I've started to notice a few memes being passed around and blog projects starting up for the celebration of Thanksgiving.  Some folks are saying oh how horrible the shops are for having people work on Thanksgiving, it should be about family.

Image Source - HLN - Facebook

Our modern tradition is based on harvest meal that took place in the 1600's in Plymouth Massachusetts.  The documentation on this meal is limited.  The holiday was created on the last Thursday of November by the federal government in 1941.

So why is it that we get all fired upset about working on Thanksgiving but yet demand that Columbus day be renamed to honor the Native Americans?  Why do we see one as racism and the other as not?

Glen Ford wrote the following regarding the American Thanksgiving: (link)

William Bradford, the former Governor of Plymouth and one of the chroniclers of the 1621 feast, was also on hand for the great massacre of 1637:
“Those that escaped the fire were slain with the sword; some hewed to pieces, others run through with their rapiers, so that they were quickly dispatched and very few escaped. It was conceived they thus destroyed about 400 at this time. It was a fearful sight to see them thus frying in the fire…horrible was the stink and scent thereof, but the victory seemed a sweet sacrifice, and they gave the prayers thereof to God, who had wrought so wonderfully for them, thus to enclose their enemies in their hands, and give them so speedy a victory over so proud and insulting an enemy.”

While I have had some nasty family dinners, no one ended up run through with a sword.  So now, let's think about these projects where you spend X number of days writing about being thankful for things.  First let me state that I think it is a fantastic idea to be thankful. Everyday I wake up and thanks the earth for being under my feet and the sky above.  I thank the birds of the trees and all the wonderful things that I have in my life.  I don't however, feel obligated to do this.  I do this automatically.  I don't need a month or a holiday to make it happen.

I think instinctively I avoid taking part in these things because I do not condone what happened to the native people who lived on this island before Europeans came here and destroyed their culture.  Our ancestors tried to conquer a people and when they could not enslave them, they killed them.  Plain and simple.  There is no honor there.  Celebrating this month as some sort of holy month for those to be thankful of all things fall is a bit of a misnomer.

Especially since the majority of those reverent US citizens will celebrate Thanksgiving in the following manner:


While getting set to schedule your blog posts or share your wonderful Thanksgiving messages, I only ask that you actually do a little research on the holiday.  Be sure to fully understand what you're celebrating.  And remember, you don't need to have a special month or day to be thankful for what you have.  You can do that anytime.

Sosanna



LINKS

Thanksgiving from a Native Standpoint
The First Thanksgiving - Lies My Teacher Told Me 
Thanksgiving - A National Day of Mourning
Thanksgiving

Last week we spent in the west. This week we're headed back to the eastern side of the US and visiting the great state of West Virginia! If you're interested in chatting about the states, please join us on Facebook in our group called "What Makes Your State Great".

Most of my facts come from 50states.com.

www.wvbedandbreakfasts.com/travel-planner.php

Hail West Virginia!

West Virginia is considered the southern most northern state and the northern most southern state. West Virginia has the oldest population of any state. The median age is 40. The first major land battle fought between Union and Confederate soldiers in the Civil War was the Battle of Philippi on June 3, 1861.West Virginia's nickname is the Mountain State and its motto is "Mountaineers Are Always Free."

www.wvencyclopedia.org/articles/1833

The world's largest sycamore tree is located on the Back Fork of the Elk River in Webster Springs. Nearly 75% of West Virginia is covered by forests. On September 10, 1938, the Mingo Oak, largest and oldest white oak tree in the United States, was declared dead and felled with ceremony.

http://www.gettysburgghosts.net/moundsville.htm

One of the nation's oldest and largest Indian burial grounds is located in Moundsville. Its 69 feet high, 900 feet in circumference, and 50 feet high. An inscribed stone was removed from the vault and is on display at the Smithsonian Institute in Washington, D.C. The Moundsville Penitentiary is said to be built on a Native American burial ground.

http://www.wvculture.org/arts/ethnic/native.html

The original inhabitants of West Virginia are:
The Cherokee tribe
The Shawnee tribe
The Tutelo and Saponi tribes

A rich beautiful land, West Virginia is home to a great people and to images of our country that cannot be found any where else. The mountains and streams there cannot help but lead one to know that nature is alive and magic is all around. Some of that beauty lies in the burial mounds and in some of the structures that we do not even know the origins of. This video shows rock cairns found on a rural West Virginia farm.





Sending light, love and protection to the great state of West Virginia.

