What Do Indigenous People Celebrate Instead of Thanksgiving?

Thanksgiving is nothing less than sprinkling salt on the wounded part of the body of indigenous people or Native Americans in the United States of America.

Instead of celebrating the Thanksgiving festival, they observe something else, called “National Day of Mourning”.

Each year, the day falls on the very same day as Thanksgiving, which is the fourth Thursday of November.

Observing the day, these people try to educate people all over the world about the brutal past and the abominable crimes their ancestors had to suffer from because of European settlers.

Especially, during the period after the first Thanksgiving, settlers executed the mass slaughter of millions of innocent indigenous people.

[Do You Know? Because of European Settlers, More Than 90 Percent of The Native American Population Was Wiped Out From The Americas. Settlers Imposed Slavery On Them, Caused Brutal Massacres, And Spread Terrible Diseases That Killed In Millions]

How Indigenous People Observe National Day of Mourning?

Since 1970, indigenous people have been observing the National Day of Mourning by following these activities:

• Organize meetings and public gatherings to educate about their past
• To show honor and gratitude to their ancestors who fought against injustice and sacrificed themselves
• Organize protests on the road to tell governments about their current struggles, such as racism.
• Educate people about the original story of the first Thanksgiving

What Is The Origin of The National Day of Mourning?

Wamsutta Frank James is known as the father of the “National Day of Mourning”.

He was the leader of the Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head and the president of the Federated Eastern Indian League.

On 26th November 1970, on the day of Thanksgiving, he was invited to deliver a speech at Plymouth, Massachusetts.

Here instead of the planned speech, he delivered a different one, where James criticized early European settlers for their doing and also tried to light the original story of Thanksgiving.

A few lines from his speech:

Almost 500 prominent Native people were present at that event from all over the United States.

They appreciated his speech and decided to observe a day of their own instead of Thanksgiving.

Did You Know?

Although today people in the United States see Christopher Columbus as a hero, ironically this is not the truth.

A lot of so-called heroes like him were ruthless murderers of innocent Native Americans.

Even, people like Columbus had no sympathy for innocent Native kids (8 to 10 years old).

Want to know more about his crimes?

Read this list: Was Columbus a bad person?