For a long time people celebrated Thanksgiving every year because they didn’t have to worry about having enough food. The first Thanksgiving happened a long, long time ago before people knew about vending machines or how to put food in cans. A group of people called the Pilgrims had a feast with people called the Indians in order to thank them for teaching them how to grow food. Over the years, other people heard about the Pilgrims, moved to where they lived and killed almost all the Indians. After that, Thanksgiving was mostly about eating with relatives and trying to be nice to them. Everyone’s family would travel from far and wide to eat together, catch up on each other’s lives, and talk about what things used to be better. The kids would sit at a different table than the adults so they could be loud and everyone ate a type of bird called a turkey. A turkey was like a giant chicken but it was almost always dry when you cooked it and nobody ate the eggs.
After things stopped working, people had to worry about getting enough food to eat everyday so they stopped having Thanksgiving. There weren’t any turkeys on the island anyway. Nobody seemed to care because they were busy trying to live. For lots of years people like my Grandpa Pa’ani worked hard up on the hill to make sure everyone there had enough to eat, and that the ugly people down below didn’t steal anything. Even though the people on the hill were smart and they worked hard some of their plants started to get sick. The macadamia trees stopped making nuts and the taro plants started turning brown and dying. Everyone was really scared because they didn’t know where they were going to get food.
They were so worried that a bunch of them went out the gate and down below to try and trade for some food. After looking around for awhile they found a hunting party. The ugly hunters saw that one of the traders was drinking coffee and asked if they could taste some. They hadn’t had good coffee in a really long time because their roasters were broken and they’re not very good at fixing things. They really liked the coffee so they invited them back to their village.The people on the hill noticed there was a lot of broken stuff in the village. Almost all of their machines didn’t work and their plates and glasses were chipped and dirty. Most of their stuff was rusty and all of them had to share a can opener. They noticed something else too, lots of healthy plants.
The people from the hill told them about how their plants were dying and the Kanaka knew what to do. They gave them a different kind of taro plant that was stronger than the old kind but tasted just the same. They showed the hill people how to bury the purple fish next to the macadamia trees so they would get better and make nuts again. The people on the hill were happy that they didn’t have to worry about starving anymore. They decided to have Thanksgiving again and invite the Kanaka.
Even though the people down below don’t smell very good and are messy when they eat, the hill people opened the gates to share a feast . They laid out blankets and brought out tables so that their houses wouldn’t get messy. The Kanaka brought lots of fish, meat, and vegetables. The hardworking people made lots of coffee and brought out clean plates and glasses for them to use. Everyone was really happy and best of all nobody tried to steal anything. To show their appreciation for the good manners and the healthy plants, the people on the hill gave them bags of roasted coffee, new glasses and plates, and some new can openers. The people down below loved the gifts, especially the can openers. After that the Kanaka and the people like my grandpa started trading things more often. They still do today.
The people up here had such a good time that they decided to start having Thanksgiving every year again. We don’t eat with the people down below anymore because we have enough food for our families now. Grandfathers can talk about how lazy everyone is compared to them, aunts can ask your older sister why they aren’t married, and your cousin can talk about how important Kanaka integration is to a vibrant culture again, all thanks to coffee and can openers. I’m glad that the Kanaka helped us but I’m more glad that I don’t have to eat with them. My weird cousin is bad enough!
Akamai Mahelona
4th Grade
Pu`u School Lahaina
