Thanksgiving no holiday for American Indians

BOSTON – American Indian Sam Sapiel ate no turkey on Thanksgiving Day.

In fact, Thanksgiving wasn’t a day of celebration at all for Sapiel, 69, a Penobscot from Falmouth. Never has been, never will be.

“They think Thanksgiving is a happy thing, like New Year’s or Christmas, but it’s not for us Indians,” he said.

Sapiel was among a group of about 250 American Indians who took part in National Day of Mourning activities in Plymouth on Thursday, an annual event that commemorates the atrocities Indians have suffered since the Pilgrims arrived in 1620.

A former hunter and trapper with long black hair and dark skin, Sapiel led a prayer service near the statue of Massasoit, the Indian sachem said to have attended the first feast between the Pilgrims and natives in 1621.

The service atop Cole’s Hill paid homage to the wind, the earth, and the birds. Incense burned. Plymouth Rock was visible down the hill about 150 yards away.

Tens of thousands of tourists come to Plymouth each year to celebrate Thanksgiving in what local officials call “America’s hometown.”

The town holds an annual Pilgrim’s Progress march on Thanksgiving Day, and about 4,000 visitors were expected on Thursday alone to visit Plimoth Plantation, a museum that chronicles the arrival of the early settlers.

Tourism officials credited an Internet promotional campaign touting Plymouth as a Thanksgiving destination for the upsurge in interest.

But as Sapiel described the plight of his fellow American Indians, there wasn’t much cause for festivity.

“The only resources we have now are the casinos and the gambling,” said Sapiel, who has come to Plymouth the last 10 years. “I’m against that, but it’s all my people have.”

Navajos from Mexico, Onondagas from New York, Narragansetts from Rhode Island and Penobscots from Maine all came Thursday to talk about economic issues, land and other resources, and aid programs.

But mostly they came to remember.

Sapiel said even growing up in a poor Penobscot household on Indian Island in Maine no one celebrated Thanksgiving.

“We understand what it’s about, the Indians do,” he said.