It’s Thanksgiving tomorrow and we wish every employee, client, friend, and guest a day to be thankful for! Whether you’re enjoying the traditional meal with family and friends or going out for your meal – have a wonderful time! If you aren’t celebrating this holiday… have a great day off! Thanksgiving is special for many reasons, and we’ll look into some of the things that make it a cherished holiday.
Harvest
Thanksgiving is a holiday we love, but what is the meaning of it? Obviously, in this diverse world, it means different things to different people. But one thing that we do have in common is recognition of the harvest. We are celebrating the Earth and the wonderful harvest that comes after Summer in the Northern Hemisphere. This harvest will keep us sustained during the Winter season, when we live on the stored harvest until the sun returns. So, one thing Thanksgiving means is recognition of the abundant Earth and our gratitude for her abundance – thank you for sustaining us.
Home
Another meaning of Thanksgiving, for so many of us, is return to family and sometimes return to home, for dinner with Mom and Dad and the family. As Dorothy said, “There’s no place like home.” Those of us who have this option are fortunate indeed. Thanksgiving provides a whole lot of memories!! It’s no wonder that gratitude for family is so strong when we can enjoy the holiday with family as a tradition.
History
Now let’s have a look at the history and see if there is meaning to be found in that. Is there anything to be thankful for? From the History.com website we find the following:
“In November 1621, after the Pilgrims’ first corn harvest proved successful, Governor William Bradford organized a celebratory feast and invited a group of the fledgling colony’s Native American allies, including the Wampanoag chief Massasoit. Now remembered as America’s “first Thanksgiving”—although the Pilgrims themselves may not have used the term at the time—the festival lasted for three days.
“While no record exists of the first Thanksgiving’s exact menu, much of what we know about what happened at the first Thanksgiving comes from Pilgrim chronicler Edward Winslow, who wrote: Historians have suggested that many of the dishes were likely prepared using traditional Native American spices and cooking methods. Because the Pilgrims had no oven and the Mayflower’s sugar supply had dwindled by the fall of 1621, the meal did not feature pies, cakes, or other desserts, which have become a hallmark of contemporary celebrations.”
So, it appears that at the first celebration, when the Pilgrims first arrived and were trying to get established, some still living on ships, severely lacking in food and supplies, they were helped by the Native Americans and food was shared. This is a beautiful thing, generous and humane, for which we can be grateful.
Honesty
Now we move on with the story, in the knowledge that a great deal happened after that. We return to the History website for more.
“Some Native Americans and many others take issue with how the Thanksgiving story is presented to the American public, and especially to schoolchildren. In their view, the traditional narrative paints a deceptively sunny portrait of relations between the Pilgrims and the Wampanoag people, masking the long and bloody history of conflict between Native Americans and European settlers that resulted in the deaths of tens of thousands. Since 1970, protesters have gathered on the day designated as Thanksgiving at the top of Cole’s Hill, which overlooks Plymouth Rock, to commemorate a ‘National Day of Mourning.’ Similar events are held in other parts of the country.”
Let’s be honest. In the USA there is a lot of ‘water under the bridge’ regarding injustice, oppression, enslavement, and racism. Looking back, we see not only the wrongs that were done, but along with that, thankfully, we see our efforts to change things and make the world a better place. African men, women and children were enslaved, Native Americans saw their lives and their ways of life come to an end, women were kept down, not being able to vote or own property. There were a lot of struggles to come.
Humanity
Through the years we saw battles against injustice and inspiring growth in our awareness and humanity – slowly the world changed, and we the people changed it. We can be thankful for that and thankful that the effort still goes on to correct the wrongs. We’re quite aware… the job isn’t done. We wish to see a world of justice, fairness, humanity, diversity, and appreciation for one another and our shared planet.
AMS is a B Corporation, which essentially means that we are committed to ‘B the Change’ that we wish to see in the world. Even that is something to be thankful for – corporations can play a role in changing the world and we are doing it! We are joined with other B Corporations, making the change we wish to see, as best we can.
Thanksgiving
Thankful for the Earth and her harvest, thankful for family and home, thankful for history and the possibility of change, thankful that we can be a part of the change, we wish you a Happy Thanksgiving!