This is
a particularly difficult introduction to write. I have been a public
schools teacher for twelve years, and I am also a historian and
have written several books on American and Native American history.
I also just happen to be Quebeque French, Metis, Ojibwa, and Iroquois.
Because my Indian ancestors were on both sides of the struggle between
the Puritans and the New England Indians and I am well versed in
my cultural heritage and history both as an Anishnabeg (Algokin)
and Hodenosione (Iroquois), it was felt that I could bring a unique
insight to the project.
For an
Indian, who is also a school teacher, Thanksgiving was never an
easy holiday for me to deal with in class. I sometimes have felt
like I learned too much about "the Pilgrims and the Indians."
Every year I have been faced with the professional and moral dilemma
of just how to be honest and informative with my children at Thanksgiving
without passing on historical distortions, and racial and cultural
stereotypes.
The problem
is that part of what you and I learned in our own childhood about
the "Pilgrims" and "Squanto" and the "First
Thanksgiving" is a mixture of both history and myth. But the
THEME of Thanksgiving has truth and integrity far above and beyond
what we and our forebearers have made of it. Thanksgiving is a bigger
concept than just the story of the founding of the Plymouth Plantation.
So what
do we teach to our children? We usually pass on unquestioned what
we all received in our own childhood classrooms. I have come to
know both the truths and the myths about our "First Thanksgiving,"
and I feel we need to try to reach beyond the myths to some degree
of historic truth. This text is an attempt to do this.
At this
point you are probably asking, "What is the big deal about
Thanksgiving and the Pilgrims?" "What does this guy mean
by a mixture of truths and myth?" That is just what this introduction
is all about. I propose that there may be a good deal that many
of us do not know about our Thanksgiving holiday and also about
the "First Thanksgiving" story. I also propose that what
most of us have learned about the Pilgrims and the Indians who were
at the first Thanksgiving at Plymouth Plantation is only part of
the truth. When you build a lesson on only half of the information,
then you are not teaching the whole truth. That is why I used the
word myth. So where do you start to find out more about the holiday
and our modern stories about how it began?
A good
place to start is with a very important book, "The Invasion
of America," by Francis Jennings. It is a very authoritative
text on the settlement of New England and the evolution of Indian/White
relations in the New England colonies. I also recommend looking
up any good text on British history. Check out the British Civil
War of 1621-1642, Oliver Cromwell, and the Puritan uprising of 1653
which ended parliamentary government in England until 1660. The
history of the Puritan experience in New England really should not
be separated from the history of the Puritan experience in England.
You should also realize that the "Pilgrims" were a sub
sect, or splinter group, of the Puritan movement. They came to America
to achieve on this continent what their Puritan bretheran continued
to strive for in England; and when the Puritans were forced from
England, they came to New England and soon absorbed the original
"Pilgrims."
As the
editor, I have read all the texts listed in our bibliography, and
many more, in preparing this material for you. I want you to read
some of these books. So let me use my editorial license to deliberately
provoke you a little. When comparing the events stirred on by the
Puritans in England with accounts of Puritan/Pilgrim activities
in New England in the same era, several provocative things suggest
themselves:
1. The
Puritans were not just simple religious conservatives persecuted
by the King and the Church of England for their unorthodox beliefs.
They were political revolutionaries who not only intended to overthrow
the government of England, but who actually did so in 1649.
