Halloween, Thanksgiving, then Christmas, but what about Thanksgiving? What’s the story or history behind it, is there one? We are all familiar with the story of the Pilgrims and Indigenous from the moment a child started school. The question remains, what happened? Most prepare for the date of this holiday, like shopping for groceries and supplies and beginning the preparations for cooking an insane amount of food for family and friends. Thanksgiving Day has arrived and it is a very special day for most, coming together to sit with family and friends and to enjoy the wondrous concoctions of recipes and chit chat and time with one another. When it first began in the mid-1600s, that day made history, it marked the start of a holiday, a celebration for years to come, and yet, its humble beginnings are darker than we might know.
Invitation to stay
The Pilgrims had a vast amount of great food for the different Pilgrim families that came together. A great celebratory feast was about to begin and this feast lasted for 3 days. This dinner became known as “The Harvest Festival,” and later, became known as Thanksgiving Day. When the chief of the Pilgrims asked a few men to hunt for fowl, they had rifles that when fired, made such a huge calamity, it alerted the Tribes and trouble was near. When the Ousamequin (Massasoit), and the Pokanoket Wampanoag leaders showed up with their warriors to offer aid or help, they were surprised to see no one was hurt, nothing was wrong, and most, sitting at a table. Of course, there was probably shock and silence, but after some time, the pilgrims then invited the Indigenous to sit alongside and join their feast. The only problem was there simply wasn’t enough food to go around, so the Massasoit sent out some of his men to hunt for deer. Some of the Tribesmen returned with several game that was given as an offering to the pilgrims.
Working together and a peace treaty
After some time, the Tribes and Pilgrims worked together to grow crops, to learn new ways to do or grow something, and there was a great blend of teamwork and for the most part, friendships. With a newfound environment and new friends, Pilgrims learned how to survive on the new land with help from the Tribes. Eventually led to both sides creating a peace treaty pact and all was good, until it wasn’t. An article in https://www.businessinsider.com/history-of-thanksgiving-2017-11, stated that about a generation later, the Massasoit’s son was beheaded and dismembered, with his head placed on a spike in the village that lasted for over 25 years in Plymouth.
Research and records show that in much earlier times there were over 90,000 Indigenous, Tribes in the areas, unfortunately, more than half of that population had been wiped out by the plague brought by earlier visitors.
The feast of sorts
The feast consisted of lobster, shellfish, crab, mussels, walnuts, corn, fowl, and deer. It’s believed they drank mostly water and maybe a little beer. There were pies and lots of them, but not what one would think when it comes to pies. These pies were made of nothing but fish or meat, since there was no butter or wheat, the crust couldn’t be made. No potatoes either because they hadn’t been introduced yet. Cranberry, which many families have on Thanksgiving Day wasn’t available, not for another 50 years.
As a personal note our condolence’s go out to the family of Dr. Daniel Paul, Mi’kmaw Saqmawiey (Eldering), who has since passed in 2023.
Keywords: The Harvest Festival, Story of Thanksgiving, Year 1621, RWTC Media Group, Lifestyle Magazine, rwtcmediagroup,