What are you thankful for?

Washington’s first presidential Thanksgiving proclamation urged not hubris, but humility: “that we may … unite in most humbly offering our prayers and supplications … beseeching [God] to pardon our national and other transgressions”. By participating in the National Day of Mourning, people honor native ancestors and the struggles of native peoples today.

In celebrating Thanksgiving today, at a time when it is all too easy to focus upon the nation’s division and strife, it is instructive to recall the optimistic tone that accompanied a significant recognition of the holiday many years ago.

However there are plenty of other places where they celebrate their own thanksgiving including: Canada, Puerto Rico, Grenada and Liberia. Good food, good fellowship and Mama’s homemade biscuits. This will be the 47th iteration of the tradition, held annually on Thanksgiving Day, which serves as a reminder of the bloody fate many Native Americans faced at the hands of those same pilgrims.

While Thanksgiving alludes to a historical encounter, I realized most people do not think of the connection when sitting down for dinner. The Rev. Brenda Adkins, pastor of the His Divine Fellowship Ministry Church, created Day of Joy to put Thanksgiving in a bag to send hundreds of less fortunate people home with a meal. Here we have some happy Thanksgiving wallpapers, messages, etc. “We’re still here. We have gone through unspeakable things and yet we’re still resilient”.

Abraham Lincoln in 1863 declared the last Thursday in November “a day of thanksgiving and praise to our beneficent Father”.

The story goes that Native Americans stepped in to help with their farming and as a sign of gratitude, the Pilgrims invited them to join a three-day feast in the successful 1621 harvest season.

It’s interesting to remember, however, that however pleasant the customs that have grown up around Thanksgiving may be, they bear little resemblance to what probably happened back in 1621. As a result, they’d had a bountiful harvest to celebrate. It was deemed too “inflammatory”, Munro said. It’s that reality that Americans should appreciate and fight to preserve for future generations. This is the day when people all across America spend time with their family and friends to give thanks.

But those cheeky so-and-sos have snuck in an extra holiday that we don’t have – sandwiched between Halloween and Christmas is Thanksgiving.

Edward Winslow’s wish is ours for the rest of the world as we give thanks this year.

Grenada, the “Spice Isle” with its many nutmeg plantations, commemorates the anniversary of American soldiers helping to restore order to their country after the death of communist leader Maurice Bishop in 1983.

Let us not continue to perpetuate the spread of misinformation. Thanksgiving teaches us to count our blessings in trying circumstances, and to find joy during the struggles and hardships of present day, both locally and nationally. Squanto acted as a translator for the pilgrims and negotiated a peace treaty between pilgrims and the Wampanoag Indians.