The model for our modern Thanksgiving was a celebration that happened in 1621, at the Plymouth Plantation in Massachusetts. The Wampanoag Native Americans helped the pilgrims cultivate the land and fish, saving them from starvation. Giving and gratitude was a way of life for Native Americans, not just a special celebration of safe passage. TheirContinue reading “Thanksgiving Meditation”
Tag Archives: Gift Economy
Can We Change?
In the past few years, as Parabola has searched for ways to survive and be useful in the world, the question of how to live as if we are all interconnected has moved to the center of my life. We mutually belong to one another and to a greater whole—this ancient idea resonates with meContinue reading “Can We Change?”
The Gift of Giving
Happy Thanksgiving! I recently learned that when the Puritans landed in Massachusetts, they discovered that the Indians had a strange feeling about the giving and receiving of gifts. Having experienced nothing like it, they misunderstood it, ran it down. In 1764, when Thomas Hutchinson wrote his history of the colony, he explained that the alreadyContinue reading “The Gift of Giving”
Tracy Cochran 