Green Corn and the Frog in the Sun: Indigenous American Thanksgivings

Stephanie Zonis

Modern-day Americans are familiar with the federal holiday of Thanksgiving, which falls on the fourth Thursday in November. By comparison with indigenous American nations, however, modern-day Americans are stingy with their gratitude. Tribes living throughout the area that would become the US conducted multiple ceremonies of thanksgiving during the year, based on the local agricultural and harvest cycles of plant and animal foods. Because few tribes had written languages and many were decimated by the arrival of European settlers, it can be difficult to find information about the religions and religious practices of some nations. Complicating this matter is the fact that each nation had different names for the Creator and varying spirits and myths. Yet there is some understanding of ceremonies and celebrations practiced by larger, more numerous peoples.

According to anthropologist Bea Medicine, traditional staples of indigenous American peoples included wild game, berries, roots, teas, and local vegetables. Depending upon where the tribe was located, waterfowl, fish, fruits other than berries, and nuts might form part of their food, too. Some peoples migrated seasonally within their region, depending upon what food was available at a given time of year. Far to the north, in the area that would become Alaska, the growing season was very short, so the diet consisted primarily of meat. Among coastal peoples in those regions, fish and sea mammals were crucial food sources, as well. In the temperate climate that covers most of the US, however, plant foods provided much of the diet.

Of all the crops cultivated or eaten by indigenous American peoples, the three most important and revered were beans, squash, and maize (sometimes called Indian corn and related to today’s sweet corn). Michael Johnson, author of Tribes of the Iroquois Confederacy, notes that, among the nations of this alliance, the trio is called “The Three Sisters, our life supporters.” Claude Belanger, an instructor at Marianopolis College in Montreal, relates an Algonkian (also called “Algonquian,” and categorizing any of a number of indigenous peoples scattered over a vast geographic area who spoke related languages) legend regarding the creation both of indigenous Americans and crops sacred to them. A manito, or primal man-being, formed a young man. But the young man grew tired of being alone, so the manito brought him a sister for a companion. The two lived together happily for some time. One night, the young man had his first dream. On awakening, he told his sister that it had been revealed to him that five young man-beings would visit their lodge that very night. The young man continued that his sister was forbidden to pay any attention to, or speak to, any of the first four, but that she should welcome the fifth young man when he sought entrance to the lodge. The sister acted as her brother’s dream dictated. She did not acknowledge or speak to the first four young men who came to the lodge, all of whom died of shame and embarrassment as a result. But the four underwent a transformation, so that the first became Tobacco (“Sama”), the second Squash (“Wapekone”), the third Melon (“Eshketamok”) and the fourth Bean (“Kojees”). The fifth young man, Maize (“Mandamin”) was welcomed by the sister; he entered the lodge and became her husband. Mandamin buried his four companions, and from their graves emerged enough of these vital foods to supply them for the year, as well as tobacco sufficient for them to make offerings to the manito. The sister and Mandamin became the parents of the indigenous American race.

Most tribes that practiced agriculture had at least three ceremonies during their regional growing season. These included a planting ceremony and a harvest festival. During these celebrations, the Creator or other spirits would be thanked for all manner of crops. But maize was the only crop I found for which a specific festival of thanksgiving was named, and this ritual (based on green maize) seems as universal as it was specific. Green maize, incidentally, is usually characterized as the first young, tender maize of the season, so this was really a “first fruits” ceremony. Thomas E. Mails, writing in The Cherokee People, maintains that the annual giving of thanks during the Green Corn (Ceremony) “was the most solemn tribal function,” and that “only those who had properly prepared themselves by prayer, fasting, and purification were allowed to take part in the ceremony.” The web source www.dcpages.com indicates that this ceremony had a “wide geographic distribution.” It was complex, intricate, and time-consuming, requiring days to perform. Of course, the details of the ceremony differed between peoples. The most charming legend I’ve seen associated with this rite deals with the eating of the new corn, which was allowed only when the lengthy ceremonies had finally concluded. Those consuming the new corn had to take great care not to blow on it to cool it. If they did so, a windstorm would surely arise and beat down the corn left standing in the field to mature!

Other “first fruits” rituals, sometimes called “firstling rites,” were commonly practiced. www.britannica.com states that peoples living in the northwestern US were careful to carry out an annual firstling rite for salmon. The first salmon of the year to be caught would be sliced in a particular way. Small slices would be distributed among the tribe to eat, and the carcass would be returned to the water with prayers and thanks. This ceremony ensured a bountiful salmon harvest for the year. The Okanagan, Lilloet, and Ntalkapamux nations conducted firstling rites for berries, according to the same source. And the Iroquois had a similar ritual for the ripening of any and all “first fruits,” called the Strawberry Festival.

In Johnson’s Tribes of the Iroquois Confederacy, other thanksgiving rituals found among the peoples of the alliance were a Maple Festival in March, in which the maple spirits were thanked after the collection of sap, and an early spring “Sun Shooting” Festival. The latter was a rite in which gratitude was offered to the sun, but it also involved the symbolic casting out of a frog from this celestial body, as the frog delayed the coming of spring. The website of the Echota Cherokee Wolf Clan discusses the Bouncing Bush Festival (also called the Exalting Bush Festival), said to be an expression of “unrestrained joy.” During the associated ceremonies, the Great Spirit and lesser helper spirits received thanks as the source of all blessings.

In the far north, one of the major thanksgiving festivals of the Central Alaskan Yup’ik was called the “Inviting-In Festival” (also known as “Kelek” or “Itruka’ar”). According to www.lakotaarchives.com, these Yup’ik (there were others) lived in what is now mainland, southwestern Alaska. Along with other indigenous peoples, they believed that learning correct behavior was important, as incorrect behavior would upset the critical balance between the visible world of humans and the invisible, spirit-filled world. The Yup’ik Inviting-In Festival was a form of thanksgiving in which spirits were invited in to share the food of the people. In another ritual, the bladders of all seals caught during the year would be saved for the Bladder Festival (“Nakaciuq”). The seal bladders were inflated, decorated, and hung in the men’s lodge. People (probably only the men, as the bladders were hung in the men’s lodge) danced and sang before the bladders, which were also offered food. The seals’ souls, contained in the bladders, would hear the tribe and acknowledge the offerings by bestowing upon their hunters many more seals in the future. Surely this can be construed as an additional rite of thanksgiving.

Peoples dependent on agriculture and wild game for their existence have held harvest festivals for centuries, and indigenous Americans were no exception. Societies from the Atlantic seaboard to the Aleutian Islands gathered to express their unity as a group and their appreciation of the harvest. The Creator, spirits, and even heroes of folklore or legend would all be acknowledged. All rituals depended in part upon prayers, singing, and dancing; the prayers might be expressed through song or dance, in fact. Music, storytelling, and even games could also be held as sacred traditions. Fasting or purification might be involved prior to the rite, but harvest ceremonies invariably ended in a communal feast. Because indigenous peoples marked calendar months according to the full moon, September’s full moon is referred to in some areas as the Harvest Moon. The Hunters’ Moon was the name frequently bestowed on October’s full moon, obviously in accordance with the “harvest” of wild game, perhaps the last opportunity to catch significantly large game in any numbers before the winter season set in.

Despite any differences in their varying religious beliefs and practices, the indigenous societies shared at least one all-important conviction: only if the Creator and lesser spirits were honored and appreciated as they should be, would good fortune for the people result. Harvests would be bountiful and game plentiful; neither sickness nor discord would visit the tribe; enemies would stay distant. For these first Americans, who often had to struggle just to survive, giving thanks was a way of life.