This is the most common question I was asked in the last three weeks, and the answer is no, we don’t (unfortunately).

Though Thanksgiving offers an opportunity to have delicious food and to reunite families and friends, the origin and the meaning of the feast is what fascinates me most. In 1621, the Plymouth colonists and Wampanoag Indians shared an autumn harvest feast. This harvest meal became a symbol of cooperation and interaction between English colonists and Native Americans. Although this feast is considered by many to the very first Thanksgiving celebration, it was actually in keeping with a long tradition of celebrating the harvest and giving thanks for a successful bounty of crops. Many Native American tribes – including the Pueblos, Cherokees, and Muscogee Creeks – organized harvest festivals, ceremonial dances, and other celebrations of thanks centuries before the arrival of Europeans in North America.

Thanksgiving calls for tolerance in order for reconciliation to occur. It invites us to reflect upon all of our gifts (family, friends, health), and it reminds us of the importance of cooperation. All these messages are the root of social coexistence, therefore governments across the world should remember these principles in order to lead nations to prosperity.