During the Thanksgiving holiday in America we encourage each other, and ourselves, to ponder on everything we’re grateful for. We gather together for a ‘feast of Thanksgiving’ which brings the family and friends together.
When I sit at the table and look over all the delicious food, I can’t help but dial back the clock in my mind to what I learned as a child about Thanksgiving; the pilgrims and Native Americans. By definition,
“Thanksgiving Day, annual national holiday in the United States and Canada celebrating the harvest and other blessings of the past year. Americans generally believe that their Thanksgiving is modeled on a 1621 harvest feast shared by the English colonists (Pilgrims) of Plymouth and the Wampanoag people.” [Ref: Britannica]
I remember as a child dressing up as either a pilgrim or Native American, and my whole class would reenact the feast.
This year my heart and mind is focused on our Native American tribes. Never in my life have I had greater respect for a people’s history when it comes to animals. These Native American people, over many centuries of hunting and gathering food, I admire them in how they always show gratitude in giving a prayer of thanks after their hunt. A prayer in thanking Mother Earth, and a prayer of gratitude to the animal. When they bring the animals back home, they use every part of that animal, making sure nothing goes to waste:
They are a beautiful people, and I aspire to be like them in the way they honor and respect animals. So this year, I created this painting with my gratitude in mind in what examples they are to us all in what it means to be grateful for the food we have been given.
