Thanksgiving is not a big deal in San Francisco, as it occurs weeks after Halloween and weeks before Christmas.
The Day of the Dead and the arrival of Baby Jesus are widely celebrated by both religious and secular communities.
Our city, after all, is historically Catholic — named after a legendary saint.
Nor do we revere Thanksgiving as a lovefest for white colonizers and Native Americans.
Our Indians were not of the bellicose variety. They welcomed all invaders, putting up scant resistance to encroachment.
The Miwok and Ohlone tribes comprised hunters and gatherers who were subjugated by the Spanish Conquistadors, sheltered and educated by Spanish missionaries, and finally slaughtered by the Mexicans and Gold Rush American settlers here for gold and property.
The Richard Brautigan Literary Society and Drinking Club convenes at the Buena Vista Café for a “family-style” banquet each year at this time. At noon, we take a break on the beach at Aquatic Park — just west of Ghirardelli Square — to watch an improvised history play put on by local winos and derelicts.
At noon, we take a break on the beach at Aquatic Park — just west of Ghirardelli Square — to watch an improvised history play put on by local winos and derelicts.
Using primitive staging and costumes, they re-enact the first meeting of outsiders and Indigenous people.
The Conquistadors have tin pans for hats and carry curtain rods as lances. The Indians are covered in mud, and sport straw loincloths.
There’s a lot of pushing and shoving at first, and then a treaty, when they pass the “pipe of peace” around as a communal rite.
A heady mixture of smoke made from herbs and narcotics wafts through the heavy coastal fog.
Back at the Buena Vista, revelers are ordering turkey dinners, which was a favorite meal for eastern tribes. Eastern Native Americans consumed both the eggs and meat, sometimes turning the latter into a type of jerky both to preserve it and make it last throughout cold weather.
These peoples provided habitat by burning down portions of forests to create meadows, which would attract mating birds, and thus give a clear shot to hunters. The feathers of turkeys also often made their way into the rituals and headgear or other clothing of many tribes.
For instance, the Muscogee (Creek) and Wampanoag, two Woodland tribes, wore turkey-feather cloaks. The turkey clan was also one of three Lenape clans, who lived in the northeastern Woodlands. Plus, the unique and lively movements of wild turkeys inspired the Caddo tribe’s turkey dance, which is danced only by Caddo women.
Here in the American West, the Navajo of northeastern Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah call the turkey Tązhii and relate the bird to life-giving corn and squash seeds still used in a Diné Thanksgiving. The turkey also figures in Navajo folklore, having been brought by the people who journeyed from the Third World to the present Fourth World. The turkey, in fact, is one of the Diné people’s sacred birds, with the feathers and parts incorporated in multiple traditional ceremonies.
At the same time, many Native Americans tribal members view the holiday as a symbol of their people’s oppression, of land theft, and the spark for a history of violence and destruction.
Some even observe a National Day of Mourning to remember and protest this history.
For our group of misfits, the obligation to attend large family gatherings can be stressful, especially if there are tensions or disagreements.
Some of us also dislike the holiday because it is closely tied to “Black Friday,” a celebration of overconsumption and corporate greed.
Finally, the holiday generates a large amount of food waste, with one estimate suggesting 305 million pounds in the U.S. alone. And because San Francisco has no cultural history of the American Thanksgiving tradition, many of celebrate with Wild Turkey bourbon and a beer chaser.
Here’s mud in your eye.
