and their ancestors for the tender care they provided to these lands and acknowledge the painful history that remains here.”
Book Recommendations written by Indigenous Authors
Children’s Books written by Indigenous Authors
Lessons for Working with Children
We have created a workbook with a variety of children’s lessons and activities that honor a more inclusive and social justice oriented perspective! We would recommend reading the book, Keepunumuk: Weeachumun’s Thanksgiving Story or another children’s book written and illustrated by indigenous authors and following the activity in our Connected Kid’s Resource on Land Acknowledgement.
A Recommended Podcast
A Yoga Offering to honor Liberation
Liturgies and Prayers
A Prayer for Thanksgiving
-Holly Madden
Creator,
We intentionally take space today for gratitude across the shores of the Atlantic, the hurricane-impacted towns of Appalachia, the midwestern plains, the majestic Rocky Mountains, the rainforests and valleys of the Pacific Northwest, the wilds of Alaska, and the Pacific coast shores and islands.
May we hold space for the reflection of gratitude for our lives, our loved ones, and our privilege, while we also name and acknowledge the violent history of these lands. May we name colonialism as genocide. May we name the people and tribes whose land we are on and may we grieve the trauma, loss and suffering they have endured and still endure today. May we collectively work towards making a world that is kinder and more inclusive while never forgetting the history that made us and the history that is carried as trauma in bloodlines of the indigenous. May we hold space for this truth and grief and a tradition that gathers and expresses gratitude.
And may we not forget today..
-those who are triggered today.
-those who have no one to gather with.
-those who are hungry.
-those without shelter.
-those who are suffering.
-and the genocide and violence that is active in our world today.
Creator may we embody your grief for this world today.
And may we also embody your hope for what the world could be. May today be a starting point in the words of Kaitlin Curtice. May we strive to live a life of reciprocity in the indigenous teachings vocalized by Robin Wall Kimmerer. May we elevate the indigenous voices and traditions today and everyday to learn to love this earth and its people better.
Amen.
Additional Resources
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