Thanksgiving to All

Charlie Brown- We've got another holiday to worry about! It seems Thanksgiving Day is upon us.

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.

— Robert Caspar Lintner

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

Peak into My Life

Here are two videos-

Maggie's Jeep Play

and the Seaside Inn Mystery Movie that we made

Two Sides

The problem with the world, and also one of it's greatest virtues, is that everyone is different. If everyone was the same, it would be bad and uninteresting, everyone knows that. But there are problems with being different too, because it creates problems.

Along with every story, there are many sides, but none of them are right. Everything is just misunderstanding. You think your right, but the other person thinks they are right. When you hear out the other persons side of the story, you can understand their point, but it makes you sound bad, so you usually dismiss it, because you believe yourself more than other people.But really, can you trust yourself? You don't know how other people are feeling.

This is one giant game that the world is playing with you, a game of perspective. You see some things, other people see something else. Nobody can win, nobody can lose. Unless, that is, you decide to tie. The only way to solve things is by both people admitting they were wrong. That doesn't happen a lot of the time, because who wants to be wrong? But hopefully if you admit that your wrong, the other person will too. If not, well, you've been the bigger person, so you've truly won.

Throwing Caution

"We are afraid of things we do not know, just because we do not know them." -Linda Sue Park A Single Shard

As a whole, we human beings are very quick to stereotype. We tend to assume things before we need to, which leads us to go into new things with a less than positive attitude. One lesson we all need to learn is that new doesn't necessarily mean bad, it only means unfamiliar. You need to get used to something before you judge it, don't judge a book by its cover. I'm not saying throw caution into the wind and go skipping into every new thing without a second thought, but you can throw caution around a little bit, as long as it is always within your grasp.

Columbus Day, or not?

Today if you ask any American kid who discovered America, most likely the vast majority of them would say Christopher Columbus. In school, we spend a lot of time learning about Christpher Columbus and his voyage. In Kindergarton, we even put on a play about him. They rarely give credit to the Vikings or the Chinese, who evidence says was there long before Columbus. But they almost never give credit to the real discoverers of America, the native Americans.

Almost every written document of people who ventured to America mention the natives. The natives had already created themselves a civilization long before any European set eyes on the Americas. They were there when all the explorers came, but they are never given credit. They are the true discoverers of America, and should be given credit for that.

Americans always give the credit to Europeans, even when the credit is not due. Americans are never truthful, especially when it comes to Native Americans\Europeans, and they should be. There is a federal holiday that we get the day off from school for. It is named after not the true discoverers of America, or even the first explorers to go there. It is named after the European who wasn't even one of the first ones to go there. I though we were supposed to learn the truth in school? I guess not.

Baby Molly

Here is a video of Molly! She is really cute!

Shoe Steps

It's something everyone tries to do, walk in somebody else's shoes. See from somebody else's point of view. It solves all your problems!, everybody thinks. Really though, thinking in someone else's shoes isn't quite different than actually walking in someone else's shoes. For those times you're going to do something quick, like grab something out of the car or turn of the garage light, and all you really need is something to cover your feet, you usually slip on the first shoes you see. They usually aren't your own, your mothers sneakers, your dads business shoes, or your little sisters boots. And when you put them on and are walking, maybe for only a few steps, it feels odd, different than what you are used to. They are too big or too small, and you have to walk extra slow to make sure you don't trip over your own two feet. It is like this when you look at somebody else's perspective. The world is shaken. It's dizzying. Suddenly, all the times something looked not as pleasant from other shoes beside your own come back to mind. You have to walk slower so you don't trip over your own two feet. But, your never quite sure if you are actually walking in someone else's shoes either, because people are different than what they seem. Is it better to stick to your own shoes? Maybe so.

Picture via Flickr