2. The
Puritan "Pilgrims" who came to New England were not simply
refugees who decided to "put their fate in God's hands"
in the "empty wilderness" of North America, as a generation
of Hollywood movies taught us. In any culture at any time, settlers
on a frontier are most often outcasts and fugitives who, in some
way or other, do not fit into the mainstream of their society. This
is not to imply that people who settle on frontiers have no redeeming
qualities such as bravery, etc., but that the images of nobility
that we associate with the Puritans are at least in part the good
"P.R." efforts of later writers who have romanticized
them.(1) It is also very plausible that this unnaturally noble image
of the Puritans is all wrapped up with the mythology of "Noble
Civilization" vs. "Savagery."(2) At any rate, mainstream
Englishmen considered the Pilgrims to be deliberate religious dropouts
who intended to found a new nation completely independent from non-Puritan
England. In 1643 the Puritan/Pilgrims declared themselves an independent
confederacy, one hundred and forty-three years before the American
Revolution. They believed in the imminent occurrence of Armegeddon
in Europe and hoped to establish here in the new world the "Kingdom
of God" foretold in the book of Revelation. They diverged from
their Puritan brethren who remained in England only in that they
held little real hope of ever being able to successfully overthrow
the King and Parliament and, thereby, impose their "Rule of
Saints" (strict Puritan orthodoxy) on the rest of the British
people. So they came to America not just in one ship (the Mayflower)
but in a hundred others as well, with every intention of taking
the land away from its native people to build their prophesied "Holy
Kingdom."(3)
3. The
Pilgrims were not just innocent refugees from religious persecution.
They were victims of bigotry in England, but some of them were themselves
religious bigots by our modern standards. The Puritans and the Pilgrims
saw themselves as the "Chosen Elect" mentioned in the
book of Revelation. They strove to "purify" first themselves
and then everyone else of everything they did not accept in their
own interpretation of scripture. Later New England Puritans used
any means, including deceptions, treachery, torture, war, and genocide
to achieve that end.(4) They saw themselves as fighting a holy war
against Satan, and everyone who disagreed with them was the enemy.
This rigid fundamentalism was transmitted to America by the Plymouth
colonists, and it sheds a very different light on the "Pilgrim"
image we have of them. This is best illustrated in the written text
of the Thanksgiving sermon delivered at Plymouth in 1623 by "Mather
the Elder." In it, Mather the Elder gave special thanks to
God for the devastating plague of smallpox which wiped out the majority
of the Wampanoag Indians who had been their benefactors. He praised
God for destroying "chiefly young men and children, the very
seeds of increase, thus clearing the forests to make way for a better
growth", i.e., the Pilgrims.(5) In as much as these Indians
were the Pilgrim's benefactors, and Squanto, in particular, was
the instrument of their salvation that first year, how are we to
interpret this apparent callousness towards their misfortune?
4. The
Wampanoag Indians were not the "friendly savages" some
of us were told about when we were in the primary grades. Nor were
they invited out of the goodness of the Pilgrims' hearts to share
the fruits of the Pilgrims' harvest in a demonstration of Christian
charity and interracial brotherhood. The Wampanoag were members
of a widespread confederacy of Algonkian-speaking peoples known
as the League of the Delaware. For six hundred years they had been
defending themselves from my other ancestors, the Iroquois, and
for the last hundred years they had also had encounters with European
fishermen and explorers but especially with European slavers, who
had been raiding their coastal villages.(6) They knew something
of the power of the white people, and they did not fully trust them.
But their religion taught that they were to give charity to the
helpless and hospitality to anyone who came to them with empty hands.(7)
Also, Squanto, the Indian hero of the Thanksgiving story, had a
very real love for a British explorer named John Weymouth, who had
become a second father to him several years before the Pilgrims
arrived at Plymouth. Clearly, Squanto saw these Pilgrims as Weymouth's
people.(8) To the Pilgrims the Indians were heathens and, therefore,
the natural instruments of the Devil. Squanto, as the only educated
and baptized Christian among the Wampanoag, was seen as merely an
instrument of God, set in the wilderness to provide for the survival
of His chosen people, the Pilgrims. The Indians were comparatively
powerful and, therefore, dangerous; and they were to be courted
until the next ships arrived with more Pilgrim colonists and the
balance of power shifted. The Wampanoag were actually invited to
that Thanksgiving feast for the purpose of negotiating a treaty
that would secure the lands of the Plymouth Plantation for the Pilgrims.
