What is Thanksgiving like for Native families?

It depends on the family. Many Native families gather, eat and give thanks like everyone else, and giving thanks is an old practice in many Native traditions. Others find the holiday’s story painful, and some mark a National Day of Mourning instead. Many do some of both. Ask, and you’ll likely hear more than one answer.

1 · MindWhat people believe, and how they know

In 1621, the Wampanoag leader Ousamequin (also called Massasoit) and about 90 of his men shared a three-day harvest meal with about 50 English colonists at Plymouth. The Wampanoag had already lost many people to an epidemic brought by Europeans. Nobody called it “Thanksgiving” then. Abraham Lincoln made Thanksgiving a national holiday in 1863, and the familiar Pilgrims-and-Indians story mostly came later.

In 1970, a Wampanoag man named Wamsutta Frank James was asked to speak at a Plymouth anniversary dinner. When organizers rejected his honest speech, Native people gathered on Cole’s Hill instead. The National Day of Mourning has been held there every Thanksgiving since.

Giving thanks is old in Native life. The Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) Thanksgiving Address, spoken at the start of gatherings, thanks the people, the waters, the plants, the animals and the sky, one by one.

What each tradition or community says

Many Native families

It’s a day for family, food and gratitude, like it is for anyone. The turkey, the football and the leftovers are all there.

Some Native Americans

The National Day of Mourning remembers what colonization cost Native nations, and reminds people they’re still here.

Christian tradition

Thanksgiving echoes the Bible’s harvest feasts and Paul’s words, “In everything give thanks” (1 Thessalonians 5:18).

2 · HeartWhat it feels like

Imagine your history shrunk into paper headdresses and a school play. Many Native kids sit through that every November.

At the same time, many Native families love the holiday. Gratitude and grief can share the same table.

Giving thanks was happening on this land long before anyone wrote it on a calendar. Some of the oldest thank-yous in America are still spoken in Native languages.Neighbor Radio

3 · HandsHow to be a good neighbor

Skip the paper headdresses and the Pilgrims-and-Indians costumes at school. Teach the real 1621 story. If you host Native friends, just host them, the way you would anyone. Before the meal, name the Native nation whose land you’re on.

This weekBefore your Thanksgiving meal, read part of the Haudenosaunee Thanksgiving Address out loud.

TimelineWhere this fits

More than 15,000 years ago Native peoples in North America

See every faith on one timeline →

SourcesWhere it is in the scriptures

New Testament

1 Thessalonians 5:18 Read it in the World English Bible on Free Scripture

Four questions to take with you

From Jesus' story of the Good Samaritan, about the stranger who stopped to help. We call it the Samaritan Test.

Did they see? Or look right past?
Did they stop? Even when it was inconvenient?
Did it cost them? Time, money, comfort, reputation?
Did they treat the person like a person? Not like a label?

Try it on: whose story do you tell when you tell the story of your holiday?

Quick questions

Do Native Americans celebrate Thanksgiving?

Many do. Some don’t. Many do both, a family meal and a time to remember.

What is the National Day of Mourning?

A gathering in Plymouth, Massachusetts, every Thanksgiving since 1970, honoring Native ancestors and protesting the holiday’s myths.

Is it okay to say “Happy Thanksgiving” to a Native friend?

Usually yes. If they tell you they mark it differently, ask what it means to them.

Sources and research

How this answer was made

Written in plain words by the Neighbor Radio team. Each faith's and community's section is checked by someone from that faith or community. Until then, this page says so. Spot something wrong? Tell us. We read every note and fix mistakes.