The Thanksgiving Address
I get asked all the time about what non-Native peoples can do to be better allies to Native and Indigenous peoples. In my experience as a labor educator, activist, and anti-oppression facilitator, people don’t really change their minds much. But if they care enough about a relationship in their lives, a deep friendship, a close family member, a romantic partner, then they will be willing to change their behavior. For me, this is enough to pave the way for social change. Words of comfort or solidarity are nice, but love is an action. Show me you love me, my people, and my relatives, by putting your words into action.
(Image of a Hiawatha Belt. To learn about its history from the Onandaga, click here.)
What I tell people is what has been told me to by my Native elders and Indigenous mentors: to indigenize our lives. For me, that means doing the work to peel back the layers of assimilation that my family had to take on in order to survive genocide. It means embracing my Indigenous roots and bringing them into my present day life in a beauty way. Not by taking regalia that isn’t mine and wearing it as a Halloween costume. Deeply not ok. But by receiving the gifts that Indigenous peoples have lovingly given to the world and putting them to good use in my heart and mind. This is a good practice for allies to do as well. What greater way to connect to and live Indigenous values, than with gratitude? As I was reading Robin Wall Kimmerer’s chapter on the Thanksgiving Address in her book Braiding Sweetgrass, it struck me as such a great gift to keep sharing with the world. Her writings and reflections on it are gorgeous, and the address itself is a work of art. Thank you to the Haudenosaunee for this great gift to us all.
When I say put a gift to good use, I mean exactly that. What if we began the beginning and end of our work week, our family meals, or a classes for example, with the Thanksgiving address? How would our hearts, spirits, and minds shift? What would that shift look like after one week, 100 days, or a year? Two years? Or more? Whether you are a reconnecting Indigenous person like me, or a non-Native ally, it is our job to move towards understanding Indigenous teachings and values and to behave accordingly. This is how we become responsible community members and good friends. Not to demand that Native people shift towards us, who were raised in capitalism, because colonization forced that change already. But to walk out of capitalism towards them, and the Indigenous ways that they were raised in a respectful and loving way.
The Indigenous Values Initiative is a wonderful resource with a curriculum on the Thanksgiving Address exploring Haudenosaunee and scientific perspectives. The Ecology and History of Onondaga Lake: Haudenosaunee Thanksgiving Address as a pathway to stewardship education in the Onondaga Lake Watershed. To download the Thanksgiving Address itself from their website, click here.
If you are not Native, or reconnecting Native, and new to working with the same text over time, here are some guide points to pay attention to that I have been taught by my mentor, Jennileen Joseph, a Rroma woman who founded Sastimos Holistic Health through the communal wisdom of her people. As with all work of growing our hearts, paying attention to how we feel when we first start following the instructions in the Thanksgiving Address, vs. how those feelings, behaviors, and attitudes shift as we keep moving towards it over time. Rigorous honesty and self reflection are key here.
Am I impatient as I recite the thanksgiving address for the first time? Do I feel the need to rush, get to the end, or move on to the next thing? How do my feelings and behaviors about time show up at first, and how do they shift as I keep moving towards the Thanksgiving Address?
Is it difficult to process the content of the Thanksgiving Address? How does it feel to cast your mind, heart, and spirit, towards becoming one with all of the elements in the Thanksgiving Address? How does this feeling show up at first, and how does it shift over time?
What other feelings, thoughts, or attitudes come up as you recite the Thanksgiving Address? Pay attention. A spectrum of emotions may arise to process and reset. Anything from frustration to actual gratitude is possible. This will help you figure out the impact that capitalism has had on you. Working through these thoughts and emotions with honesty but also self compassion will help peel back a layer of assimilation and make more space for you to be your full, joyful self with lots of room for gratitude.
For those who are new to the Thanksgiving Address and take reciting it on as a practice, let’s be in conversation and relationship. Comment below or get in touch. With much love and respect.