Why I choose to celebrate Indigenous People’s Day Over Colombus Day.
“The history of Native Americans is one of great strength and revitalization. It is a story built around values that have shaped Native cultures and American society: respect for family and elders, shared responsibility to care for the land and an obligation to do right by the next generation. It is a story of resilience through great pain and injustice, from broken treaties and loss of land and language in the past, to derogatory sports mascots and biased history taught in schools today. Across more than 1,000 tribal nations and in every profession and segment of society, Native American peoples carry the cultural knowledge and wisdom that sustains Native nations and helps build a stronger future for all. Let’s move forward together”
www.Illuminative.org
Columbus day sales are famous, they are a PR triumph, and they are part of the holiday weekend that falls in mid October in North America. Problem is that they are perpetuating a myth that Columbus was a good guy and if you look into him, you probably wouldn’t want to have him to dinner. There are so many other great Italians that we can be inspired by.
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/italian-americans-who-fou_b_8280484?ncid=engmodushpmg00000003
The sales as we know are an orgy of consumption, and even if we aren’t literally ramming the doors of Macy’s in person or online, we’re probably engaged in some sort of Columbus Day activity that unconsciously supports the cover up of the decimation of Native American families and their communities by celebrating the man who started it.
Oh c’mon you may say, fair suck of the rose gold rock salt adorning my Margeurita, that’s stretching the queso.
Well maybe, but for fun let’s ruminate on the word consumption. We might find that we’re suffocating beneath some lies of history.
Consumption is the common name for tuberculosis, and consumption is also coincidentally the primary activity and focus of Columbus Day and consumer society.
Tuberculosis, the disease, causes people to choke to death. They can’t breathe.
Consumption, as a guiding principle, has left the planet and all life that depends on her to survive, and that would be all life, to choke to death, it’s a disease. We can’t breathe.
We’ve been born into a system that’s asphyxiating the planet and Colombus Day is one of its perpetuating agents. It is a system that more and more people are questioning. We see and experience the effects of extreme weather, gender inequality, racial injustices and we know we can do better. That’s why people have been bringing down the monuments of colonialism and slavery, and that’s why more and more of us are choosing to celebrate Indigenous People’s Day, it’s a refreshing alternative.
Indigenous People’s Day is a day that celebrates family, community, overcoming struggle, enjoyment of the natural world, living a balanced life, reflecting the values of everyday people, not just the white elite at the top of the patriachial food chain.
Twelve states across Turtle Island aka the United States including Alaska, Minnesota, South Dakota, North Carolina, and Oregon, Vermont, Maine, New Mexico, and Michigan, plus 130 cities have already officially swapped one for the other. There’s still a long way to go, but it’s a good start.
Indigenous Peoples Days celebrates an operating philosophy based in kindness, reciprocity and true equality; it celebrates the people that have protected the earth and their sciences, their ways of being for millennia; it celebrates all life in all forms, all people, all nations.
One hundred and forty years again Crazy Horse made this prophecy at Standing Rock:
“Upon suffering beyond suffering, the Red Nation shall rise again and it shall be a blessing for a sick world. A world filled with broken promises, selfishness, and separations, a world longing for light again. I see a time of seven generations when all the colors of mankind will gather under the sacred Tree of Life and the whole Earth will become one circle again.”
I think we might be there, or close to it! Have a blessed day.
How do I celebrate?
Look for celebrations and prayer ceremonies in your local area if you are able to attend in person gatherings, or look for events online. There’s also Indigenous comedy and music, and an amazing world of contemporary art to be discovered too. Of course it’s a holiday so typical family get togethers definitely still apply!
We are all related.
Useful links:
https://illuminatives.org/indigenouspeoplesday2020/