In the last decade I've grown increasingly uncomfortable with the late November "holiday" known as Thanksgiving. The history behind the celebration, that Native Americans helped Plymouth Rock colonists to survive their first winter in the New World and so we give thanks with a feast of a meal, turns history on its head.

Yes, Native Americans did help the colonists to survive, and look at what the colonists did in return: genocide of most of the Native populations of this continent and an assault on them and their culture that continues to this day.

I stopped going to turkey day events with family and friends almost a decade ago. I intentionally ate non-traditional meals on that day. This year, instead of eating at all, I attended the National Day of Mourning in Plymouth, Massachusetts, with my partner Karen.

This was the 35th annual National Day of Mourning (NDoM). About five years ago, during its annual march through the streets of Plymouth, 25+ marchers were arrested illegally. As part of a settlement, the city has placed two monuments, one describing the treatment of Metacom (King Philip), who was killed during King Philip's War in the 1670's and whose head was paraded around the region as a lesson to other Native people.

The other monument, from the United American Indians of New England, describes very simply and clearly the National Day of Mourning: "Since 1970, Native Americans have gathered at noon on Cole's Hill in Plymouth to commemorate a National Day of Mourning on the U.S. Thanksgiving holiday. Many Native Americans do not celebrate the arrival of Pilgrims and other European settlers. To them, Thanksgiving Day is a reminder of the genocide of millions of their people, the theft of their lands, and the relentless assault on their culture. Participants in the National Day of Mourning honor Native ancestors and the struggles of Native people to survive today. It is a day of remembrance and spiritual connection as well as a protest of the racism and oppression which Native Americans continue to experience."

In addition to the annual march through the streets of downtown Plymouth, several Native people spoke to a crowd estimated at 250-300. Themes of the speeches included self-determination/sovereignty, comparing treatment of Native people in this country to the World War II Holocaust against Jews, Gypsies, and others, the continuation of "Manifest Destiny," the violation of treaty after treaty by European–Americans against Natives, and the current use of the US legal system as a "weapon of mass destruction" against Native Americans.

We were joined at the march by Maria Herrera Sanchez, born in Peru but now living in Portland. This was her third NDoM. Neither of us recognized others from Maine, though Sam Sapiel, a Penobscot from Indian Island now living in the Boston area, did an opening prayer. We wished other Maine people had been there (and maybe there were, though we didn't know them). She thought we could recruit some other Maine people to come next year, maybe from Portland on the Frida biodiesel bus. I agreed.

We can also do a day of mourning in Maine next year on Thanksgiving. Holidays that proclaim a celebration, when they hide incredible cruelty and violence against others, need to be reclaimed and observed differently so that truth can be told. There is much to give thanks for, but let us not do it at the expense of Native people. The same can be said for "Columbus Day," which can be observed differently. It's time the progressive community created more of its own holidays and gave a different interpretation to some we have now.

If you would like to help me find a different way to observe "Thanksgiving" next year in Maine, please get in touch.

Larry Dansinger, (207) 525-7776, rosc@psouth.net