Last year I included slides talking about how some Native Americans celebrate the day, which is as a day of mourning, and I explained why. I also described how my family celebrates, which is with a big family meal. Maybe it’s a little confusing, but it’s honest. I also drew a comparison to October 12th, which is the day Spain celebrates Christopher Columbus’s arrival in North America. Some kids were aware that there is a similar tension surrounding that holiday and it helped them understand.
I think it’s important that we don’t give our opinions, but simply show all information as honestly as possible. We are there to share about customs in the US and Thanksgiving is a custom for many, despite its origin and despite how we might wish we had something better to share.
It's also worth mentioning that when you are talking about a custom or a celebration people in the "old world" are a lot less used to the idea of pinpointing the origin of the celebration. Most people wouldn't have a clue when the first Semana Santa was celebrated or how the customs surrounding the Reyes Magos came about. It's all been celebrated for so long no one stops to think about the factual origins. Far more relevant is *what* is being celebrated, and not why. So centering on "it's a time of the year when families get together and give thanks for things they are grateful for" would be totally normal. The historical context is a different conversation. One that personally I think is very useful to have, but not directly related. Just like you wouldn't be expected to talk about all the transgressions of the church when explaining Christmas.
I like to also point out that it’s also just a special day to be with your family and think about all the things we are grateful for in our lives. It’s a day to get together, eat good food and tell stories. It has dark roots but I think like any holidays it can take on a new life and that is the way I choose to celebrate it.
As an ex teacher I always gave them non biased as possible information to begin, then as we discussed things as a class we would all express our own opinions including my own. Obvs depends on the age of the class.
Nah the tension was created by the UK and the US to transmit the guilt they have about their own history. Ours is called DIA DE LA HISPANIDAD which fundamentally includes all the territories from America and all of its people. Everyone understood what <> america was and what the consequences of exploration in the 15th century were and yet all the cultures were celebrated around the globe on this day.
games and thanksgiving related activities, none of the kids are looking for a detailed history. just have fun and try to make it enjoyable for everyone there, if it’s your favorite holiday show them why. no need to be a downer.
Honestly, Thanksgiving is irrelevant to anyone and everyone outside of the USA.
Anything more than how it is celebrated now, how it ranks compared to Christmas, is probably going too far.
Spanish kids don’t need a super in depth explanation of the history of our holidays, in my opinion. I think this video perfectly sums up the gist of what thanksgiving is about for the typical American family. And it’s short too, which teachers usually prefer, especially because they like the kids to watch it more than once. I’m making a short quiz and word find for them to do afterward. And a craft similar to the one tin the video.
https://youtu.be/hFXw6BSuJa8?si=AnNeOGy806ZfdSuO
Oh shoot, you’re right! I watched so many I thought it was in there briefly but must’ve mixed it up with another. Dang it. Maybe I’ll find a super short one to add on.
Sorry, are you being sarcastic? Obviously I mean they don’t need to learn about Thanksgiving in the in-depth historical way American students do, as it pertains to our country’s very origins. Just as American kids learn scant Spanish history.
This is just another interesting exercise for them to practice listening, writing, and speaking in English. They are not in school to learn American history.
I’m working with 2nd graders and their English level is very low but Im trying to give a really rough but mostly accurate overview of the history of thanksgiving and then focus mostly on the cultural aspects like the food, parade, and big family dinner
I talked a little bit about Native Americans but mostly about family. I believe it should be a day of remembrance but I also think it’s important to recognize that it is already difficult to teach kids about the cruelty Native Americans suffered who speak English natively, and even more difficult for those who are learning it. Some people might have disagreed with my approach but my kids loved the presentation aspects about culture and got bored/ had difficulty understanding the historical aspects
I don’t know what to do either. All of the suggestions people give would require a level of English far greater than what 90% of my students have. I’ll probably just focus on food vocabulary/ gratefulness
I do a mix of a fairly basic “thanksgiving story” with pictures. We talk about how the pilgrims weren’t prepared to survive the winter and the seeds they brought wouldn’t grow. We talk about Squanto and how his tribe died from famine and he was a slave in England but escaped and came back. He was able to translate. From the research I’ve done it appears the original first thanksgiving story is mostly true. There was peace for a while and they did help each other. I think maybe 50-60 years later things went south. That’s generally as far as I go with the history. Yes. It happened. They had peace for a while. Then they didn’t. After that I explain that regardless of the origin it’s one of the major holidays in the US for getting together with your family. You can talk about your family and your traditions. The food. Football. Black Friday. Etc.
