Posted on 11/24/2005 5:13:54 PM PST by lainie
ALCATRAZ ISLAND, United States (AFP) - A tribal chant rose from a thousands-strong prayer circle on Alcatraz Island in San Francisco Bay as Native Americans held a sunrise "Unthanksgiving Day" ceremony.
"What we call it is Unthanksgiving," Bear Lincoln of the Wailikie Tribe told AFP as he waved burning sage to purify the area and ward off evil spirits.
"It was the saddest day for us. It was a big mistake for us to help the Pilgrims survive that first winter. They betrayed us once they got their strength."
Traditional Thanksgiving feasting in the United States is a tribute to the meal the original European Pilgrims shared with the Native Americans who helped them survive in the new land.
An estimated 3,000 people packed onto ferries that set out from Fisherman's Wharf for Alcatraz in the pre-dawn darkness Thursday, according to organizers.
A bonfire blazed at the center of a prayer circle set up on a bluff beneath the Alcatraz lighthouse. And at the base of the rock wall leading up to the ruins of the former federal prison were a pair of Indian teepees.
"Ultimately, this is their land," said Irma Pinedo, a Mexico City native who was among the Aztec dancers taking part in the ceremony. "For us, no turkey today."
Turkey, which nearly became the national bird in the United States instead of the eagle, is the main course at traditional Thanksgiving dinners.
"I take my children to this every year because I want them to understand there is another side to the story," said 41-year-old Erin Alexander, who added that the event has grown significantly since she began attending 12 years ago.
(Excerpt) Read more at cnn.netscape.cnn.com ...
Well since Japan is nothing but islands, they would have to have boat technology.
Oops. Right. My goof. It was their own language, but later, when they had an example.
The Jomon didn't (since they were there during the Iceage when it was just part of the continent). However, the Hakka (Ya Yoi) and Koreans definitely had to have boats.
It's a syllabry, not an alphabet. Sequoia did the same thing the Koreans did in the 1500s.
That *was indeed* a complicated thing. One of the early running conflicts was that even though the Cherokee were allied with South Carolina at least, the State would buy slaves (often being Cherokee) from their enemies, and refused to free them back to the Cherokee.
Finished for the evening ~ the American Indian thread is always interesting ~ and it provides a way of reviewing old beliefs.
I guess the sea-faring routes between Asia and Australia were responsible for the settling of Australia. You're probably right; the land bridge may not have existed.
However, I am still baffled about why a culture would voluntarily stop developing sea faring technologies that they used previously.
Anyone who actually believes that should repeat the 3rd grade.
That was my comment, not his...and I mangled how I wrote it. I never intended to convey that they had a written language before the Europeans had written languages.
You can be Amish and have decide to not live the life style.
A very appropriate quote indeed; thank you for an interesting discussion, FRiends.
As muawiyah pointed out in his posting, I had a chance to review my own old beliefs.
"I take my children to this every year because I want them to understand there is another side to the story,"
...so that I train them to always look at the past, feel that society owes them, thereby making sure that they never work to advance themselves. This is my gift to my children: that they grow up to be losers just like me!!
"I really cannot bear having American Indians mocked and maligned even if they are unduly influenced by leftist activists. I resent it. I hear bloated ignorance about Indian tribal culture the basis of which was a council of wise elders and a commune order for survival."
I agree, we shouldn't mock. However, I think it perfectly fair to look back in time and examine reasons for a particular outcome. Indians lost because they were defeated/absorbed by a technologically superior culture. The South lost the Civil War because the North was numerically and technologically superior. The German army and particularly the Waffen SS fought very hard but were crushed by numerically and technologically superior nations.
*In my post, I did not argue against the historical reality of cause and effect, nor against reasons for the inevitable result. I do argue against unfair characterizations and ignorant misrepresentions of Indians past and present.
I guess that's why people come from all over the world to visit the Taos pueblo...which has been continually inhabited for over a thousand years.
March 22, 1622.
If you're ever in the Jamestown area, there is a place called Carter's Grove Mansion. Off in the back is an area where the Martin's Hundred settlement was. I just happened onto it.
They'd have to have boats. while you could get a lot farther with low sea levels, there is a chasm in the ocean floor that runs between some of the islands.
That is largely correct, with one critical exception (in north America). The Cherokee, who us eeeevil white men drove out of the applachian mountain region in the south, which was once their home, had a sophisticated civilization by the standards of the day. They may have been a few hundred years behind the rest of the world in terms of technology, but many were christianized, spoke english well for enganging in commerce with the white man, and yes, even had slaves. then we drove them out of their nation to the reservation...
in Latin America, the Aztecs, Mayans, and Incas were highly advanced and developed civilizations. they were behind the white man in the technology department, but they were at least as advanced as ancient Rome...
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.