It should also be noted that the INDIANS, possibly out of a sense
of charity toward their hosts, ended up bringing the majority of
the food for the feast.(9)
5. A generation
later, after the balance of power had indeed shifted, the Indian
and White children of that Thanksgiving were striving to kill each
other in the genocidal conflict known as King Philip's War. At the
end of that conflict most of the New England Indians were either
exterminated or refugees among the French in Canada, or they were
sold into slavery in the Carolinas by the Puritans. So successful
was this early trade in Indian slaves that several Puritan ship
owners in Boston began the practice of raiding the Ivory Coast of
Africa for black slaves to sell to the proprietary colonies of the
South, thus founding the American-based slave trade.(10)
Obviously
there is a lot more to the story of Indian/Puritan relations in
New England than in the thanksgiving stories we heard as children.
Our contemporary mix of myth and history about the "First"
Thanksgiving at Plymouth developed in the 1890s and early 1900s.
Our country was desperately trying to pull together its many diverse
peoples into a common national identity. To many writers and educators
at the end of the last century and the beginning of this one, this
also meant having a common national history. This was the era of
the "melting pot" theory of social progress, and public
education was a major tool for social unity. It was with this in
mind that the federal government declared the last Thursday in November
as the legal holiday of Thanksgiving in 1898.
In consequence,
what started as an inspirational bit of New England folklore, soon
grew into the full-fledged American Thanksgiving we now know. It
emerged complete with stereotyped Indians and stereotyped Whites,
incomplete history, and a mythical significance as our "First
Thanksgiving." But was it really our FIRST American Thanksgiving?
Now that
I have deliberately provoked you with some new information and different
opinions, please take the time to read some of the texts in our
bibliography. I want to encourage you to read further and form your
own opinions. There really is a TRUE Thanksgiving story of Plymouth
Plantation. But I strongly suggest that there always has been a
Thanksgiving story of some kind or other for as long as there have
been human beings. There was also a "First" Thanksgiving
in America, but it was celebrated thirty thousand years ago.(11)
At some time during the New Stone Age (beginning about ten thousand
years ago) Thanksgiving became associated with giving thanks to
God for the harvests of the land. Thanksgiving has always been a
time of people coming together, so thanks has also been offered
for that gift of fellowship between us all. Every last Thursday
in November we now partake in one of the OLDEST and most UNIVERSAL
of human celebrations, and THERE ARE MANY THANKSGIVING STORIES TO
TELL.
As for
Thanksgiving week at Plymouth Plantation in 1621, the friendship
was guarded and not always sincere, and the peace was very soon
abused. But for three days in New England's history, peace and friendship
were there.
So here
is a story for your children. It is as kind and gentle a balance
of historic truth and positive inspiration as its writers and this
editor can make it out to be. I hope it will adequately serve its
purpose both for you and your students, and I also hope this work
will encourage you to look both deeper and farther, for Thanksgiving
is Thanksgiving all around the world.
Chuck
Larsen Tacoma Public Schools September, 1986
FOOTNOTES
FOR TEACHER INTRODUCTION
(1) See
Berkhofer, Jr., R.F., "The White Man's Indian," references
to Puritans, pp. 27, 80-85, 90, 104, & 130.
(2) See
Berkhofer, Jr., R.F., "The White Man's Indian," references
to frontier concepts of savagery in index. Also see Jennings, Francis,
"The Invasion of America," the myth of savagery, pp. 6-12,
15-16, & 109-110.
(3) See
Blitzer, Charles, "Age of Kings," Great Ages of Man series,
references to Puritanism, pp. 141, 144 & 145-46. Also see Jennings,
Francis, "The Invasion of America," references to Puritan
human motives, pp. 4-6, 43- 44 and 53.
(4) See
"Chronicles of American Indian Protest," pp. 6-10. Also
see Armstrong, Virginia I., "I Have Spoken," reference
to Cannonchet and his village, p. 6. Also see Jennings, Francis,
"The Invasion of America," Chapter 9 "Savage War,"
Chapter 13 "We must Burn Them," and Chapter 17 "Outrage
Bloody and Barbarous."
(5) See
"Chronicles of American Indian Protest," pp. 6-9. Also
see Berkhofer, Jr., R.F., "The White Man's Indian," the
comments of Cotton Mather, pp. 37 & 82-83.
(6) See
Larsen, Charles M., "The Real Thanksgiving," pp. 3-4.
