The More You Know on Indigenous People’s Day

Happy Indigenous People's Day

The tribal people comprising the Yakama Nation have lived in this area since the beginning of time. They used the entire land base, from the lowlands around the Columbia River to the snow-peaked Cascade Mountains.

It's pretty wild to stop for a second and realize the mainstream version of history most grew up with is pretty off base. First off.

"In the year of 1492, when Columbus sailed the ocean blue" He landed on various Caribbean Islands and was acting like an animal

He never even made it to America. He never proved the earth was flat and there weren't even three boats called the Nina, The Pinta, and The Santa Maria. Apparently, those were probably nicknames for one ship that went exploring. He is not the guy.

Nearly 500 years before the birth of Christopher Columbus, a band of European sailors left their homeland behind in search of a new world.

They were Norsemen, Vikings and their leader's name was Leif Eriksson. There was a dude back in the day who was trying to get to Greenland from Iceland and overshot, passing by but never setting foot. Leif and a crew of 35 retraced the journey in reverse and boom! They showed up in the outskirts of Canada and after searching around a bit named their base camp. Wait for it. Newfoundland. New Found Land. Get it?

So today, on October 12th of every year, Canadians celebrate Thanksgiving.

If you want to go back even further apparently there was a 6th-century Irish monk named Saint Brendan who

supposedly sailed to North America on a currach — a wood-framed boat covered with animal skin. His alleged journey is detailed in the ancient annals of Ireland. 

He was a real guy who traveled all over the place and though it can't be proven he set foot in Canada, a gentleman in 1976  Saint Brendan mentioned and he made it.

There were already indigenous people residing in these places when they were, "discovered" by people from other places but it's always good to know your history. My brain just popped a little bit because seriously the more you know.

Below is a song you can teach the kids including sign-language for everyone to join in on the fun