National American Indian and Alaska Native Heritage Month

1. 
   The students will describe the events of the first Plymouth Colony harvest celebration (Thanksgiving) in 1621.
   
2. 
   The students will identify several myths surrounding the first Thanksgiving celebration.
   
3. 
   The students will determine the central ideas or conclusions of a text; summarize complex concepts, processes, or information presented in a text by paraphrasing them in simpler but still accurate terms.  (FS)
   

1. 
   Ask students to consider why we celebrate Thanksgiving as a traditional American holiday. Have students also share some things that they and their family do on Thanksgiving Day (e.g., gather as a family, share a large meal, celebrate religious customs and traditions, share things for which they are grateful, watch parades and football games on TV).
   

2. 
   Explain to students that they are going to be reading and learning about the Thanksgiving or harvest feast celebrated in Plymouth, Massachusetts in 1621. The readings will also help them to dispel some of the myths or stories they have heard since childhood about the original Thanksgiving.
   

3. 
   To help students visualize life for the Pilgrims and American Indians in Plymouth in the 1620s, share the “Images of Pilgrim and Wampanoag Life from Plimouth Plantation” (provided; All images are historical reproductions based on research and have been taken from the Plimoth Plantation website at www.plimoth.org.)
   

Read the handout entitled “The First Thanksgiving” (provided) and answer the “Questions – The First Thanksgiving” (provided). Discuss the questions as a class.

4. 
   As closure, again show students the “Images of Pilgrim and Wampanoag Life from Plimouth Plantation” (provided). Explain that over time, myths and stories have developed about the first Thanksgiving.
   

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  The First Thanksgiving was held in Plymouth in 1621 - The first celebration in Plymouth was really a harvest celebration and was not even called Thanksgiving by the settlers. Other settlers claimed to have held the first Thanksgiving. For example, in Texas, Spanish explorer Juan de Onate is said to have held a big Thanksgiving festival near what is now El Paso after leading hundreds of settlers on a 350-mile long trek across the Mexican desert. In Virginia, settlers at the Berkeley Plantation on the James River are said to have held first Thanksgiving in America on December 4th, 1619.
  

• 
  The Pilgrims shared a big meal of turkey and cranberries with the Wampanoag. The three-day harvest meal likely consisted of deer and roasted meat. They may or may not have eaten turkey, but the Pilgrims did have turkey in their diet. The feasters likely supplemented their venison and birds with fish, lobster, clams, nuts, and wheat flour, as well as vegetables, such as corn, pumpkins, squash, carrots, and peas. Much of what we consider traditional Thanksgiving fare was unknown at the harvest festival. Potatoes and sweet potatoes hadn't yet become staples of the English diet, for example. And cranberry sauce requires sugar - an expensive delicacy in the 1600s. Likewise, pumpkin pie went missing due to a lack of crust ingredients.
  

• 
  The Pilgrims were somber and serious people all the time. The Pilgrims were deeply religious, but not somber people who only wore black clothes, tall hats, and shoes with large silver buckles. In fact, the Pilgrims generally wore bright and cheerful clothing and had no buckles on their shoes! They also enjoyed singing, dancing, and playing games.
  

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  American Indians in the area dressed like most other tribes. American Indians in the area, including the Wampanoag, did not wear woven blankets on their shoulders and large, feathered headdresses. Wampanoag women wore knee-length skirts. Wampanoag men wore breechcloths with leggings. Neither women nor men had to wear shirts in the Wampanoag culture, but they would dress in deerskin mantles during cool weather. The Wampanoag also wore moccasins on their feet.
  

• 
  The English settlers called themselves Pilgrims, not Englishmen. The English settlers did not call themselves Pilgrims, which means “wanderers.” The name Pilgrim was given to them because they traveled from England to Holland and then to North America to find religious freedom and to establish a way of life according to their customs and beliefs. If you had asked a Pilgrim to describe him or herself, they most likely would have replied that they were Englishmen or women.
  

• 
  History Network, George Mason University - http://historynewsnetwork.org/article/406
  
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  History.com - http://www.history.com/topics/thanksgiving/mayflower-myths
  
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  Today, I Found Out - http://www.todayifoundout.com/index.php/2010/11/10-thanksgiving-myths-dispelled/
  
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  National Geographic - http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2012/11/121120-thanksgiving-2012-dinner-recipes-pilgrims-day-parade-history-facts/
  
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  Washington Post - http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/post/5-myths-about-thanksgiving/2011/11/22/gIQA3UffmN_blog.html
  

Every fourth Thursday in November, Americans celebrate Thanksgiving, a national holiday honoring the first harvest feast of the early settlers in Plymouth, Massachusetts held in 1621.

