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Early on, Michael Benedict learned about the sacredness of food in all its forms. “Take what you need” — a concept taught in his elementary school Mohawk class and reinforced by his Onondaga-born mother — articulates consuming with intention amid a cycle of mutual benefits with the natural world.

Benedict, a Syracuse University senior, was born in the Mohawk territory of Akwesasne, just four hours north of Syracuse. A community garden sits on its land where Benedict has only paid a few visits. He’d traveled to the site with summer programs during his childhood, assisting in weeding out suffocating vegetation and plucking ripe berries.

Volunteering in the garden was an obligation to the natural world. The earth’s gifts belonged to him and, in turn, his attention rested on the roots, soil and sky.

“Everybody is welcome to take what they need from it,” Benedict said. “But if you take from it, you also got to make sure that you’re taking care of it as well.”

Many Indigenous people, like the Akwesasne, regularly give thanks to life’s moving parts that function in harmony. Everything has a spirit, Benedict said, and a purpose that humans can borrow. But a disconnect appears at Thanksgiving when an abundance of food is celebrated for only one day without considering the privilege of accessing it.

Giving thanks is part of many Indigenous ceremonial processes, dating back millennia, Philip P. Arnold, a professor of religion at SU, said. Arnold is also a core faculty in Native American and Indigenous Studies and founding director of the Skä·noñh Great Law of Peace Center.

Arnold’s course content focuses on examining the Haudenosaunee’s spirituality, like proximity to the living earth’s spiritual dimensions. He is married to a Mohawk woman, so while Arnold himself is non-Indigenous, he has personal and professional interests in these topics.

Some Indigenous Thanksgivings correspond to full moons. These celebrations may honor life forms like corn ripening or first berries, translating to the dedication of processes that create food and support life, Arnold said.

There’s an abiding significance in the Thanksgivings that aligns with the word skä·noñh, meaning peace, which is attained when human beings are in a proper relationship with the natural world.

“(Indigenous people) have the understanding that human beings are completely dependent on the world around them and that has a different kind of resonance than a Thanksgiving party,” Arnold said.

Thanksgiving isn’t just about food. Celebrating the American tradition has unified families, but Arnold said this was not the case for the “first Thanksgiving.”

“My ancestors literally fell off the Mayflower,” Arnold said.

He discusses his history in this way to emphasize that each person should analyze their trauma and oppression-filled ancestral stories. Arnold said his ancestors would have participated in what is now understood as the “first Thanksgiving.”

Dressing up like Pilgrims or Indigenous people has been a “hobby horse” of children throughout the Americas for Arnold’s life. He said this is a mythical narrative. Indigenous peoples of coastal Massachusetts enabled the pilgrims to survive in early colonial America, but they were never granted anything in return.

Nia Nephew, an SU senior from the Seneca territory of Cattaraugus, said the holiday’s origins are romanticized as a harmonious meal between Pilgrims and the Indigenous people of that time. This interpretation causes people to overlook the colonization and displacement of Indigenous communities.

“There’s a sense that there was mutual goodwill which leads people to ignore the genocide and the land theft and the erasure of Indigenous cultures that came after that,” Nephew said.

The Cattaraugus territory is a “tight-knit community,” as described by Nephew. It’s a sovereign nation situated on Lake Erie, about 30 minutes south of Buffalo. As far back as she can recall, Thanksgiving never gained traction among the reservation’s inhabitants. She may meet with her family for dinner, enjoying their company and food, but the day’s historical context is not a reason for coming together.

Benedict, a history major and Native studies minor, has taken some history classes, yet none have touched on the Thanksgiving holiday. He said it should be talked about more in academic settings. Most people have heard the same erroneous Thanksgiving story.

He noticed this gap in the holiday’s education has evolved since high school, but is still far from where it needs to be. SU, for example, offers Indigenous studies classes where students explore history beyond the pages. Simultaneously, Benedict said there are a limited number of those courses, so not everyone will have a chance to learn.

“The most common quote is that ‘Indigenous history is U.S. history,’” Benedict said. “That recognition gets pushed aside.”

Benedict’s mother initially opened his eyes to Thanksgiving history. But, rather than telling him, “Don’t sit down, don’t celebrate this holiday,” she hoped he would give continual thanks. Thanks, Benedict said, should be given from the moment you wake up to the moment you go to bed.

The Thanksgiving Address, an ancient protocol of the Haudenosaunee, is shared to bring people’s minds and hearts together. Arnold said it specifically addresses the non-human persons involved in the sustenance of human beings.

In Nephew’s confederacy, the address is recited at ceremonies or large gatherings. It’s structured by first thanking the people, and then working, literally, from the ground up.

“You go to the grasses, the plants, the fruits, the three sisters, which are the corn, beans and squash, then you move to the animals, the birds, the trees, the sky, the sun,” Nephew said. “That makes us feel very connected to our land and our spirituality.”

Humans are not individuals, but are always connected to a diverse community of other humans and the earth. Arnold said he appreciates the millions of relatives he has of all races, nationalities, genders and religions — many of whom he may not even know.

“We’re all materially connected to one another. It’s something to be grateful for,” Arnold said.

Thanksgiving, Benedict said, is a day that should be no different than what you did yesterday and what you’re going to do tomorrow. Humans must take care of everything on Earth in the present to secure a better future.

“As long as you keep giving thanks to everything, you’ll still be here in the future, not just for me, but for the next generations that are coming up,” Benedict said.

Published on November 21, 2024 at 1:21 am