Indigenous Holiday Racial Trauma: When Thanksgiving and Columbus Day Don't Feel Like Celebrating
For many Americans, November brings images of turkey, family gatherings, football and pies, and a couple of days off from school or work. October may include lessons about Christopher Columbus, parades, and a sense of historical pride – for some people. But if you are Indigenous, these holidays can carry a very different weight.
What the dominant culture calls “celebration” can feel like a reminder of genocide, land theft, forced assimilation, and ongoing erasure. Instead of celebration, you might be feeling indigenous holiday racial trauma. The feelings that arise are not just sadness or nostalgia — they are the deep, layered ache of racial trauma.
What is Indigenous holiday racial trauma?
Racial trauma is the emotional and psychological wounding that happens when you or your community are repeatedly exposed to racism, discrimination, or cultural erasure. Holidays like Thanksgiving and Columbus Day are particularly potent triggers because they are woven into the fabric of American identity.
The story told in schools and media — peaceful pilgrims sharing a meal, brave explorers discovering a “new world” — erases the lived experience of Indigenous peoples. For you and your ancestors, the reality was a very different experience than the one white-bodied people were taught. This dissonance can leave you feeling invisible, misunderstood, and exhausted.
The Experience of Being Erased by the Dominant Culture
Being erased means that your history, your pain, and your perspective are not acknowledged — or are actively replaced with a version that benefits the dominant group. When you hear “Happy Thanksgiving,” it may land as a demand to participate in a narrative that celebrates what was taken from you.
EMDR Therapy for Identity-Based Trauma
One powerful tool for healing the wounds tied to racial trauma is EMDR therapy (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing). EMDR therapy is often known for treating single-event trauma, but it is also highly effective for identity-based trauma — the deep injuries that come from being targeted, marginalized, or erased because of who you are. In EMDR therapy, you are guided to reprocess traumatic memories, so they no longer have such a strong emotional and physiological grip.
For Indigenous clients, EMDR therapy can help untangle the layers of pain that are tied to these holidays. You might work on a specific memory of being told your history is wrong, or of feeling silenced in a classroom or workplace. Over time, you can begin to hold those memories without the same intensity of shame, anger, or grief. The goal is not to forget or forgive what happened, but to reduce the suffering that arises when you are triggered, so that you can live more fully.
Mourning the Cumulative Losses Held in Intergenerational Trauma
Healing from racial trauma also involves grief. The cumulative losses your community has carried — loss of land, language, spiritual practices, family structures, safety, and identity — are not yours to fix alone. They are part of intergenerational trauma, passed down through epigenetics, story, and collective memory. Acknowledging that weight is not the same as being consumed by it. Mourning is a way of honoring what was taken, and it is an essential part of recovery.
You deserve space to say, “This is not okay. This hurt my ancestors, and it hurts me today.” It can help to create rituals of remembrance, whether that means lighting a candle, speaking the names of your ancestors, or simply sitting quietly with your feelings. There is no timeline for grief. You are allowed to mourn as often as you need.
Somatic Therapy to Release Layers of Oppression and Misidentification
Racial trauma does not only live in your mind — it lives in your body. The tension, the vigilance, the urge to shrink or fight or freeze — all of these are physical responses to generations of danger. Somatic Stress Release is a therapeutic approach that works with the body to release stored stress and trauma. It can help you gently unwind the layers of oppression and misidentification that have accumulated over centuries, often without your conscious awareness.
One simple way to begin is with a shaking exercise. You can do this at home or in a safe space. Stand with your feet hip-width apart, knees slightly bent. Let your arms hang loosely at your sides. Begin to shake your hands and wrists, then let the movement travel up through your arms and into your shoulders.
Allow your whole body to shake gently — as if you are trying to release a vibration. You can bounce lightly in your knees, let your head and neck be loose, and even make soft sounds if that feels right. Continue for one to two minutes. When you feel like stopping or slowing down, check inwardly to see what else wants expression. This movement helps discharge pent-up energy and signals to your nervous system that it is safe to let go.
Racial trauma can be healed in community.
You do not have to navigate this alone. Racial trauma is real, and it is worthy of care. You are greater than the harm that was done to you. Your pain doesn't define you… never has, never will. You are carrying something heavy, and you are learning to set parts of it down.
Healing will not happen overnight, but it is worth addressing the layers of pain one step at a time. I acknowledge and honor your unique experience and I'm open to helping you heal, which couldn't be gradual but is worth addressing the layers of pain. When Columbus is honored, you may feel the weight of centuries of violence and displacement. This is not just an intellectual disagreement; it is a wound that lives in your body, passed down through generations.
If you'd like to explore how racial trauma is affecting you and express the grief and intergenerational trauma in a safe space, please click the button below to schedule a free consultation where we can see if it is a good fit for you.