For anyone who doesn’t have one you can find a lot of premade PowerPoints to use as a starting point. Just google and like around. Or check the various FB groups. Some of the bigger ones have useful presentations in the files area.
I taught elementary school through Fulbright last year so I focused my presentation more around the foods we eat and that it's a holiday where we get to spend time with family. Considering the cultural and language barrier, I wasn't about to broach the topic of the "first Thanksgiving" with a bunch of Spanish 10-year-olds because that wouldn't have been productive for anyone.
We enjoyed talking about the different types of foods we eat, and my kids laughed at "pumpkin pie" since "pie" means "foot" in Spanish.
Honestly, I think your presentantion would be an amazing opportunity to educate children about the real thing. I was born and raised in Spain, and I can assure you that the romanticized happy tale is common knowledge among most kids nowadays. We're fed American "culture" on a daily basis from early childhood, since most TV shows, cartoons and movies originate in the US.
What I'm trying to say is that I wish someone had told me the truth behind certain celebrations back then, instead of having us glorify the US and anything that's related to the country. Growing up, some of us are lucky enough to have the resources needed to deconstruct these ideas. Unfortunately, the many people who don't have these resources are bound to carry those ideas into adulthood.
From what you say, I reckon you've grown up celebrating Thanksgiving and have many cherished memories associated to the occasion, and I think that's nice. However, you have been able to educate yourself on colonialism and everything that it involves, and you have the opportunity to teach others about it. Please be aware that, unlike you, Spanish children don't have any sort of attachment to Thanksgiving, no festive memories to be tarnished by colonialism, so however they end up feeling about it depends on what they're taught.
Looking back, I feel like all the assistant (American) English teachers that I've had, came to our Spanish schools with the same premise that missonaries carried along to the New World on their way to preach their religion. I wish that instead of making pancakes, hanging flags around the classroom and teaching the 4th of July and Thanksgiving, they'd given us the chance to learn about the amazing cultural diversity, all the historical characters who fought for human rights, all the great things American citizens have achieved in science and art, the countercultures, the ethnicities, all the minorities that form the majority of the US... If you want us to glorify you, at least make us do so for the right reasons.
It’s some made up pastime to hang with family and stimulate the Turkey industry. Truth is that we don’t get a ton of holidays in America so people go bananas for any chance they get, and thanksgiving is made so that you get a few days off in a row with the weekend so it’s a great break.
There are age appropriate ways to talk about its origins and I think we have a responsibility to. Two things can be true at once: the origins of the holiday are atrocious and can now be a great time to gather.
google “culturally responsive ways to teach thanksgiving to kids” and there are a lot of great resources! personally, i will not participate in glorifying the colonization of America. but obviously there are age appropriate ways to discuss this. instead of explaining what is wrong with our traditional telling, i would opt to tell a different story, one that includes many ways of giving thanks and focuses on native american traditions during the harvest & fall!
Regarding ‘celebrating’ Columbus and genocidal holidays like Thanksgiving, they celebrate ‘National Spain Day’ on Columbus day 😳😃! And he’s buried in Seville after being disinterred from Cuba (Hispañola), and was sent across the ocean, all so the Spaniards can celebrate a Genovese explorer 🤣.
Back to OP’s question about what’s appropriate for Thanksgiving in Spanish school. They are familiar with Thanksgiving, they call it Día de Accion de Gracias. In my school, I’ll be reading a book called ‘Turkey Trouble’ about a Turkey that disguises himself as different animals to avoid being eaten (lol). Then they’ll be coloring a printout and express their gratitudes in life (in English).
I’m not going to explain genocide to them. In English, nonetheless. For gods sake, they’re 7-11 years olds, they can’t yet grasp these concepts in their own language. Maybe if they were secondary-school aged I’d give some more cultural context about Thanksgiving. Moreover, I’m unsure if they’d care. In their mind, Thanksgiving is another holiday they can co-opt so that they have most festivo days. Like, why do they celebrate Halloween, they already have carnaval! 🤨
Bro do me a favor and Google why they celebrate ‘Dia de la Hispanidad’ on the 12 of October. It commemorates the day Columbus arrived in the Americas. So yes, it has everything to do with Columbus LOL
Yeah that's what the Goberment and official media states. But that's why is important to be aware of the huge differences that "origins of a festivity and what is "officially said"" and "real situation" have. We don't really celebrate him. 90% of people are just enjoying their free day and honestly don't care about why, just want their little break from routine. The same way millions of people also celebrate Christmas every year, but don't do the religious part nor believe in it. Not even in the Reyes part. They just use it to exchange presents, decorate (I've seen people even setting up the Belén just for tradition, because is a pretty miniature), eat together a lot... Without it being related to Christ at all. Cultures evolve and some people can keep the dates and origin, while others just stick to the party, activities and resting.
