Sally Brown- I haven't even finished eating all my Halloween candy!
So it seems that Thanksgiving Day is now upon us. Tomorrow we will be sitting down and feasting and giving thanks. I'm glad. Thanksgiving is a good day. But how did it really start? From my Social Studies teacher, and the book "The Mayflower and the Pilgrims New World" by Nathaniel Philbrick, (a kids version of his bestseller, "Mayflower" I know a little more than I did last year about the subject. It seems we have been hoodwinked! Is everything we know about Thanksgiving really true?
Here are some things about the First Thanksgiving, Native Americans, and Pilgrims you might not know, but you might know. Just to get the facts straight.
1. Before the Pilgrims came to America, the Native Americans had already been in contact with European people (and their diseases.) The "European Epidemic" had wiped out Natives from the Kennebec River to Cape Cod by 50-70%.
2. Europeans back then often thought the Natives had no religion because they had nothing that Europeans thought were religious. They didn't have churches or priests. This made the Europeans think they were "savages" or "barbarians".
3. The Native Americans of this region did not live in tepees. They lived in wigwams, rounded structures. They also did not wear headdresses, or ride horses.
4. Pilgrims did not wear all white and black with big belts and tall hats. They were a bit more colorful then that.
5. The Wompanoags were actually Pokanokets. The Wampanoags were a large group of people, and the Pokanokets was the head tribe. Massasoit was the sachem of the Pokanokets, but was the most powerful leader of the Wampanoags.
6. The Pilgims were not really all Pilgrims. About half of the people on the Mayflower were "Strangers" or other people who wanted to go to the New World, often they wanted to make money. The other half were the Pilgrim Sepresists looking for religious freedom. Some of these Strangers had ties to the Pilgrims, like Captain Miles Standish, but others, like Christopher Martin, just caused trouble.
7. The Pilgrims were originally from England. But they then went to Holland for religious freedom. Some of the congregation from Holland decided to go to the New World, but not all. They had to stop many times before they finally left without the Speedwell. The last port they stopped in was Plymouth, England, which is where Plymouth got its name.
8.The Pilgrims started out with two boats. They had bought one called the Speedwell to take with them to the new world, as well as the Mayflower. The Speedwell was definitely not speedy, and the boat sprung a lot of leaks, so they had to abandon the boat.
9. The first place that the Pilgrims landed was not where they settled. They first landed on the tip of Cape Cod and the Mayflower was docked in Providencetown Harbor.
10. That brings us to Plymouth rock. Its a myth. Most people know that, but I thought I would mention it all the same. Do you really think they all stepped off the boat in an orderly fashion? Not really. It was a good spot for a boat to stop, so people may have stepped on it, but there is no written record of any rock.
11. Jamestown actually had a Thanksgiving celebration on 9\8\1565, but no one mentions that because it ruins the spirit of the "First Thanksgiving". Just pretend I never told you that.
12. The Pilgrims Thanksgiving Day was actually celebrated in late September or early October. The Pilgrims did not use the term "Thanksgiving" themselves. They were having an english style Harvest Festival.
13. Thanksgiving was instead of very English, a very Native American celebration. There were almost double the amount of Natives at the celebration than Pilgrims. They didn't sit around a table with a table cloth clasping hands. There were games and races and it was a jolly time.
14. For our last thought, I would like to say that Squanto was not as big of a super hero as we think he is. I mean, he has a lot going for him. He was captured and brought to Europe for a ton of years, and when he finally came back, almost his whole tribe had been wiped out by disease. He had it pretty rough. But that does not mean he was the kind, generous, Pilgrim-helping soul we all assume him to be. (By the way, he was not the only Native who could speak English, there were others, like Samoset, who was the first person to speak to the Pilgrims.) He tried to undermine the Pokanokets by telling the other Wampanoags that he alone had the ear and trust of the Pilgrims and they should abandon Massasoits leadership for his one. And Massosiott had done a lot for him. Also, he attempted to mislead the English by telling them that Massosiot was conspiring against them. Eventually all the lies came out, but because Squanto had helped the Pilgrims so much, they protected him. "Squanto sought his own ends and played his own game." -William Bradford. Squanto struck a fever and died a few weeks later. Woah, thats some harsh karma.
Well, no need to remember any of this information. You can go back to thinking of the tall-hatted pilgrims English tablecloth celebration. It's not doing you any harm.
HAPPY THANKSGIVING!
Here are some things to think about-
As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words, but to live by them. ~John Fitzgerald Kennedy
Thanksgiving Day comes, by statute, once a year; to the honest man it comes as frequently as the heart of gratitude will allow. ~Edward Sandford Martin
Thanksgiving was never meant to be shut up in a single day.
But Thanksgiving is more than eating, Chuck. You heard what Linus was saying out there. Those early Pilgrims were thankful for what had happened to them, and we should be thankful, too. We should just be thankful for being together. I think that's what they mean by 'Thanksgiving,' Charlie Brown.
— Marcie Johnson in 1973
Thanksgiving is possible only for those who take time to remember; no one can give thanks who has a short memory. ~Author Unknown
Allie,
ReplyDeleteThat was awesome! I learned a lot of stuff, even after being taught by Ms. Low.
Alex