We, vegans, have a great celebration in Los Angeles. It's held at a huge park in West LA. Everyone is welcome, regardless of being vegan or not, but the food must all be vegan. Everyone brings enough food to share with at least 8 other people. Nothing commercial. No selling of anything. No religion. We are totally inclusive. The food is amazing. We have some music. There are a lot of kids and even seniors. It's been an event for over 25 years. It's held between 11 and 4, so people can also have dinner with other family members who can't or won't attend. Pets are welcome. No one is turned away. We make a celebration of community, unity, and compassion. AND it's a lot of fun!

I use as a family get to gether

I live with my sister, and at our house it is just a time to spend with family.

As it happens we have some Native American Ancestry, and one of our brothers had kids with a Naive American woman.

Holidays in general have all gotten so commercial that their original meanings and origins are seldom thought of. Just enjoy spending time with family and good friends...

Because of what it stands for, I don't celebrate like most people do. It's a disgusting way to be thankful for anything due to circumstances on what took place. I do however like to cook and bake and have a couple days off work. Being connected to American Indians on many levels, this is a sad time for them so therefore no celebration is going on in my life.

I'll jump on almost any excuse to celebrate with rest, food, and loved ones. Many peoples celebrate the harvest, sort of a last blast before winter. Of course I do not celebrate the evils of our ancestors, but I have no problem with being grateful to get to eat, have a roof over my head, and still have people in my life. For me, this was never a god holiday.

Most of the major holidays had religious origins. Welcome to the human condition! Halloween, mardi gras, Easter, Christmas, and T-day. New Year's and Independence Day are the only major ones that aren't, to my knowledge. (...oh, okay, and the vitally important Arbor Day!) I am not counting military-related occasions. As for Thanksgiving, though, the religious aspect and the destruction of Native Americans are kind of two separate issues. I'd say Columbus Day should be ditched, because it appears to celebrate the false idea that Columbus actually discovered something that was lost, and because it marked the beginning of the rape of a continent. But Thanksgiving was not a celebration of the destruction of Native American culture so much as a celebration of having survived through terrible struggle. I think there is value in stopping to consciously appreciate the good things we have in life. (Honestly, it's an excuse to stuff our faces.) I'm not thanking a magic sky daddy, but I do appreciate many aspects of my country, despite the many glaring shortcomings. If secularists actually had the clout, we could rename the holiday to American Appreciation Day, perhaps!

As with most holidays I just enjoy the time with family. I do not really like the meaning behind it ... and other things for that matter but enjoy the time with family. I am not upset that immigrants came to the Americas. I am pissed that most chose to treat the natives so harshly. Not all immigrants did as my ancestors were both native and immigrants who chose to accept each other. I wish people did not feel the need to change those that are different or anahialate those that they feel are different and do no want to change. As long as they people are not harming each other they should just work things out.

I have never liked Thanksgiving because of the idea of be thankful to a god. The first Thanksgiving never happened, being mythology. Christians did not sit down to a celebratory meal with heathen natives. Then add on you r point of the terrible horrors and murders of Native Americans. BUT, many holidays have lost original significance or the meaning has changed through the year. It is an excuse to get together with friends and family, eat, laugh, and for me to complain how I hate the hypocrisy of the holiday. So I think we should never forget history and we should recognize what was done to people in the past, it is just an opportunity to share a day. Also, we are a nation and that is not going to change. We are not going to give the land back. Every nation around the world was taken through invasion, wars, bloodshed and some horrific treatment of others. And Natives themselves went to war with each other. Let's face it, human being can suck.

I don't participate in holidays nor rituals associated with drama. After fifteen years most people who know me realize my non-participation is not about them.

Not sure about the Native American thing. Most people celebrate giving thanks for something which is supposed to be good for your health. I would think it would be fine to celebrate it as long as you leave the Native American myth part (and it is mostly a myth) out