Namaste & Blessed Be!
Sosanna
)O(

Keeping the positive energy rolling we're headed into the great state of Utah. We're keeping a leg up on the DC40 Prayer initative and we're sending out light and love to the people of Utah. If you'd like to tell us some of your memories, thoughts or opinions about Utah. Visit our Facebook Group called "What Makes Your State Great". Here's we're putting together facts, thoughts and energy for each state as the prayer initiative lays it's self proclaimed siege to our nation.

My facts come from the website 50states.com. Thoughts, suggestions, prayers and comments welcome.




HAIL UTAH!

Completion of the world's first transcontinental railroad was celebrated at Promontory where the Central Pacific and Union Pacific Railroads met on May 10, 1869. It is now known as Golden Spike National Historic Site.

The Mormon Temple in Salt Lake City took 40 years to complete. The Mormon temples in St. George, Manti and Logan Utah were completed before the Salt Lake Temple.

The Great Salt Lake covers 2,100 square miles, with an average depth of 13 feet. The deepest point is 34 feet.

Rainbow Bridge, Nature's abstract sculpture carved of solid sandstone, is the world's largest natural-rock span. It stands 278 feet wide and 309 feet high.



The Wasatch mountain range is named after a Ute Indian name meaning "mountain pass" or "low place in a high mountain".




The name Utah comes from the Native American Ute tribe and means people of the mountains. A good resource for the history of the native people of Utah can be found here.




From the Fremont people the Anasazi to the Uti people, each group brought their own traditions and beliefs into the culture. Utah was born of a Native or a Pagan Culture. It wasn't until the 1800's that Christianity in the form of Mormon was introduced into this state with the arrival of Brigham Young.

I'd like to share the following videos with you.

First this one is called The Anasazi Death Song.



Next I'd like to share some of the Ute music.

This is the Ute Bear Dance Song.

This is the Ute Sun Dance Song.


Each state in our union has a colorful and vibrant history. Each of the people individual and honorable. Our nation was founded on deeds that were not always so honorable. We need to look at this history and learn that we cannot take from a people what is their own right granted by their own creator. We cannot let the majority rule over the minority. We must support the rights of each to be an individual and enjoy the freedom of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Included in this is the right to worship our own creator as we see fit.

Sending protection blessings out to Utah and to Columbia, who for me, represents freedom of religion.

Namaste & Blessed Be
Sosanna
)O(

Today I'm sending protective energies out to the great state of Arizona. Following the DC40 51 Days of Prayer, I'm lending support to their next stop on the trail. I've visited Arizona on a business trip and I have to say of all the states I've visited it has to be one of the most beautiful. I stayed at the JW Marriot Inn in Phoenix.


After a long day at a conference I spent the evening in my room looking over the wonderful view with a nice bottle of wine and a cheese tray from room service. The warmth and connection I felt with the energies of this state were amazing. Of the two states I would want to retire in Arizona is one.


I headed over to 50.states.com and picked up some great facts about Arizona.

The Arizona trout is found only in the Arizona. The bola tie is the official state neck-wear. My totem stone is Turquoise and is the official state gemstone. The blue-green stone has a somewhat waxy surface and can be found throughout the state. The battleship USS Arizona was named in honor of the state. It was commissioned in 1913 and launched in 1915 from the Brooklyn Navy Yard. The Arizona tree frog is the state official amphibian. The frog is actually between three-quarter to two inches long. Arizona, among all the states, has the largest percentage of its land set aside and designated as Indian lands. Arizona is home to 21 federally recognized tribes. The indigenous people of Arizona are pagan peoples and twenty are governed by the Inter Tribal Council of Arizona.

Like many other native people those in Arizona also had their belief systems defiled and attacked by the influx of Christianity. Many of the symbols of their deities were considered profane and "Christianized" by the new settlers to the area. An example of this is the God of Mischief and Fertility Kokopelli.

We see representations of Kokopelli as this image below.

However, this is not how Kokopelli was designed by the native people. Being a fertility God, Kokopelli originally was depicted as a flute player with a large phallus.


For the Hopi, Kokopelli was known to carry unborn children on his back and distributed them to women in the tribe. He took part in marriage rituals and had a female consort called Kokopelmana. Legend says that Kokopelli can be seen on the full and waning moon.

To learn more about Kokopelli check out this page.

Hail Arizona!
Kokopelli play for me,
So my heart may sing,
Magic flute of mystery,
Fruitful dreams you bring.
Song of Aztlan,
Fertile Fire,
Canyons of my mind,
Sacred union,
Heart to heart,
Speaks of the Divine.

Want to join in the fun? Head over to our group on Facebook called "What Makes Your State Great". We'd love to have you tell us what you love about your state and send out some positive energy to combat this self proclaimed siege of our nation. Don't let the DC40 Prayer Initiative take away your rights!

Namaste & Blessed Be!
Sosanna
)O(