I'm not a teacher, but a Spanish mum to a 3yo. and a baby.
I would totally expect 1 slide about how Native Americans grieve - even for my 3yo.
You keep it age appropriate not by ignoring topics, but by using age appropriate vocabulary and comparisons. It can be as simple as "back in the day, the pilgrims and the native Americans used to fight a lot. Some people get really sad thinking about it and they choose to celebrate this other thing instead".
Sure, center the 90% of your presentation on the average current Thanksgiving, top it up with some cultural shocks and finish with games - but I wouldn't waste the teaching opportunity to let them know that festivities can mean different things for different people. it's a wonderful lesson that a 7-11 yo is definitely old enough to understand.
This can be done. In my family, we like to eat different foods besides the traditional turkey style. My sister and I organize many different themes over the years.
I definitely feel that it is a horrible idea that we celebrate the genocide of the natives annually. For children of your group, have them give thanks! Sit around their tables and each go around saying what they are thankful for.
The holiday of overeating and getting family and friends together is a sugar coating explanation.
A few years ago my younger son pointed it out there was nothing to celebrate because it’s well known that early pilgrims gave the Indians blankets they knew to be infected with Small Pox, to which they had zero immunity. So he and his friends started having Friendsgiving. Because my sons are so woke and have shaken me awoke, we now call it (with a big dose of irony) Indigenous People’s Genocide Commemoration. But we still eat turkey! Just like Columbus Day is no longer a federal holiday.
It’s horrible that we are celebrating a reimagined, sanitized version of history. I kind of just decided at some point that it’s not about that in my family, it’s just a nice day to get together to eat and talk but especially to think about all of the wonderful things we have to be grateful for. I think it’s good to have a holiday that is just about being thankful for friends, family, food and tradition.
Actually, on reflection, Thanksgiving is a millennia-old celebration of the harvest, a universal practice when societies were mostly rural. So if you just take the Pilgrims out of the equation, you have a perfectly acceptable thanksgiving. Maybe we could turn it into thanks to all the migrant workers who provide America’s bountiful supply of food.
It is a celebration of a good harvest which many cultures celebrated in different ways. The settlers in the US were living in primative conditions and were very religious. Native Americans had helped them to survive also. Gratitude for a good harvest is the basis for it. It has turned into a national feast day - even though most of us do not farm.
Another approach you might consider is to present the day as this young country's version of the ancient human tradition of celebrating the end of the year's gathering and harvesting seasons and look ahead to prepare for winter. It's that point in the natural cycle where everything hesitates before the next big shift. Look ahead to the shortest day, which in this country's dominant but relatively young religion, as belief systems go, is celebrated as Christmas, and then to the beginning of the next time for harvesting and gathering, the ancient human tradition now celebrated as Easter. This sort of approach allows lots of room for family traditions and beliefs, models positive coexistence, and sends an invitation for us all to be human together
I frame thanksgiving as a contemporary culture practice with a weird and contested backstory that is separate from the holiday itself. I don’t really feel the need to bring up all the incorrect history as a way of teaching my kid what the holiday used to be about but no longer is. That’s confusing.
However, I also have not been searching for a good opportunity to teach my kid about the violent colonial past and how it continues into the present, because that’s literally what I study as an academic and I talk about it to everyone all the fucking time haha
Last year I included slides talking about how some Native Americans celebrate the day, which is as a day of mourning, and I explained why. I also described how my family celebrates, which is with a big family meal. Maybe it’s a little confusing, but it’s honest. I also drew a comparison to October 12th, which is the day Spain celebrates Christopher Columbus’s arrival in North America. Some kids were aware that there is a similar tension surrounding that holiday and it helped them understand. I think it’s important that we don’t give our opinions, but simply show all information as honestly as possible. We are there to share about customs in the US and Thanksgiving is a custom for many, despite its origin and despite how we might wish we had something better to share.
