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A Navajo Thanksgiving

Navajo teacher Brent Chase with a traditional weaving.
Laurel Morales
Navajo teacher Brent Chase with a traditional weaving.

View the audio slideshow and listen to a lesson about the Navajo people's beliefs about Thanksgiving.

A Navajo Thanksgiving Slideshow
A Navajo Thanksgiving
On Thanksgiving many Navajo people get together with their families, eat turkey and give thanks. But Navajo teacher Brent Chase teaches his students in northern Arizona about a special Navajo tradition.

For some Native Americans, Thanksgiving is not quite the same kind of celebration that it is for other Americans.

After all, the Pilgrim arrival and settlement didn’t exactly work out well for the Natives.

In the vast Navajo Nation in the Southwest, many do gather with families to give thanks on this holiday, just like their Anglo neighbors. But Navajo traditions teach them that Thanksgiving is, for them, a daily practice.

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That’s what Navajo teacher Brent Chase passes on to the children in his Joseph City, Arizona, classroom when its time for the Thanksgiving lesson.

View the audio slideshow above to listen to the class sing the Navajo Flag Song.