Also see Graff, Steward and Polly Ann, "Squanto, Indian Adventurer."
Also see "Handbook of North American Indians," Vol. 15,
the reference to Squanto on p. 82.
(7) See
Benton-Banai, Edward, "The Mishomis Book," as a reference
on general "Anishinabe" (the Algonkin speaking peoples)
religious beliefs and practices. Also see Larsen, Charles M., "The
Real Thanksgiving," reference to religious life on p. 1.
(8) See
Graff, Stewart and Polly Ann, "Squanto, Indian Adventurer."
Also see Larsen, Charles M., "The Real Thanksgiving."
Also see Bradford, Sir William, "Of Plymouth Plantation,"
and "Mourt's Relation."
(9) See
Larsen, Charles M., "The Real Thanksgiving," the letter
of Edward Winslow dated 1622, pp. 5-6.
(10) See
"Handbook of North American Indians," Vol. 15, pp. 177-78.
Also see "Chronicles of American Indian Protest," p. 9,
the reference to the enslavement of King Philip's family. Also see
Larsen, Charles, M., "The Real Thanksgiving," pp. 8-11,
"Destruction of the Massachusetts Indians."
(11) Best
current estimate of the first entry of people into the Americas
confirmed by archaeological evidence that is datable.
HIGHLINE
PUBLIC SCHOOLS
EDUCATIONAL
RESOURCES and ADMINISTRATIVE CENTER 15675 Ambaum Boulevard S.W.
Telephone 206/433-0111 Seattle, Washington 98166
November
13, 1985
Dear Colleague:
As educators,
we continually strive to improve the clarity and accuracy of what
is taught about the history of our country. Too often, we have presented
what is considered to be a traditional mono-cultural perspective
of history to our students. Our celebrations and observances have
borne this out. We are, however, becoming increasingly aware of
the need for greater cultural accuracy in historical studies. This
is consistent with the State Superintendent of Public Instruction's
commitment to multi-cultural education for all students.
With this
in mind, the Highline Indian Education program designed these instructional
materials last year to be used in teaching about Thanksgiving in
grades K-6. The response to these materials has been very positive
and we are happy to have the opportunity to share them with districts
in the state. We trust that you will find them to be a valuable
addition to your instructional resources.
Dr. Kent
Matheson Superintendent
Dr. Bill
McCleary Assistant Superintendent, Curriculum and Instruction
The Thanksgiving
holiday season is a time when Indian history and culture are frequently
discussed in the schools. Unfortunately, the information and materials
available to teachers are often incomplete or stereotyped in their
presentation. For example, some commercially- produced bulletin
board posters depict Plains-style Indians with feather warbonnets,
tipis in the background, and horses tied nearby, sitting down to
dinner with the Pilgrims. While these images are popular, they do
not accurately represent the unique culture of the New England tribes,
whose lifestyle was quite different than that of the Plains Indian
stereotype. In addition, some books make brief mention of the critical
assistance given by the Indians to the Pilgrims and tend to leave
readers with the mistaken impression that all participants at the
Thanksgiving feast remained friends for many years to come.
This unit
provides additional information about the Indians of the North-east
culture area where the first Thanksgiving took place. It includes
art projects and other activities teachers can use for expanding
and enriching their instruction. It is hoped that these materials
will enable teachers to better portray the events surrounding the
first Thanksgiving.
-- Cathy
Ross, Mary Robertson and Roger Fernandes
THE PLYMOUTH THANKSGIVING STORY
When the
Pilgrims crossed the Atlantic Ocean in 1620, they landed on the
rocky shores of a territory that was inhabited by the Wampanoag
(Wam pa NO ag) Indians. The Wampanoags were part of the Algonkian-speaking
peoples, a large group that was part of the Woodland Culture area.
These Indians lived in villages along the coast of what is now Massachusetts
and Rhode Island. They lived in round- roofed houses called wigwams.
These were made of poles covered with flat sheets of elm or birch
bark. Wigwams differ in construction from tipis that were used by
Indians of the Great Plains.