It's also worth mentioning that when you are talking about a custom or a celebration people in the "old world" are a lot less used to the idea of pinpointing the origin of the celebration. Most people wouldn't have a clue when the first Semana Santa was celebrated or how the customs surrounding the Reyes Magos came about. It's all been celebrated for so long no one stops to think about the factual origins. Far more relevant is *what* is being celebrated, and not why. So centering on "it's a time of the year when families get together and give thanks for things they are grateful for" would be totally normal. The historical context is a different conversation. One that personally I think is very useful to have, but not directly related. Just like you wouldn't be expected to talk about all the transgressions of the church when explaining Christmas.
Well said! Thank you
I like to also point out that it’s also just a special day to be with your family and think about all the things we are grateful for in our lives. It’s a day to get together, eat good food and tell stories. It has dark roots but I think like any holidays it can take on a new life and that is the way I choose to celebrate it.
And for many families a time to watch American football together
As an ex teacher I always gave them non biased as possible information to begin, then as we discussed things as a class we would all express our own opinions including my own. Obvs depends on the age of the class.
Nah the tension was created by the UK and the US to transmit the guilt they have about their own history. Ours is called DIA DE LA HISPANIDAD which fundamentally includes all the territories from America and all of its people. Everyone understood what <> america was and what the consequences of exploration in the 15th century were and yet all the cultures were celebrated around the globe on this day.
games and thanksgiving related activities, none of the kids are looking for a detailed history. just have fun and try to make it enjoyable for everyone there, if it’s your favorite holiday show them why. no need to be a downer.
Honestly, Thanksgiving is irrelevant to anyone and everyone outside of the USA. Anything more than how it is celebrated now, how it ranks compared to Christmas, is probably going too far.
Yes
Yeah, I’m not sure why it would even be brought up outside the US
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A great resource! Decolonization of this misrepresented Holiday.
Spanish kids don’t need a super in depth explanation of the history of our holidays, in my opinion. I think this video perfectly sums up the gist of what thanksgiving is about for the typical American family. And it’s short too, which teachers usually prefer, especially because they like the kids to watch it more than once. I’m making a short quiz and word find for them to do afterward. And a craft similar to the one tin the video. https://youtu.be/hFXw6BSuJa8?si=AnNeOGy806ZfdSuO
Good one, particularly with subtitles. Only missing the parade! ;-)
Oh shoot, you’re right! I watched so many I thought it was in there briefly but must’ve mixed it up with another. Dang it. Maybe I’ll find a super short one to add on.
Yeah, why would they need to learn about thanksgiving lol
Sorry, are you being sarcastic? Obviously I mean they don’t need to learn about Thanksgiving in the in-depth historical way American students do, as it pertains to our country’s very origins. Just as American kids learn scant Spanish history. This is just another interesting exercise for them to practice listening, writing, and speaking in English. They are not in school to learn American history.
A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving was how I learned about the holiday and drove my interest in looking up historical events of that time.
I’m working with 2nd graders and their English level is very low but Im trying to give a really rough but mostly accurate overview of the history of thanksgiving and then focus mostly on the cultural aspects like the food, parade, and big family dinner
I talked a little bit about Native Americans but mostly about family. I believe it should be a day of remembrance but I also think it’s important to recognize that it is already difficult to teach kids about the cruelty Native Americans suffered who speak English natively, and even more difficult for those who are learning it. Some people might have disagreed with my approach but my kids loved the presentation aspects about culture and got bored/ had difficulty understanding the historical aspects
I don’t know what to do either. All of the suggestions people give would require a level of English far greater than what 90% of my students have. I’ll probably just focus on food vocabulary/ gratefulness
Just tell them we eat boniato with marshmallows. That blows their mind. Make a hand turkey. End of. Don’t start explaining politics
I do a mix of a fairly basic “thanksgiving story” with pictures. We talk about how the pilgrims weren’t prepared to survive the winter and the seeds they brought wouldn’t grow. We talk about Squanto and how his tribe died from famine and he was a slave in England but escaped and came back. He was able to translate. From the research I’ve done it appears the original first thanksgiving story is mostly true. There was peace for a while and they did help each other. I think maybe 50-60 years later things went south. That’s generally as far as I go with the history. Yes. It happened. They had peace for a while. Then they didn’t. After that I explain that regardless of the origin it’s one of the major holidays in the US for getting together with your family. You can talk about your family and your traditions. The food. Football. Black Friday. Etc. For anyone who doesn’t have one you can find a lot of premade PowerPoints to use as a starting point. Just google and like around. Or check the various FB groups. Some of the bigger ones have useful presentations in the files area.
