A Navajo creation story tells how Turkey saved the People

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November 24, 2023

(Unsplash/George Karelitsky)

In a new column at EarthBeat on Tuesday, public theologian Damian Costello wrote, "Thanksgiving is a complex experience in Indigenous communities. The story of the First Thanksgiving has long been used to emphasize the erasure of Native communities and appropriation of land. In response, some Native people observe a Day of Mourning to commemorate the tragic history."

Other Native people have had a different approach to that erasure. A decade ago, when Costello and his family lived on the Navajo Nation, he recalls there was "a sense of cultural self-confidence" that proclaimed, "We're not going anywhere and what we know is as real as anything on the planet."

It was then, when living on the largest Indian reservation in the U.S., that Costello first heard the Navajo, or Diné, creation story of how Turkey saved the People. In his essay, he reflects on how that story can inform all Americans' experiences of Thanksgiving, through its focus on what Benjamin Franklin thought should be the country's national bird, that turkey.

Read more: Turkey, our national bird of gratitude, carries the seeds for a new world

More reading for Thanksgiving and Native American Heritage Day:

What else is new on EarthBeat:

Small, sustainable changes to combat kitchen waste

by Kara Daddario Bown

When Kara Daddario Bown became a parent, she felt the need to embrace her values more seriously. She started by rethinking the "throwaway culture" in her kitchen.

Will climate cookbooks change how we eat?

by Caroline Saunders, Grist

Sustainable diets have been around for ages, but an emerging cookbook genre signals a new appetite for change.

An archdiocese in Kenya advocates for river conservation among local communities

by Shadrack Omuka

The Kalondon River, owned by the Nyeri Archdiocese, has been facing numerous challenges, including logging upstream, waste dumping from locals and illegal tapping.

What's happening in other climate news:

Global Temperatures Briefly Crossed Critical Threshold For The First Time Last Week — Siladitya Ray for Forbes

The EPA Launches Youth Council of Gen Z and Millennials — Alli Maloney for Teen Vogue

Women and LGBTQ+ people are uniquely vulnerable to climate change, new report shows — Jessica Kutz for The 19th* News

A fan died of heat at a Taylor Swift concert. It's a rising risk with climate change — Alejandra Borunda for NPR

Christians and climate change: Southern California churches preach very different messages — Brooke Staggs for The Orange County Register

Final Beat:

Like last year at the United Nations climate change conference, COP27, in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, loss and damages will again be a major topic of discussion at this year's U.N. climate summit, COP28, in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, from Nov. 30 to Dec. 12.

Ahead of the start of the global gathering next week, you might be wondering exactly what is loss and damage? Why is it important? Is it controversial? And what has the Catholic Church said about it? Revisit the "Burning Questions" explainer that NCR environment correspondent Brian Roewe wrote last year: What is loss and damage?

Then, to find out what agreements on the issue were reached during last year's climate change conference, read Roewe and GSR Africa/Middle East correspondent Doreen Ajiambo's report, "Last-minute COP27 deal on loss and damage called 'a real breakthrough'."

Thanks for reading EarthBeat!

Stephanie Clary
Environment Editor
National Catholic Reporter
sclary@ncronline.org
Instagram: @stephanieclaryncr
Twitter/X: @scherp01