The Wampanoags
moved several times during each year in order to get food. In the
spring they would fish in the rivers for salmon and herring. In
the planting season they moved to the forest to hunt deer and other
animals. After the end of the hunting season people moved inland
where there was greater protection from the weather. From December
to April they lived on food that they stored during the earlier
months.
The basic
dress for men was the breech clout, a length of deerskin looped
over a belt in back and in front. Women wore deerskin wrap-around
skirts. Deerskin leggings and fur capes made from deer, beaver,
otter, and bear skins gave protection during the colder seasons,
and deerskin moccasins were worn on the feet. Both men and women
usually braided their hair and a single feather was often worn in
the back of the hair by men. They did not have the large feathered
headdresses worn by people in the Plains Culture area.
There
were two language groups of Indians in New England at this time.
The Iroquois were neighbors to the Algonkian-speaking people. Leaders
of the Algonquin and Iroquois people were called "sachems"
(SAY chems). Each village had its own sachem and tribal council.
Political power flowed upward from the people. Any individual, man
or woman, could participate, but among the Algonquins more political
power was held by men. Among the Iroquois, however, women held the
deciding vote in the final selection of who would represent the
group. Both men and women enforced the laws of the village and helped
solve problems. The details of their democratic system were so impressive
that about 150 years later Benjamin Franklin invited the Iroquois
to Albany, New York, to explain their system to a delegation who
then developed the "Albany Plan of Union." This document
later served as a model for the Articles of Confederation and the
Constitution of the United States.
These
Indians of the Eastern Woodlands called the turtle, the deer and
the fish their brothers. They respected the forest and everything
in it as equals. Whenever a hunter made a kill, he was careful to
leave behind some bones or meat as a spiritual offering, to help
other animals survive. Not to do so would be considered greedy.
The Wampanoags also treated each other with respect. Any visitor
to a Wampanoag home was provided with a share of whatever food the
family had, even if the supply was low. This same courtesy was extended
to the Pilgrims when they met.
We can
only guess what the Wampanoags must have thought when they first
saw the strange ships of the Pilgrims arriving on their shores.
But their custom was to help visitors, and they treated the newcomers
with courtesy. It was mainly because of their kindness that the
Pilgrims survived at all. The wheat the Pilgrims had brought with
them to plant would not grow in the rocky soil. They needed to learn
new ways for a new world, and the man who came to help them was
called "Tisquantum" (Tis SKWAN tum) or "Squanto"
(SKWAN toe).
Squanto
was originally from the village of Patuxet (Pa TUK et) and a member
of the Pokanokit Wampanoag nation. Patuxet once stood on the exact
site where the Pilgrims built Plymouth. In 1605, fifteen years before
the Pilgrims came, Squanto went to England with a friendly English
explorer named John Weymouth. He had many adventures and learned
to speak English. Squanto came back to New England with Captain
Weymouth. Later Squanto was captured by a British slaver who raided
the village and sold Squanto to the Spanish in the Caribbean Islands.
A Spanish Franciscan priest befriended Squanto and helped him to
get to Spain and later on a ship to England. Squanto then found
Captain Weymouth, who paid his way back to his homeland. In England
Squanto met Samoset of the Wabanake (Wab NAH key) Tribe, who had
also left his native home with an English explorer. They both returned
together to Patuxet in 1620. When they arrived, the village was
deserted and there were skeletons everywhere. Everyone in the village
had died from an illness the English slavers had left behind. Squanto
and Samoset went to stay with a neighboring village of Wampanoags.
One year
later, in the spring, Squanto and Samoset were hunting along the
beach near Patuxet. They were startled to see people from England
in their deserted village. For several days, they stayed nearby
observing the newcomers. Finally they decided to approach them.
Samoset walked into the village and said "welcome," Squanto
soon joined him. The Pilgrims were very surprised to meet two Indians
who spoke English.