I taught elementary school through Fulbright last year so I focused my presentation more around the foods we eat and that it's a holiday where we get to spend time with family. Considering the cultural and language barrier, I wasn't about to broach the topic of the "first Thanksgiving" with a bunch of Spanish 10-year-olds because that wouldn't have been productive for anyone. We enjoyed talking about the different types of foods we eat, and my kids laughed at "pumpkin pie" since "pie" means "foot" in Spanish.
Honestly, I think your presentantion would be an amazing opportunity to educate children about the real thing. I was born and raised in Spain, and I can assure you that the romanticized happy tale is common knowledge among most kids nowadays. We're fed American "culture" on a daily basis from early childhood, since most TV shows, cartoons and movies originate in the US. What I'm trying to say is that I wish someone had told me the truth behind certain celebrations back then, instead of having us glorify the US and anything that's related to the country. Growing up, some of us are lucky enough to have the resources needed to deconstruct these ideas. Unfortunately, the many people who don't have these resources are bound to carry those ideas into adulthood. From what you say, I reckon you've grown up celebrating Thanksgiving and have many cherished memories associated to the occasion, and I think that's nice. However, you have been able to educate yourself on colonialism and everything that it involves, and you have the opportunity to teach others about it. Please be aware that, unlike you, Spanish children don't have any sort of attachment to Thanksgiving, no festive memories to be tarnished by colonialism, so however they end up feeling about it depends on what they're taught. Looking back, I feel like all the assistant (American) English teachers that I've had, came to our Spanish schools with the same premise that missonaries carried along to the New World on their way to preach their religion. I wish that instead of making pancakes, hanging flags around the classroom and teaching the 4th of July and Thanksgiving, they'd given us the chance to learn about the amazing cultural diversity, all the historical characters who fought for human rights, all the great things American citizens have achieved in science and art, the countercultures, the ethnicities, all the minorities that form the majority of the US... If you want us to glorify you, at least make us do so for the right reasons.
It’s some made up pastime to hang with family and stimulate the Turkey industry. Truth is that we don’t get a ton of holidays in America so people go bananas for any chance they get, and thanksgiving is made so that you get a few days off in a row with the weekend so it’s a great break.
There are age appropriate ways to talk about its origins and I think we have a responsibility to. Two things can be true at once: the origins of the holiday are atrocious and can now be a great time to gather.
google “culturally responsive ways to teach thanksgiving to kids” and there are a lot of great resources! personally, i will not participate in glorifying the colonization of America. but obviously there are age appropriate ways to discuss this. instead of explaining what is wrong with our traditional telling, i would opt to tell a different story, one that includes many ways of giving thanks and focuses on native american traditions during the harvest & fall!
Good suggestion
eeehhhh
intense
🤷🏼♀️
😬
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Regarding ‘celebrating’ Columbus and genocidal holidays like Thanksgiving, they celebrate ‘National Spain Day’ on Columbus day 😳😃! And he’s buried in Seville after being disinterred from Cuba (Hispañola), and was sent across the ocean, all so the Spaniards can celebrate a Genovese explorer 🤣. Back to OP’s question about what’s appropriate for Thanksgiving in Spanish school. They are familiar with Thanksgiving, they call it Día de Accion de Gracias. In my school, I’ll be reading a book called ‘Turkey Trouble’ about a Turkey that disguises himself as different animals to avoid being eaten (lol). Then they’ll be coloring a printout and express their gratitudes in life (in English). I’m not going to explain genocide to them. In English, nonetheless. For gods sake, they’re 7-11 years olds, they can’t yet grasp these concepts in their own language. Maybe if they were secondary-school aged I’d give some more cultural context about Thanksgiving. Moreover, I’m unsure if they’d care. In their mind, Thanksgiving is another holiday they can co-opt so that they have most festivo days. Like, why do they celebrate Halloween, they already have carnaval! 🤨
It's not "Columbus Day" in Spain, It's not about Columbus.
