Get out the popcorn. It's November.

Today is Thanksgiving in the US. The holiday grew out of the old custom of Harvest Home, as practised in parts of the UK and in lower Germany. It continued because Abraham Lincoln proclaimed it in 1864 as a way to thank God the country was still there, after all they'd been through in the last four years. Not a terrible idea. You can read his proclamation here. Since then, they've futzed about a bit with the date, etc, but it's now a national holiday, welcomed by many Americans as a chance to have a family get-together, feast and watch sports on TV. Unfortunately, the weekend is also welcomed by the retail industry as a time to make up for a slow commercial year. Tomorrow is correctly called Black Friday.

Also unfortunately, somewhere along the line, Thanksgiving got associated with the Pilgrims, a small group of wandering pietists who landed in Plymouth, Massachusetts, in 1620. Their reasons for moving were that they wanted to pray their own way, the English didn't want 'em underfoot, and living in the more tolerant Netherlands was causing their children to grow up speaking Dutch, which sounds like a throat disease. They didn't realise the kids would now grow up saying things like 'succotash', 'moccasin', 'Sachem' and 'Wampanoag'. Was that better than 'goedemorgen'? You be the judge.

Today's Short Subjects: The subsequent mythification of Thanksgiving has annoyed lots of people, particularly Native Americans, who often refer to the holiday as 'Thankstaking'. In honour of this, and as a historian's wail toward those mythmakers¹, we offer the Addams Family take on Thanksgiving. Wednesday sure knows how to organise a massacre.

For something more edifying, listen to this Cherokee memorial song, performed on a drum beside the river in Smoky Mountains National Forest, an area where the Cherokee have lived for many centuries. This performance honours a lost loved one, something most Europeans will identify with when November comes around. Bless that musician for sharing.

Today's Feature Film: I thought we ought to honour Native American performers and Native stories today, so here's a really interesting film, called Skins. One of the stars is Canada's Graham Greene, who is amazing, as always. It's a moving story about two brothers and their love for one another. It also brings up the question of Mt Rushmore. Somehow, it startled me to read that before seeing this film, many people had never considered the idea that carving up natural rock formations could be considered…well, vandalism. Really? You would be down with whittling on Ayers Rock? Seriously? If you understand why those presidential heads are an offence to nature, you'll appreciate the gesture at the end of this film. And the magical realism that accompanies it.

If you're on this side of the Atlantic, Happy Thanksgiving. Enjoy your feast. And spare a moment to reflect on the fact that even well-intended humans mess things up. Praying to give thanks and ask for some sage advice doesn't sound like a waste of a holiday at all.