For some of my readers, I'm going to sound like a total heartless bitch with my next statement. I'm sorry, but it's my real opinion, and I ask that you at least read the whole entry before you judge. And please, feel free to comment.

I think the people making a huge deal over Native American rights and appropriation and what-have-you are just wasting their breath. No, really. Nobody's listening. Nobody cares on Thanksgiving because they're watching the football game, the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, and running around like mad people cooking for the huge family gatherings that happen on this day in America. 

Yes, I understand that the traditional Thanksgiving story is a crock, and that the Native Americans suffered a lot of heartache, and still do. I'm of Cherokee blood myself (though the much larger amount of various kinds of European blood overwhelm most of it), and I know a bit from my research to tie my heritage into my practice, and I am sympathetic, but there's not a damn person listening in the US today. And what does that have to do with today's Thanksgiving holiday? Not much. 

You know what I do take an issue with? The fact that no one seems to pay attention to the words that make up the name of this holiday: Thanks giving. The whole point of Thanksgiving is to celebrate what we have; to be truly grateful for our lives and the good things in it. 

My aunt was in the hospital last weekend. She suffered an abcess in her stomach and a ruptured appendix. As most of you know, a ruptured appendix is a dangerous thing, possibly fatal and extremely uncomfortable. With the abcess, the rupture was even more of a problem. She was in the hospital for several days after having to be opened up with a midline incision to clean everything up, rather than the usual laproscopic procedure. 

She got the concept this year. She was just happy to be there. 

Here I am complaining about this, but I'm just as guilty as the next person. I don't give a damn about this holiday anymore. I hate the parade, I don't care about football (and the Iron Bowl isn't til Saturday - War Eagle!), and I don't get to have as much fun cooking when my mother's running around like a madwoman. (Still really proud of that apple pie I made, though.) And on top of that, Thanksgiving is just the gateway to Christmas shopping nowadays, rather than an actual celebration of life, family, food, and everything we already have. 

For many Pagans, especially those who are Wiccan or whose practice is based in Wicca, Thanksgiving as a national holiday is a redundancy. We've already got Mabon, back over 16 weeks ago. Mabon a harvest celebration, much like most Pagan festivals, celebrating the main harvest of the year and thanking the earth and the gods for their bounty and blessing. Regardless of the fact that Mabon isn't directly related to any pre-existing holidays, it's a practice that most of us take more seriously and spiritually than pretty much any family in the country. And then there's Samhain. (Well, I say Hallowe'en, but that's the fact that I'm not Wiccan nor a Celtic practitioner, but I digress...) An honoring of our dead, offer them food and drink, appease the spirits that come through the Veil, practice transformative magick, and celebrate and give thanks for the final harvest. 

Thanksgiving here is a national excuse to eat too much, sleep too much, watch football, and get up at ungodly hours the next morning and literally trample people to get discounts on presents for yet another commerciallized holiday. I'm not trying to get preachy, but it's rather disgusting how things have devolved. When parents brawl over Tickle-Me-Elmos and one woman outright kills another over a Barbie doll, I think people have forgotten the point. 

Okay, so maybe I was ranting. Rant over.