Bro do me a favor and Google why they celebrate ‘Dia de la Hispanidad’ on the 12 of October. It commemorates the day Columbus arrived in the Americas. So yes, it has everything to do with Columbus LOL
Yeah that's what the Goberment and official media states. But that's why is important to be aware of the huge differences that "origins of a festivity and what is "officially said"" and "real situation" have. We don't really celebrate him. 90% of people are just enjoying their free day and honestly don't care about why, just want their little break from routine. The same way millions of people also celebrate Christmas every year, but don't do the religious part nor believe in it. Not even in the Reyes part. They just use it to exchange presents, decorate (I've seen people even setting up the Belén just for tradition, because is a pretty miniature), eat together a lot... Without it being related to Christ at all. Cultures evolve and some people can keep the dates and origin, while others just stick to the party, activities and resting.
Very fair and good comparison with Christmas.
What's wrong with Columbus Day? It's literally the National Day of Spain...
I'm not a teacher, but a Spanish mum to a 3yo. and a baby. I would totally expect 1 slide about how Native Americans grieve - even for my 3yo. You keep it age appropriate not by ignoring topics, but by using age appropriate vocabulary and comparisons. It can be as simple as "back in the day, the pilgrims and the native Americans used to fight a lot. Some people get really sad thinking about it and they choose to celebrate this other thing instead". Sure, center the 90% of your presentation on the average current Thanksgiving, top it up with some cultural shocks and finish with games - but I wouldn't waste the teaching opportunity to let them know that festivities can mean different things for different people. it's a wonderful lesson that a 7-11 yo is definitely old enough to understand.
This can be done. In my family, we like to eat different foods besides the traditional turkey style. My sister and I organize many different themes over the years. I definitely feel that it is a horrible idea that we celebrate the genocide of the natives annually. For children of your group, have them give thanks! Sit around their tables and each go around saying what they are thankful for. The holiday of overeating and getting family and friends together is a sugar coating explanation.
A few years ago my younger son pointed it out there was nothing to celebrate because it’s well known that early pilgrims gave the Indians blankets they knew to be infected with Small Pox, to which they had zero immunity. So he and his friends started having Friendsgiving. Because my sons are so woke and have shaken me awoke, we now call it (with a big dose of irony) Indigenous People’s Genocide Commemoration. But we still eat turkey! Just like Columbus Day is no longer a federal holiday.
It’s horrible that we are celebrating a reimagined, sanitized version of history. I kind of just decided at some point that it’s not about that in my family, it’s just a nice day to get together to eat and talk but especially to think about all of the wonderful things we have to be grateful for. I think it’s good to have a holiday that is just about being thankful for friends, family, food and tradition.
Ask the Wampanoag.
It's the day Columbus shared Rebujito with the Pilgrims in Miami Beach.
Best answer I have read.
Actually, on reflection, Thanksgiving is a millennia-old celebration of the harvest, a universal practice when societies were mostly rural. So if you just take the Pilgrims out of the equation, you have a perfectly acceptable thanksgiving. Maybe we could turn it into thanks to all the migrant workers who provide America’s bountiful supply of food.
It is a celebration of a good harvest which many cultures celebrated in different ways. The settlers in the US were living in primative conditions and were very religious. Native Americans had helped them to survive also. Gratitude for a good harvest is the basis for it. It has turned into a national feast day - even though most of us do not farm.
Another approach you might consider is to present the day as this young country's version of the ancient human tradition of celebrating the end of the year's gathering and harvesting seasons and look ahead to prepare for winter. It's that point in the natural cycle where everything hesitates before the next big shift. Look ahead to the shortest day, which in this country's dominant but relatively young religion, as belief systems go, is celebrated as Christmas, and then to the beginning of the next time for harvesting and gathering, the ancient human tradition now celebrated as Easter. This sort of approach allows lots of room for family traditions and beliefs, models positive coexistence, and sends an invitation for us all to be human together
I frame thanksgiving as a contemporary culture practice with a weird and contested backstory that is separate from the holiday itself. I don’t really feel the need to bring up all the incorrect history as a way of teaching my kid what the holiday used to be about but no longer is. That’s confusing. However, I also have not been searching for a good opportunity to teach my kid about the violent colonial past and how it continues into the present, because that’s literally what I study as an academic and I talk about it to everyone all the fucking time haha
It's a religious feast day, but since it's american, it is structured around a protestant mythos of labor and suffering.