The Pilgrims
were not in good condition. They were living in dirt-covered shelters,
there was a shortage of food, and nearly half of them had died during
the winter. They obviously needed help and the two men were a welcome
sight. Squanto, who probably knew more English than any other Indian
in North America at that time, decided to stay with the Pilgrims
for the next few months and teach them how to survive in this new
place. He brought them deer meat and beaver skins. He taught them
how to cultivate corn and other new vegetables and how to build
Indian-style houses. He pointed out poisonous plants and showed
how other plants could be used as medicine. He explained how to
dig and cook clams, how to get sap from the maple trees, use fish
for fertilizer, and dozens of other skills needed for their survival.
By the
time fall arrived things were going much better for the Pilgrims,
thanks to the help they had received. The corn they planted had
grown well. There was enough food to last the winter. They were
living comfortably in their Indian-style wigwams and had also managed
to build one European-style building out of squared logs. This was
their church. They were now in better health, and they knew more
about surviving in this new land. The Pilgrims decided to have a
thanksgiving feast to celebrate their good fortune. They had observed
thanksgiving feasts in November as religious obligations in England
for many years before coming to the New World.
The Algonkian
tribes held six thanksgiving festivals during the year. The beginning
of the Algonkian year was marked by the Maple Dance which gave thanks
to the Creator for the maple tree and its syrup. This ceremony occurred
when the weather was warm enough for the sap to run in the maple
trees, sometimes as early as February. Second was the planting feast,
where the seeds were blessed. The strawberry festival was next,
celebrating the first fruits of the season. Summer brought the green
corn festival to give thanks for the ripening corn. In late fall,
the harvest festival gave thanks for the food they had grown. Mid-winter
was the last ceremony of the old year. When the Indians sat down
to the "first Thanksgiving" with the Pilgrims, it was
really the fifth thanksgiving of the year for them!
Captain
Miles Standish, the leader of the Pilgrims, invited Squanto, Samoset,
Massasoit (the leader of the Wampanoags), and their immediate families
to join them for a celebration, but they had no idea how big Indian
families could be. As the Thanksgiving feast began, the Pilgrims
were overwhelmed at the large turnout of ninety relatives that Squanto
and Samoset brought with them. The Pilgrims were not prepared to
feed a gathering of people that large for three days. Seeing this,
Massasoit gave orders to his men within the first hour of his arrival
to go home and get more food. Thus it happened that the Indians
supplied the majority of the food: Five deer, many wild turkeys,
fish, beans, squash, corn soup, corn bread, and berries. Captain
Standish sat at one end of a long table and the Clan Chief Massasoit
sat at the other end. For the first time the Wampanoag people were
sitting at a table to eat instead of on mats or furs spread on the
ground. The Indian women sat together with the Indian men to eat.
The Pilgrim women, however, stood quietly behind the table and waited
until after their men had eaten, since that was their custom.
For three
days the Wampanoags feasted with the Pilgrims. It was a special
time of friendship between two very different groups of people.
A peace and friendship agreement was made between Massasoit and
Miles Standish giving the Pilgrims the clearing in the forest where
the old Patuxet village once stood to build their new town of Plymouth.
It would
be very good to say that this friendship lasted a long time; but,
unfortunately, that was not to be. More English people came to America,
and they were not in need of help from the Indians as were the original
Pilgrims. Many of the newcomers forgot the help the Indians had
given them. Mistrust started to grow and the friendship weakened.
The Pilgrims started telling their Indian neighbors that their Indian
religion and Indian customs were wrong. The Pilgrims displayed an
intolerance toward the Indian religion similar to the intolerance
displayed toward the less popular religions in Europe. The relationship
deteriorated and within a few years the children of the people who
ate together at the first Thanksgiving were killing one another
in what came to be called King Phillip's War.
It is
sad to think that this happened, but it is important to understand
all of the story and not just the happy part. Today the town of
Plymouth Rock has a Thanksgiving ceremony each year in remembrance
of the first Thanksgiving. There are still Wampanoag people living
in Massachusetts. In 1970, they asked one of them to speak at the
ceremony to mark the 350th anniversary of the Pilgrim's arrival.
