Historical Insights into the Thanksgiving Story
Pilgrims, Wampanoag Indians and the Feast That Started the Tradition
Nov 18, 2008
The history of Thanksgiving has often been presented from the European settlers’ perspective. By also looking at the event from the Native American viewpoint this celebration may be broadened to create a richer tradition.
The Wampanoag Indians and Squanto
The Wampanoag tribe was part of the Algonkian confederacy. They inhabited southeastern Massachusetts from Narragansett Bay to western Cape Cod as well as the islands of Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket. New England, at the time of the Mayflower landing, was heavily populated with Native Americans, resulting in territorial wars within the Indian world.
Squanto, or Tisquantum, was a Patuxet who had been kidnapped by English fishermen and then sold to Spanish monks. He eventually was able to get back to his homeland only to find he was the last surviving member of his village. He then joined the local Wampanoag tribe.
Because he spoke English, Squanto was able to teach the Pilgrims to plant local crops and fish. He served as interpreter between the Pilgrims and the Indians. But Squanto was also more human than the myths about him, using his connections with the Pilgrims to threaten other Wamanoag for personal gain.
The First Thanksgiving
The Pilgrims did hold a feast to celebrate the fall harvest and invite the Wampanoag Indians. But there were several motives behind their invitation. The first was to negotiate a treaty that would give Plimoth Plantation land to the Pilgrims.
The second was to keep an eye on the Native Americans who lived so close. The Pilgrims did not trust the Indians, and the relationship deteriorated a short generation later resulting in King Phillip’s War.
The Wampanoag’s initial aid to the starving settlers may have been based on their cultural tradition of hospitality and helping those in need. But they had also had experiences with European explorers, fishermen and the slave trade and were, therefore, wary of their hosts.
The Native Americans provided much of the food for the three day feast. Whether that was because, as one interpretation states, Massasoit saw that there was not enough food and sent for more from tribal stores or simply that Indian culture indicated that they should show charity to their hosts, is not clear.
How the Present Thanksgiving Celebration Evolved
Fast forward to the 1890 and early 1900s when the mindset of the government turned toward pulling this vast and diverse land together as a nation. The idea of the Pilgrims and Indians sharing held appeal as part of that vision. In 1898 the legal holiday came into being based largely on a simple version of early New England folklore.
The Future of Thanksgiving
In his introduction to Teaching About Thanksgiving, a Fourth World Documentation Project, Chuck Larson promotes the idea that for three days there was peace and friendship between the cultures which should be the focus of present day celebrations. He also reminds that feasts to give thanks have been occurring for centuries and by most cultures. Telling a more balanced Thanksgiving story does not detract from that primary holiday focus.
