We Don’t Do Pilgrim Fantasy in This House!

By Mama Tiff

Let’s get something clear:

We do not celebrate Thanksgiving in this house the way they taught us in school.

There are no buckled hats.
No sanitized stories of pilgrims “sharing” with Indigenous people.
No pretending this country was founded on kindness and love.

It wasn’t. It was rape, pillaging, land theft, genocide. And we are not about to throw a cute tablecloth over that and call it gratitude.

That legacy is dying. And you can feel it—in the uprisings, the truth pouring out of the cracks in old institutions, and the mass remembering that’s shaking our bones.

What We Do Instead

So what do we do in this house instead?

We feast.
We give thanks.
We honor our real abundance—not one built on someone else’s suffering, but one built in love, healing in our own personal lives.

I listen to music while I cook.
Jack and I laugh until we snort.
We drink wine, kiss in the kitchen, cry a little over the mashed potatoes, and fill our table with stories, sweetness, and soul.

This house?
This house does Thanks-Fucking-Giving.

Not to celebrate a lie—but to reclaim the right to love our lives fully, joyfully, and without apology.

So stay tuned.
Pictures are coming.
There will be recipes.
There will be stories.

And yes, it’s true—I use 8 pounds of butter for Thanksgiving dinner and dessert. Thank God for Costco…

Sorry to burst your bubble, but it’s time to get real! If you’d like the real story of what this country calls “Thanksgiving,” check it out ⬇️

What Actually Happened: The Truth About Thanksgiving

1. The “First Thanksgiving” in 1621

• It was not a peaceful, harmonious event as often portrayed.

• It was a three-day feast between the Wampanoag people and English colonists at Plymouth.

• The Wampanoag helped the Pilgrims survive their first year, including teaching them how to grow food.

• The gathering was more of a political alliance and not a national or religious celebration.

2. What Happened After?

• Within decades, that alliance was betrayed by the colonists.

• The English began seizing land, breaking treaties, and pushing Native communities out through violence and displacement.

• One of the most brutal events was the Pequot Massacre (1637), where colonists and their Native allies set fire to a Pequot village and slaughtered hundreds, including women and children.

3. Was Rape Part of Colonization?

• Yes. Sexual violence was widespread and systemic during colonization.

• Indigenous women and girls were kidnapped, raped, enslaved, and trafficked by settlers.

• These acts were not isolated—they were seen as a natural extension of conquest and justified by colonial ideologies like the Doctrine of Discovery.

• This legacy of violence against Native women continues today, reflected in the ongoing crisis of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women (MMIW) in North America.

4. When Did Thanksgiving Become a Holiday?

• 1863: President Abraham Lincoln declared Thanksgiving a national holiday during the Civil War, to promote national unity—not to honor the 1621 event.

• The mythologized version—with pilgrims, Native “friendship,” and turkey dinners—was invented later, particularly in the 20th century, to support national identity and erase colonial violence.

5. Indigenous Response Today

• Many Native American communities observe Thanksgiving as a Day of Mourning, honoring ancestors who suffered and resisting the romanticized version taught in schools.

• It is a time of remembrance, resistance, and truth-telling, not celebration.

👑 This is the Queen’s Path.
We don’t forget the shadow.
We cook in the light anyway.