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Thanksgiving: A Celebration Built on Loss
Thanksgiving is often seen as a time for family, gratitude, and feasting, but its roots are far more complicated and painful. The first Thanksgiving in 1621 was a gathering between the Pilgrims and the Wampanoag people. While the story is usually told as one of friendship, real history paints a different picture. After the feast, decades of violence and displacement followed for Native Americans. By the late 1600s, English settlers had started seizing native land, leading to warfare, forced removals, and even massacres such as the Mystic Massacre in 1637. Scholars and indigenous activists have pointed out that for many Native Americans, Thanksgiving is a day of mourning, not celebration. Each year, the National Day of Mourning is observed in Plymouth, Massachusetts, to honor indigenous resistance and loss. According to the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian, this holiday is a stark reminder of the erasure and suffering endured by Native peoples.
Columbus Day: A Legacy of Destruction
Columbus Day, celebrated in October, is meant to honor the arrival of Christopher Columbus in the Americas in 1492. However, Columbus’s journey marked the beginning of a brutal era for indigenous people. Historical records show he enslaved, murdered, and exploited native populations, with some historians calling it the start of “the American Holocaust.” The Taino population of the Caribbean, for example, was decimated within decades. In recent years, more than 20 states have moved to replace Columbus Day with Indigenous Peoples’ Day, reflecting a growing awareness of the holiday’s dark origins. Statues of Columbus have been taken down across the country amid protests. According to a 2023 Pew Research report, over 60% of Americans now support changing or abolishing the holiday due to its violent legacy.
Independence Day: Freedom for Whom?
July Fourth is all about fireworks, barbecues, and celebrating American freedom. But in 1776, when the Declaration of Independence was signed, that freedom was only for a select few. Enslaved Africans made up about 20% of the population in the original thirteen colonies, according to the Library of Congress. The founding fathers, including Thomas Jefferson and George Washington, owned slaves while writing about liberty and justice. Frederick Douglass’s famous 1852 speech “What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?” highlights the hypocrisy and pain felt by Black Americans. It wasn’t until June 19, 1865—Juneteenth—that the last enslaved people in Texas were freed. The contradiction at the heart of Independence Day continues to spark debate, protest, and calls for deeper reflection.
Halloween: From Pagan Rites to Fear Mongering
Halloween is known for costumes, candy, and spooky fun, but its origins are rooted in ancient Celtic rituals. The holiday began as Samhain, a pagan festival marking the end of the harvest and the beginning of winter. People believed that on Samhain, the boundary between the living and the dead was blurred, and spirits roamed the earth. When Christianity spread to Celtic lands, the church tried to replace Samhain with All Saints’ Day, but old traditions persisted. In the early 20th century, Halloween in America was linked to mischief and even violence—there were widespread reports of vandalism, arson, and pranks so destructive that communities had to organize parades and parties to distract kids. Today, Halloween is big business—Americans spent over $12 billion on the holiday in 2023, according to the National Retail Federation—but its eerie, unsettling roots linger in ghost stories and haunted attractions.
Valentine’s Day: Blood and Betrayal
Valentine’s Day is celebrated as a day of romance, but its beginnings are anything but sweet. The holiday is named after Saint Valentine, a Christian martyr executed by the Roman Empire. Some sources suggest that the day was created to replace the pagan festival of Lupercalia, which involved animal sacrifices and fertility rites. According to History.com, the earliest Valentine’s greetings date back to the Middle Ages, but the commercialization of love didn’t begin until the 19th century. Darker still, the “Saint Valentine’s Day Massacre” of 1929 saw seven men murdered in Chicago during Prohibition, linking the holiday to organized crime. Modern Valentine’s Day is now a multi-billion dollar industry, but its origins remain shadowed by violence and exploitation.