Here is part of what was said:
"Today
is a time of celebrating for you -- a time of looking back to the
first days of white people in America. But it is not a time of celebrating
for me. It is with a heavy heart that I look back upon what happened
to my People. When the Pilgrims arrived, we, the Wampanoags, welcomed
them with open arms, little knowing that it was the beginning of
the end. That before 50 years were to pass, the Wampanoag would
no longer be a tribe. That we and other Indians living near the
settlers would be killed by their guns or dead from diseases that
we caught from them. Let us always remember, the Indian is and was
just as human as the white people.
Although
our way of life is almost gone, we, the Wampanoags, still walk the
lands of Massachusetts. What has happened cannot be changed. But
today we work toward a better America, a more Indian America where
people and nature once again are important."
STUDY
AND DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
1. Who
lived on the rocky shores where the Pilgrims landed?
2. The
Wampanoags were part of what culture area?
3. In
what type of homes did the Wampanoags live?
4. Explain
what the Wampanoags did to obtain food during the different seasons
of the year?
5. What
was the basic dress for the Wampanoag people?
6. Describe
the Iroquois system of government.
7. Who
later used this system of government as a model?
8. What
courtesies did the Wampanoag people extend toward all visitors?
9. Who
was "Tisquantum" and what village was he from?
10. Explain
how Squanto learned to speak English.
11. Why
did Squanto and Samoset go to live with another Wampanoag village?
12. Tell
four ways in which Squanto helped the Pilgrims.
13. Describe
the "First Thanksgiving" in your own words.
14. Why
was this really the fifth thanksgiving feast for the Indians that
year?
15. What
do you think would have happened to the Pilgrims if they had not
been helped by the Indians?
16. After
studying about the culture of the Wampanoags, how would you react
to a thanksgiving picture showing tipis and Indians wearing feathered
headdresses?
17. Quickly
re-read the lesson and as you read, make a list of vocabulary words
that are new to you and write a definition for each one.
IDEAS
FOR ENRICHMENT
* Study
harvest celebrations in other cultures: Asia (New Year), Northwest
Coast Indians (salmon feast), and Europe (Oktoberfest). For further
information, contact the Ethnic Heritage Council of the Pacific
Northwest, 1107 NE 45th, Suite 315A, Seattle, Washington, 98105,
206/633-3239.
* Imagine
for a moment that people from different cultures have come to your
neighborhood. How will you make them feel welcome? How might you
share your possessions with them? What kinds of things could you
do to build feelings of friendship and harmony with them?
* Investigate
agriculture in your local community. What crops are grown? What
time of year are they harvested? What harvest fairs are celebrated
in your area?
* Discuss
religious and cultural intolerance as evidenced by the problems
that developed between the Indians and the Pilgrims in the years
following the first thanksgiving at Plymouth. How do the United
States Constitution and Bill of Rights safeguard the freedom of
religion and the rights of all citizens in America today?
HOW TO
AVOID OLD STEREOTYPES
If you
enact the story of the first thanksgiving as a pageant or drama
in your classroom, here are some things to consider:
* Indians
should wear appropriate clothing (see dolls on pages 31 and 35).
NO WARBONNETS! A blanket draped over one shoulder is accurate for
a simple outfit.
* Squanto
and Samoset spoke excellent English. Other Indians would have said
things in the Algonkian language. These people were noted for their
formal speaking style. A good example of their oratory would be
the prayers on page 23. Someone could read this as part of the drama.
* Indians
in the Woodlands area did not have tipis or horses, so these should
not be part of any scenery or backdrop.
* Any
food served should be authentic. The following would be appropriate:
-- corn
soup (see recipe on page 28) -- succotash (see recipe on page 28)
-- white fish -- red meat -- various fowl (turkey, partridge, duck)
-- berries (including whole cranberries) -- maple sugar candies
-- corn starch candy (believe it or not, candy corn is almost authentic
except for the colored dyes) -- watercress -- any kind of bean (red,
black, green, pinto) -- squash -- corn -- sweet potato -- pumpkin
BIBLIOGRAPHY
"An
Educational Coloring Book of Northeast Indians," Spizzirri
Publishing Company, Illinois, 1982.