The Wampanoag people knew the land well and had fished, hunted, and harvested there for many generations. They were seasonal people living in the forest and valleys during winter. During the summer, spring, and fall, they moved to the rivers, ponds, and ocean to plant crops, fish and gather foods from the forests.

In the spring, the remaining colonists moved ashore and began the task of setting up the Plymouth Colony. The first American Indian to greet the Pilgrims was Samoset, an Abenaki chief. He spoke English and helped the Pilgrims understand many things about their new homeland. He also later introduced the Pilgrims to Squanto, a messenger of the Wampanoag chief named Massasoit. Squanto taught the Pilgrims, weakened by malnutrition and illness, how to cultivate corn, extract sap from maple trees, catch fish in the rivers and avoid poisonous plants. He also helped the settlers forge an alliance with the Wampanoag. After several meetings, a formal agreement was made between the settlers and the Wampanoag and they joined together to protect each other from other tribes in March of 1621.

Soon after their visit, the Native Americans realized that the Pilgrims were only hunting for their harvest celebration. Massasoit sent some of his own men to hunt deer for the feast. For three days, the English and Wampanoag men, women, and children visited and ate together. The meal consisted of deer, corn, shellfish, and roasted meat, far from today's traditional Thanksgiving feast. Much of what most modern Americans eat on Thanksgiving was not available in 1621. They also played ball games, sang, and danced.

Although prayers and thanks were probably offered at the 1621 harvest gathering, the first recorded religious Thanksgiving Day in Plymouth happened two years later in 1623. On this occasion, the colonists gave thanks to God for rain after a two-month drought.

Thanksgiving Becomes a Holiday - In the 19th century (1800s), the modern Thanksgiving holiday started to take shape. In 1846, Sarah Josepha Hale, editor of a magazine called Godley’s Lady’s Book, campaigned for an annual national thanksgiving holiday.
It wasn't until 1863, when President Abraham Lincoln issued a proclamation which invited Americans to "observe the last Thursday of November as a day of Thanksgiving...” In 1939, President Franklin Roosevelt designated Thanksgiving be held each year on the fourth Thursday in November.

First Thanksgiving (Middle School) continued

Modern American Thanksgiving Traditions - In many American households, the Thanksgiving celebration has lost much of its original significance. Instead, it now centers on cooking and sharing a bountiful meal with family and friends. Turkey, a Thanksgiving staple so common that it has become all but synonymous with the holiday, may or may not have been eaten when the Pilgrims hosted the inaugural feast in 1621. Other traditional foods include stuffing, mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce and pumpkin pie. Volunteering is a common Thanksgiving Day activity, and communities often hold food drives and host free dinners for the less fortunate. Parades and watching football games on television are also part of the modern Thanksgiving celebration.

Native Americans and Thanksgiving Today - The peace between the American Indians and English settlers lasted for only a generation. The Wampanoag people do not share in the popular respect for the traditional New England Thanksgiving. For them, the holiday is a reminder of betrayal and bloodshed. Since 1970, many native people have gathered at the statue of The Massasoit in Plymouth, Massachusetts each Thanksgiving Day to remember their ancestors and the strength of the Wampanoag.

Sources: Adapted from National Geographic for Kids, http://kids.nationalgeographic.com/explore/history/first-thanksgiving/#first-thanksgiving-corn.jpg; Plimoth Plantation, www.plimoth.org; and, http://www.history.com/topics/thanksgiving/history-of-thanksgiving

1. 
   Who lived in the area of Massachusetts and Rhode Island before the Pilgrims arrived? How long had they lived there? What does there name mean?
   

2. 
   Explain what is meant by this statement: “They (the Wampanoag) were seasonal people…”
   

3. 
   Who were the Pilgrims and what did they think about the Church of England?
   

4. 
   Why do we call the Pilgrims “wanderers?”
   

5. 
   Describe the Pilgrim’s trip to America and the problems they faced when they arrived.
   

6. 
   Describe how Samoset and Squanto helped the Pilgrims.
   

7. 
   Who was the Wampanoag chief? Who was the Governor of the Plymouth Colony?
   

8. 
   Describe the first Thanksgiving or harvest celebration, including the food and other activities shared by the Pilgrims and Wampanoag American Indians.
   

9. 
   Explain the Wampanoag American Indians current feelings about Thanksgiving. Do you agree with the feelings the Wampanoag have today?
   

