This is a tough thanksgiving for lots of us. The short and sweet video greetings from my grandchildren in Missouri was a very temporary high that reminded me of how little I’ve seen them this year.
On Facebook my friends are making do with yummy food photos and tones of wistfulness that don’t begin to hide the sorrow of separation many of us are feeling at holiday times during covid.
Thanksgiving isn’t really about food. It’s about connection. The family and community connection that the authoritarian system snatched away from us to create a global empire that’s apparently determined to belong a few white people.
Without the gift of physical connection, I spent the afternoon finding online inspiration, so instead of moaning about any of this stuff, I’m going to share some of the inspiration I found that I enjoyed the most. Some educational, some just glorious.
Here’s the first one.
Myth of the First Thanksgiving interviews a Native storyteller and a historian with a more real picture no less interesting. One of them said “You don’t have to make up a story about happy colonists and Indians to enjoy connection with people you love. Just leave out the myth.”
The Myth of the First Thanksgiving
Another is this Haudenosaunee oration on thanksgiving that’s just beautiful. I’ve heard it before, and this version that’s some regular (Native) person reading it made it feel very down-to-earth and normal. Do you have a version you like better?
Read by Peter Brooks, who says: “These are the words that would be recited before all else when men would get together for whatever reason in the first nation for my part of the country.”
It might be interesting to hear what some Native elders say about this address.
The Native approach to life is one that carries lots of important lessons for us western tradition people who’ve lost our sense of connection to nature and the earth. These elders use the Thanksgiving Address to explain that very well:
This post from Lorien Association was also inspiring!
Thanksgiving Miracles – shared from Lorien Association, with some amazing art from Deborah Koff Chapin. She shares more at her website: Center for Touch Drawing https://touchdrawing.com/
Sharing The Blessings of Light
“thank You God for most this amazing
day: for the leaping greenly spirits of trees
and a blue true dream of sky; and for everything
which is natural which is infinite which is yes…” – E.E. Cummings
And then some MUSIC
Claire Detels, former NWA creative now living in Taos New Mexico, is holding a virtual concert on Democracy TODAY at 4:00 pm. Since it’s virtual Claire wonders if NWA folks might still be interested in joining in. She did a number of great concerts when she was still here.
Link is below, with the program included.
Announcing a Nov. 27 Piano Recital in Celebration of
Featuring Pianist/Musicologist Claire Detels
performing and discussing favorite works related to American democracy
Sponsored by and Broadcast from El Pueblito United Methodist Church, Taos, NM
Friday Nov. 27, 2020, 4 PM
Join Zoom Meeting:
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/84252299193
Meeting ID: 842 5229 9193
Also to be available on you-tube soon
PROGRAM
Introduction: “Happy Days Are Here Again” Ager/Yellen
E pluribus Unum: Out of Many One
Ellis Island Meredith Monk (1942-)
European Classical Roots
Variations on “God Save the King” Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827)
(aka “America”)
Roots in the Delta: Great African American Pianist and Composers
Solace: A Mexican Serenade Scott Joplin (1868-1917)
Prelude; Woven Silver William Grant Still (1895-1978)
Sophisticated Lady Duke Ellington (1899-1974)
An American Original: Charles Ives
Concord Sonata, mvt. 2: “The Alcotts” Charles Ives (1874-1954)
We Shall Overcome
Many Thousand Gone Samuel Coleridge-Taylor (1875-1912)
Quodlibet on “Peace Piece” Bill Evans (1929-80)/ C. Detels
including “We Shall Overcome” and other Americana
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/84252299193
And last, some beautiful strains from ITO and the Midnight Hippies that made the stretch into Thanksgiving evening reflectively relaxing. Strictly for your enjoyment.
ITO and the Midnight Hippies music
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