fourth Thursday in November

[alexseanchai]

Today I am going to wear black and white, in mourning for the genocide of Native American people generally and specifically the people killed by my renowned ancestor Miles Standish of the Mayflower. This is the nearest I am willing to come to celebrating Genocide Day.

Today, when Mom asks each person at the table what we're thankful for this year, I will say "community" not otherwise specified, and mean several things she won't expect, all of which I am indeed grateful for. This is all the celebrating of Thanksgiving I am willing to do, given that it coincides with Genocide Day and the mythology around Thanksgiving is inextricably intertwined with the white-supremacist tale-for-children version of the origins of Genocide Day.

Today, yes, I will eat and enjoy the turkey and stuffing and gravy and cranberry sauce and deviled eggs. Because I have always loved Turkey Day food and (aside from the deviled eggs) this is pretty much the only day of the year I get to eat it. I will resent celebrating Turkey Day, given that it coincides with Genocide Day and is all tangled up with Thanksgiving, but I will celebrate it nonetheless, because food.

Those of you who celebrate Turkey Day, have a good one. The rest of y'all, enjoy your Thursday!

Comments

[madgastronomer]

Hey, now that you have your own place, you can cook Turkey Day food any damn time you like! I mean, fresh cranberries have to wait until they're in season, but frozen work perfectly well, and if you like the canned jelly, that's available year-round. Turkey breasts and legs are cheapish the rest of the year and provide food for a few days, roasting is easy, especially if you're not doing a whole damn bird. Stuffing and gravy are easy, too. And if you're just doing it for you, you don't have to worry about making it all come out at the same time.

I'm happy to share some of my recipes, like my extra-simple cranberry sauce (dumb one package of fresh cranberries and one cup of fresh orange juice into a saucepan and cook on medium-low heat, stirring occasionally, until it's a sauce; add sugar if desired) or some of the turkey brines I've used (there's a tasty buttermilk one under my recipes tag).

There will still be family pressure to do the big dinner, and doing that or not is up to you, but you do not have to wait until November to have this meal.

[alexseanchai]

This is true and I hadn't thought of it. :)

[untonuggan]

Yes! My British family has all this stuff on December 25th anyway.