10. 
    Draw a Venn diagram on your paper like the one below. Complete the diagram by finding things that are similar and different between the first Thanksgiving and the Thanksgiving you now share with your family.
    

1. 
   In the left circle, write down things that happened during the first Thanksgiving in 1621.
   
2. 
   In the right circle, write down things you do with your family during Thanksgiving.
   
3. 
   In the center, write down things that were done during the first Thanksgiving that are still done by you and your family today.
   

Every fourth Thursday in November, Americans celebrate Thanksgiving, a national holiday honoring the first harvest feast of the early settlers in Plymouth, Massachusetts held in 1621.

The Pilgrims were not prepared for life in the new colony of Plymouth, Massachusetts. They arrived too late to establish sturdy housing or to plant enough crops before winter. They were also unfamiliar with the crops that could be grown in the area.

Throughout that first brutal winter, most of the colonists remained on board the ship, where they suffered from exposure, scurvy, and outbreaks of contagious disease. Only half of the Mayflower’s original passengers and crew lived to see their first New England spring. In March, the remaining settlers moved ashore, where they received an astonishing visit from Samoset, an Abenaki Indian who greeted them in English. Several days later, he returned with another American Indian, Squanto, a member of the Pawtuxet tribe who had been kidnapped by an English sea captain and sold into slavery before escaping to London and returning to his homeland on an exploratory expedition. Squanto taught the Pilgrims, weakened by malnutrition and illness, how to cultivate corn, extract sap from maple trees, catch fish in the rivers and avoid poisonous plants. He also helped the settlers forge an alliance with the Wampanoag, a local tribe, which would endure for more than 50 years and tragically remains one of the sole examples of harmony between European colonists and American Indians.

In November 1621, after the Pilgrims’ first corn harvest proved successful, Governor William Bradford organized a celebratory feast. Four Pilgrim settlers were sent to hunt for food for a harvest celebration. The Wampanoag heard gunshots and alerted their leader, Massasoit, who thought the English might be preparing for war. Massasoit visited the English settlement with 90 of his men to see if the war rumor was true. 

Soon after their visit, the Wampanoag realized that the Pilgrims were only hunting for their harvest celebration. Massasoit sent some of his own men to hunt deer for the feast. For three days, the English and Wampanoag men, women, and children visited and ate together. They also played ball games, sang, and danced.

Now remembered as American’s “first Thanksgiving,” the festival lasted for three days. While no record exists of the historic banquet’s exact menu, the Pilgrim chronicler Edward Winslow wrote in his journal that Governor Bradford sent four men on a “fowling” mission in preparation for the event, and that the Wampanoag guests arrived bearing five deer. Historians have suggested that many of the dishes were likely prepared using traditional American Indian spices and cooking methods. Because the Pilgrims had no oven and the Mayflower’s sugar supply had dwindled by the fall of 1621, the meal did not feature pies, cakes or other desserts, which have become a hallmark of contemporary celebrations.

Although prayers and thanks were probably offered at the 1621 harvest gathering, the first recorded religious Thanksgiving Day in Plymouth happened two years later in 1623. On this occasion, the colonists gave thanks to God for rain after a two-month drought

Thanksgiving celebrations.

Some American Indians and others take issue with how the Thanksgiving story is presented to the American public, and especially to schoolchildren. In their view, the traditional narrative paints a deceptively sunny portrait of relations between the Pilgrims and the Wampanoag people, masking the long and bloody history of conflict between American Indians and European settlers that resulted in the deaths of millions. Since 1970, protesters have gathered on the day designated as Thanksgiving at the top of Cole’s Hill, which overlooks Plymouth Rock, to commemorate a “National Day of Mourning.” Similar events are held in other parts of the country.

As an annual celebration of the harvest and its bounty, moreover, Thanksgiving falls under a category of festivals that spans cultures, continents and millennia. In ancient times, the Egyptians, Greeks and Romans feasted and paid tribute to their gods after the fall harvest. Thanksgiving also bears a resemblance to the ancient Jewish harvest festival of Sukkot. Finally, historians have noted that American Indians had a rich tradition of commemorating the fall harvest with feasting and merrymaking long before Europeans set foot on their shores.

Sources: Adapted from History.com, http://www.history.com/topics/thanksgiving/history-of-thanksgiving; Plimoth Plantation, www.plimoth.org; and,National Geographic for Kids, http://kids.nationalgeographic.com/explore/history/first-thanksgiving/#first-thanksgiving-corn.jpg;