Labor Day: Born from Bloodshed and Strikes
Labor Day was established to honor the American worker, but its history is stained with violence and struggle. In the late 19th century, industrial workers faced grueling hours, unsafe conditions, and child labor. The Pullman Strike of 1894, a nationwide railroad boycott, turned deadly when federal troops killed more than a dozen workers. Labor Day was signed into law shortly after as a way to calm public outrage, but many saw it as a political move to distract from the real issues workers faced. The Department of Labor reports that union membership has dropped from over 20% in the 1980s to just 10% in 2024, yet labor disputes and strikes have surged in the wake of pandemic-era layoffs and corporate profits. The holiday’s roots in protest and bloodshed are often glossed over by modern parades and picnics.
Christmas: Pagan Roots and Commercial Greed
Christmas is widely regarded as a Christian celebration of Jesus’s birth, but its customs have deep pagan origins. Many traditions, such as decorating evergreen trees and exchanging gifts, date back to winter solstice festivals like Saturnalia in ancient Rome. Early American Puritans actually banned Christmas, calling it a sinful, drunken spectacle. By the 19th century, Christmas was reinvented as a family-friendly holiday, but only after decades of riots and rowdy street parties. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, Americans spent more than $960 billion on holiday shopping in 2024, making Christmas the most commercialized holiday in the world. The pressure to buy, give, and celebrate can be overwhelming, often overshadowing the holiday’s complex and often troubling history.
Memorial Day: Remembering or Forgetting?
Memorial Day is meant to honor those who died in military service, but its origins are wrapped in controversy and selective memory. After the Civil War, freed Black Americans in Charleston, South Carolina, held one of the first Memorial Day ceremonies in 1865 to honor Union soldiers. However, the holiday was later whitewashed and nationalized, often erasing Black contributions from public memory. The day has also been criticized for turning from solemn commemoration to a weekend of sales and parties. Research by the Harris Poll in 2023 found that 55% of Americans are unclear about the holiday’s purpose. As war continues to shape American lives, the meaning of Memorial Day is debated each year—are we remembering the fallen, or trying to forget uncomfortable truths about war and loss?
Easter: Torture and Resurrection
Easter is celebrated as the resurrection of Jesus, but the holiday’s roots are filled with pain and mystery. The crucifixion itself was a brutal form of Roman execution, and Good Friday commemorates this act of torture. The name “Easter” is believed by some scholars to come from Eostre, a pagan goddess of spring and rebirth, showing how Christian and pagan traditions merged. The use of eggs and rabbits as symbols of fertility dates back centuries before Christianity. In early America, Easter was a minor holiday until the 19th century, when it was popularized through children’s rituals and commercial candy. According to Statista, Americans spent over $24 billion on Easter in 2024. The holiday’s transformation from suffering to sweetness masks its dark and violent beginnings.
St. Patrick’s Day: Oppression and Rebellion
St. Patrick’s Day is often associated with parades, green beer, and Irish pride, but its roots are entangled with colonialism and resistance. St. Patrick, the patron saint of Ireland, was kidnapped and enslaved as a child. The holiday gained popularity in America during the 19th century as waves of Irish immigrants faced discrimination and poverty. Parades began as acts of protest, asserting Irish identity in the face of nativist hostility. According to the U.S. Census, about 32 million Americans claimed Irish ancestry in 2024, but the holiday has also been criticized for promoting stereotypes and excessive drinking. Recent years have seen calls to reclaim St. Patrick’s Day as a time to reflect on oppression and celebrate cultural resilience, not just rowdy revelry.
Juneteenth: Freedom Delayed
Juneteenth marks the day in 1865 when enslaved people in Texas finally learned they were free—more than two years after the Emancipation Proclamation. The holiday exposes how freedom was delayed, denied, and fought for at every turn. Juneteenth celebrations began in Black communities as acts of joy and remembrance, but for decades the holiday was ignored or suppressed by mainstream America. Only in 2021 did Juneteenth become a federal holiday, reflecting a growing recognition of its importance. According to Gallup, 70% of Americans supported the move, but many argue that symbolic gestures are not enough to address the legacy of slavery and racism. Juneteenth is a powerful reminder that the struggle for justice and equality is far from over.
Besides founding Festivaltopia, Luca is the co founder of trib, an art and fashion collectiv you find on several regional events and online. Also he is part of the management board at HORiZONTE, a group travel provider in Germany.
