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The big problem with the American Thanksgiving holiday is its false
association with American Indian people. The infamous 'Indians and pilgrims' myth. It is good to celebrate Thanksgiving, to be thankful for your blessings. It is not good to distort history, to falsely portray the origin of this holiday and lie about the truth of its actual inception. The American Indian at the first Thanksgiving were they there?(True or false) Here are some accurate historical facts about the true origin of this American holiday that may interest you. Thanksgiving' did not begin as a great loving relationship between the pilgrims and the Wampanoag, Pequot and Narragansett
people. In fact,in October of 1621 when the pilgrim survivors of their first winter in Turtle Island sat down to share the
first unofficial 'Thanksgiving' meal,
the Indians who were there were not even invited! There was no turkey,squash, cranberry sauce or pumpkin pie. A few days
before this alleged
feast took place, a company of 'pilgrims' led by Miles Standish actively sought the head of a local Indian chief, and an 11
foot high wall was erected around the entire Plymouth settlement for the very purpose of keeping Indians out! Officially,
the holiday we know as 'Thanksgiving'
actually came into existence in the year 1637. Governor Winthrop of the Massachussetts Bay Colony proclaimed this first official
day of Thanksgiving and feasting to celebrate the return of the colony's men who had arrived
safely from what is now Mystic, Connecticut. They had gone there to participate in the massacre of over 700 Pequot men, women
and children, and Mr. Winthrop decided to dedicate an official day of thanksgiving complete with a feast to 'give thanks'
for their great 'victory'....
As hard as it may be to conceive, this is the actual origin of our current Thanksgiving Day holiday. Many American Indian
people these days do not observe this holiday, for obvious reasons. I hope that Americans as a whole will one
day acknowledge the true origin of this holiday, and remember the pain, loss, and agony of the Indigenous people who suffered
at the hands of the so-called 'pilgrims'.
I guess there are two sides to every story,the one that is true,and the one that is make-believe. The above was written by
~ John Two-Hawks
There is a book called "Lies my Teacher Told Me" by James W. Loewen. Among the many popular myths that it debunks, is the one about the first Thanksgiving. The following is an excerpt from the book: The civil ritual we practice marginalizes Indians. Our archetypal image of the first Thanksgiving portrays the groaning boards in the woods, with the Pilgrims in their starched Sunday best next to their almost naked Indian guests. As a holiday greeting card puts it, "I is for the Indians we invited to share our food." The silliness of all this reaches its zenith in the handouts that schoolchildren have carried home for decades, complete with captions such as, "They served pumpkins and turkeys and corn and squash. The Indians had never seen such a feast!" When the Native American novelist Michael Dorris's son brought home this "information" from his New Hampshire elementary school, Dorris pointed out that "the Pilgrims had literally never seen such a feast," since all foods mentioned are exclusively indigenous to the Americas and had been provided by [or with the aid of] the local tribe. The true history of Thanksgiving reveals embarrassing facts. The Pilgrims did not introduce the tradition; Eastern Indians had observed autumnal harvest celebrations for centuries. Although George Washington did set aside days for national thanksgiving, our modern celebrations date back only to 1863. During the Civil War, when the Union needed all the patriotism that such an observance might muster, Abraham Lincoln proclaimed Thanksgiving a national holiday. The Pilgrims had nothing to do with it; not until the 1890's did they even get included in the tradition. For that matter, no one used the term Pilgrims until the 1870's. The above is only a small (and relatively benign) section of the chapter that deals with the history of Native Americans in this land. Reading the full chapter has changed my entire perspective not only about the Thanksgiving holiday but, also about Native Americans in general. I hesitate to judge the actions of yesterday by the accepted norms of today. Yet, this new-found information fills me with a new awareness of, as well as sympathy and respect for the descendants of those Indian ancestors. Unfortunately, there is no silver lining to this story. As we sit down at our tables groaning with food, surrounded by those that are near and dear to us, I wish there was a way to right this wrong, to at least acknowledge and make less escapable the essential backdrop of this holiday. I am a "naturalized citizen". The native-born don't need naturalizing. What kind of citizen are they? I used to be a "Red Indian", then an "American Indian"; now I am a "Native American". What am I? Not an alien. Don't need to be naturalized. More "native" than those others that are not alien and don't need naturalizing. Yet I am the one who lives on a reservation in a separate "nation". I used to be an Indian, I am now an Indian-American. An Indian in America, An American in India. Before they became "Native Americans", they were Indians. And they were Indians because the explorers had set sail in search of India. Isn’t it ironic then, that 350 years after the first explorers lost their way, we Indians have "arrived" at these shores? Like the Mountain coming to Mohammed. On this Thanksgiving, I think of the Native Americans (they that were here but are here no more. I think too of the immigrants from lands near and far that have made this country (depending on your point of view) a melting pot or a salad bowl. And then I think of us desis. We came and stayed - of our own free will. We found a welcoming and hospitable society in which we have thrived. We can be the seasoning in the melting pot, or a new vegetable in the salad bowl – the choice is ours to make. While earlier waves of immigrants assimilated quickly and blended into the "melting pot", most of us have arrived at a time when we can assimilate pretty much at our own pace. In fact, I would venture to say that this freedom has allowed us to evolve and reinvent ourselves on our own terms. Our plate has expanded to hold a wider range of choices and what a joy that is! There is something about the Thanksgiving holiday that I have always found appealing. Like many other American cultural observations (Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, and yes, even Valentine’s Day), it is remarkably free of the dogma of god and country. It is worth noting that the preamble to the Declaration of Independence acknowledges the "pursuit of happiness" – not happiness itself - as an inalienable right. Although it is an invented holiday, Thanksgiving draws on the remarkable American ability to reinvent and re-imagine. Yes, Abraham Lincoln may have proclaimed the holiday during the Civil War, when the Union needed all the patriotism that such an observance might muster. But today it is not about religion but spirituality; not much about nationalism or patriotism at all, but it is most definitely about food, family and fun. A chance to acknowledge the real milestones in the "pursuit of happiness" – in community and with gratitude, humility and grace. We believe that the greatest human quality is Empathy. I feel therefore I am. We hope you enjoyed some interesting facts about Thanksgiving Day. The American Indians were not really there the first Thanksgiving,but
it is a nice story. The few indians that came were not invited. The American Indians did
celebrate there harvest some time in Octobor for many many years before the white man came to this country .
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