For those of you who didn't know before: Teddy Atkins is half Native American.

He gets it from his mother, Abigail "Mountain Heart" Brown-Atkins.

Now to explain this surreal scene:

I've been listening to, and studying the context thereof, Peter Gabriel's song "San Jacinto". It's a song about a young Native American from the Cahuilla tribe in Riverside County, California going through a coming-of-age ritual.

The ritual involves being voluntarily subjected to a venomous bite from a rattlesnake. Usually to the face. The venom that courses through then becomes a test of will and fortitude.

The medicine man who handles the snake also takes the young initiate through a white society town (in this case, Palm Springs) to clearly show him that all the misappropriation of Native Americans and their sacred lore may disappear along with the Natives themselves, if they don't fight to "hold the line", or keep their people alive against Colonial dominance.

Now to explain the symbolism of the three animals in this scene:

1. The Rattlesnake, being the one that Teddy allowed to bite his cheek, symbolising adversity.

2. The Rabbit, being the first gentle creature that Teddy sees after enduring the bite and the poison. It's also an allusion to the most kind person he will encounter in his adulthood: Ally Herman.

3. The Eagle, being the one sacred entity that, when it flies down from the sunlit sky, affirms the tested Teddy that the Heavens, or the realm of the Great Creator, has blessed him for his courage and will accept him upon his transcendence to the afterlife.

All that being explained, I wish you all a Happy Thanksgiving.

And please... be sure to give thanks not just to those who provided you food and shelter, but also to the Native Americans who initially welcomed our forbearers, tested our limits, and continue to enlighten us with their pure and Earthly influence.

God Bless.