While most national and international holidays are readily available on the internet, the Catalyst compiled a list of upcoming holidays and awareness months relevant to the New College community to look forward to at the time of this article’s publication. Some important holidays that have passed this month so far include: Dia de los Muertos (Day of the Dead) on Nov. 1 and 2 to remember and honor passed loved ones, Veteran’s Day on Nov. 11 to honor military veterans of the US Armed Forces and Diwali, the Hindu festival of lights, on Nov. 12.

November marks the celebration and awareness of many causes, heritages and medical conditions. Diabetes Awareness Month, Native American Heritage Month, Alzheimer’s Awareness Month and National Pet Cancer Awareness Month all take place during each day of November. Follow each link to learn more about these causes and conditions, and for ways to get involved.

Other November holidays include Transgender Day of Remembrance on Nov. 20, annually observed that “honors the memory of the transgender people whose lives were lost in acts of anti-transgender violence,” according to GLAAD.

The most obvious holiday on this list is, of course, Thanksgiving, a holiday celebrated across the United States and Canada. In 1863, President Abraham Lincoln released what is called the Thanksgiving Proclamation as a way to alleviate tensions after the Battle of Gettysburg just months prior. This is seen as the official beginning of the national holiday, but the origins of this holiday remain at the center of an important discussion of Indigenous peoples and their mass extermination from the time of the pilgrims to the present. The Dakota War of 1862, just one year prior to the release of the Proclamation, resulted in the deaths of hundreds of Dakota people. According to the Potawatomi Nation, “In the end, President Lincoln ordered 38 Dakota men to die from hanging, and he felt that Thanksgiving offered an opportunity to bridge the hard feelings amongst Natives and the federal government.”