Wednesday, November 25th, 2020
Today was a half day at work to give staff an early start to the Thanksgiving weekend. It is not as though anyone is going anywhere, but it is still nice to have the extra time.
American schoolchildren are usually taught that the tradition dates back to the pilgrims, English religious dissenters who helped to establish the Plymouth Colony in present-day Massachusetts in 1620. Five weeks after docking the Mayflower in 1620, the Pilgrims sailed away to find land better-suited to grow the crops they wanted, and ended up in Patuxet, the Wampanoag name for the area where they established Plymouth Colony.
As the story goes, friendly local Native Americans swooped in to teach the struggling colonists how to survive in the New World. Then everyone got together to celebrate with a feast in 1621. Attendees included at least 90 men from the Wampanoag tribe and the 50 or so surviving Mayflower passengers. That contact with Europeans “brought plague and disease. Four hundred years ago, the Wampanoag were reeling from an epidemic that nearly wiped out the village of Patuxet. In 1616, before the Pilgrims’ arrival, a still-mysterious disease caused an epidemic that decimated an estimated 75% to 90% of the 69 villages that made up the Wampanoag Nation back then. Without modern knowledge of how diseases spread, Wampanoags attributed it to the supernatural spirits and gunpowder.
Many Wampanoag hoped that the 400th anniversary of the Mayflower landing would be a galvanizing event to remind people that the Wampanoag still exist, but many of the commemorative events have been cancelled, postponed or moved online due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The tribe is in the midst of a fight for survival on two fronts: fighting to survive during a global pandemic and fighting to maintain control of their land, the latter is just unbelievably sad. In late March, at the height of the coronavirus pandemic, the U.S. Department of the Interior announced that there was not a basis for the tribe’s 321 acres of tribal land in Mashpee and Taunton, Mass., to have reservation status because the tribe supposedly didn’t meet the definition of Indian.
In June, a federal judge called Interior Department’s decision “arbitrary, capricious, an abuse of discretion and contrary to law,” and said the agency would have to re-analyze the question of whether the tribe is entitled to reservation land, while correcting all the errors that led to its original decision. But the matter is not resolved, and while the tribe awaits Interior’s new decision, it is hoping for permanent protection through an act of Congress. It also has an ally in President-elect Joe Biden, whose tribal nations platform indicates he’s on the side of the Mashpee Wampanoag tribe—and Biden is reportedly vetting a Native American to be Interior Dept. secretary, which could help as well. Immigrants to this country have so much to make up for.
This years’ celebrations, 400 years after the first, will again be held in the midst of a pandemic. While celebrations may look different this year in light of the ongoing pandemic, typically Thanksgiving is a time for family and friends to share delicious food and spend time together reflecting over the past year. It is a time to give thanks for our blessings. It is a US holiday I have come to like very much. Despite its gruesome history it is not defined by any religion and just dedicated to being joyful and grateful, celebrated by most Americans.
Last year we spend Thanksgiving with our friends from days in Istanbul and their friends, who opened their house to friends, family and strangers like us to share a meal. This year we will be hosting our “pod” family. All of us have taken tests and we hope we will be safe to spend time together inside tomorrow. In preparation of the feast I picked-up the Turkey after my lap swim today. Following a recipe form a friend I proceeded to salt and pepper it, insert lemon and Tyme into its belly before liberally sprinkling it with Worchester sauce before setting it into a dish of white beer where it shall rest until tomorrow.
I have also started the gravy and a cranberry sauce making good use of the extra time I had available today. Tomorrow I shall stuff the bird with rum soak prunes, apples, chestnuts and some bread. We will also prepare roasted Brussel Sprouts, Green Beans and roasted garlic mashed potatoes. I am very much looking forward to tomorrow and pray we will all be safe, which is not a given as the Virus is rampant in the USA.
Today the US reports a total of 12.8 million cases, recording 179k new infections yesterday. Globally infections have surpassed the 60 million mark.