Arber,
Edward, "Plymouth Colony Records," Boston, Massachusetts,
1897.
Armstrong,
Virginia Irving, "I Have Spoken," Pocket Books, New York,
1972.
Benton-Banai,
Edward, "The Mishomis Book," Indian Country Press, Inc.,
Saint Paul, Minn., 1979.
Berkhofer,
Jr., Robert F, "The White Man's Indian," Vintage Books,
Random House, New York, 1978.
Blitzer,
Charles, "Age of Kings," Great Ages of Man Series, Time-Life
Books, Time, Inc., New York, 1967.
Bradford,
Sir William, and Winslow, Edward, "Of Plymouth Plantation"
and Mourt's Relation," Massachusetts Historical Society Collections,
Tri-centennial Edition, 1922.
"Chronicles
of American Indian Protest," The Council on Interracial Books
for Children, Fawcett Pub. Inc., Greenwich, Conn., 1971.
Epstein,
Sam and Beryl, "European Folk Festivals," Garrand Publishing
Company, Champagne, Illinois, 1968.
Dalgliesh,
Alice, "The Thanksgiving Story," Charles Scribner's Sons,
New York, 1954.
Forbes,
Jack D., "The Indian in America's Past," Prentice Hall,
Inc., 1964.
Graff,
Stewart and Polly Ann, "Squanto, Indian Adventurer," Garrard
Publishing Company, Illinois, 1965.
"Handbook
of North American Indian series, Volume 15, "History of the
Indians of the Northeast," Smithsonian Institute, Washington,
D.C., 1978.
"Harpers'
Popular Cyclopaedia of United States History," Vol. 1 &
2, Harper and Brothers, Pub., Franklin Square, New York, 1892.
Jennings,
Francis, "The Invasion of America," W.W. Norton and Company,
Inc., New York, 1976.
Larsen,
Charles M., "The Real Thanksgiving," Tacoma Public Schools,
Tacoma, Washington, 1981.
Leiser,
Julia, "Famous American Indians and Tribes," Youth Publications,
Saturday Evening Post Company, 1977.
Ross,
Cathy and Fernandes, Roger, "Woodland Culture Area," Curriculum
Associates, Seattle, Washington, 1979.
Russell,
Howard S., "Indians in New England Before the Mayflower,"
University Press of New England, Hanover, New Hampshire, 1986.
Simmons,
William S., "Spirit of the New England Tribes, Indian History
and Folklore 1620-1984," University Press of New England, Hanover,
New Hampshire, 1985.
A THANKSGIVING
PRAYER FROM THE IROQUOIS (SENECA) PEOPLE
Gwa! Gwa!
Gwa! Now the time has come! Hear us, Lord of the Sky! We are here
to speak the truth, for you do not hear lies, We are your children,
Lord of the Sky.
Now begins
the Gayant' gogwus This sacred fire and sacred tobacco And through
this smoke We offer our prayers We are your children, Lord of the
Sky.
Now in
the beginning of all things You provided that we inherit your creation
You said: I shall make the earth on which people shall live And
they shall look to the earth as their mother And they shall say,
"It is she who supports us." You said that we should always
be thankful For our earth and for each other So it is that we are
gathered here We are your children, Lord of the Sky.
Now again
the smoke rises And again we offer prayers You said that food should
be placed beside us And it should be ours in exchange for our labor.
You thought that ours should be a world where green grass of many
kinds should grow You said that some should be medicines And that
one should be Ona'o the sacred food, our sister corn You gave to
her two clinging sisters beautiful Oa'geta, our sister beans and
bountiful Nyo'sowane, our sister squash The three sacred sisters;
they who sustain us.
This
is what you thought, Lord of the Sky. Thus did you think to provide
for us And you ordered that when the warm season comes, That we
should see the return of life And remember you, and be thankful,
and gather here by the sacred fire. So now again the smoke arises
We the people offer our prayers We speak to you through the rising
smoke We are thankful, Lord of the Sky.
(Liberally
translated) Chuck Larsen, Seneca
Indigenous Studies Publication Catalogue sent to you via e-mail,
send a request to
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Center
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