cohan
I'm not that excited about mainstream holidays, but Thanksgiving
is not a bad concept- daily gratitude
has been shown to be very beneficial. This altar( https://cohanmagazine.blogspot.com/2024/09/autumn-equinox-apjumibas-altar-to.html ) was prepared for the Equinox but works now too! Giving thanks for all the bounty of #Nature #GreatMother
A Beautiful Season to All!
#Thanksgiving #pagan #gratitude #SeasonalRhythms
Autumn Equinox Apjumības: an Altar to Bounty, Colour, Remembrance of Loss and a Twin God

  I mentioned in my previous post that Autumn Equinox is a significant time for me. Firstly, the season itself- living in a northerly climat...

Oct 14, 2024 at 6:40pmWeb
Show threadWillow (she/her)Oct 14, 2024

@cohanf Thanksgiving is one I have wrestled with. Because I loathe the whole colonial thing, settlers are bad, it's uncomfortable.

And yet a harvest festival to pause and spend time with loved ones and focus on what is bringing joy is SO up my ally as a hearth witch. And ppl usually have extra time off this weekend, so it makes it easier to gather.

Show threadcohanOct 15, 2024
@MsHearthWitch Yeah, I'm not sure if has as much association with the earliest settlers in Canada as it does in the U.S.? ( I should look up the full history of the occasion in Canada..). I slightly look at the harvest part of it (though really I'm more focussed on the Equinox, and the ancient harvest celebrations etc as I mentioned in my posts a few days ago). Mostly Thanksgiving I take at its name- a moment to pause and be grateful.--cont
Show threadcohanOct 15, 2024
@MsHearthWitch I know what you mean- there's a convenience to set holidays- I only work weekends, and that doesn't change much (my workplace only closes on C'mas day) so I don't usually get more days off, and I don't gather with anyone- there are 2 of us in this house, I don't eat with anyone or anywhere else..lol, BUT there is a difference in the availability of certain foods that are associated with holidays- so we often end up having some kind of special meal on/near the mainstream dates!
Show threadWillow (she/her)Oct 15, 2024

@cohanf Yeah, I think it sharing a date with Columbus day (former) and Indigenous People's Day (current) makes it harder to avoid the association, even tangentially.

I too like to just take Thanksgiving at its game, although I have generally adopted the "Friendsgiving" as a way to distance my intentions for the day from the settler holiday. I think taking that time to pause, reflect, be grateful and intentional about doing so is an important thing.

Show threadcohanOct 15, 2024
@MsHearthWitch Some (relatively recent Canadians, non-Christian background) co-workers were asking about Thanksgiving the other day. Someone had already given them some basics (not sure what). I gave some additional points on the original religious intentions, but also said it is when the great Turkey Spirit comes down from the sky for the pumpkin harvest... I did tell them I was joking but that most people just care about eating and maybe seeing family...lol
Show threadcohanOct 15, 2024
@MsHearthWitch When I was a kid, it was a family thing but also a special occasion for the church I went to with my grandparents-- nothing flashy, but an extra day of services, readings and really focussed on the gratitude thing!
Show threadKatzedecimalOct 15, 2024
@cohanf @MsHearthWitch
It does & it doesn't. Canadian Thanksgiving has its roots with privateer Martin Frobisher, not Christopher Columbus. Frobisher & his crew had a meal (of their own rations) to give thanks for reaching shore safely after a violent storm, on one of their attempts at the Northwest Passage. Frobisher wasn't great to the Inuit people either, though, took some as slaves.
Indigenous People's Day in Canada is in June.
Show threadcohanOct 15, 2024
@Katzedecimal @MsHearthWitch Interesting, I don't think I'd ever heard that! Thanks for the info.