In my
perusing of articles about Thanksgiving I ran across this supposed correction of history by John Two-Hawks,
whomever he may be, The Thanksgiving Myth . All of the black
type will be his, all of the red type will be my corrections. I apologize for the delay in putting this together, but I will repost it next Thanksgiving when they start back up with the same old propaganda.
The Thanksgiving Myth
Let me begin
by stating that thousands of years before the 'official' Thanksgiving
Day was proclaimed by Governor Winthrop of the Massachussetts
Bay Colony in 1637, North American Indigenous people
across the continent had celebrated seasons of Thanksgiving. 'Thanksgiving'
is a very ancient concept to American Indian nations.
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. I agree completely with this sentiment, however, this does not bestow the right to make up another myth to take its place. "The first
recorded Christian thanksgiving in America occurred in Texas on May 23, 1541
when Spanish explorer, Francisco Vasquez de Coronado, and his men held a
service of thanksgiving after finding food, water, and pasture for their
animals in the Panhandle. Another
thanksgiving service occurred on June 30, 1564 when French Huguenot colonists
celebrated in solemn praise and thanksgiving in a settlement near what is now
Jacksonville, Florida. On August 9, 1607
English settlers led by Captain George Popham joined Abnaki Indians along
Maine's Kennebec River for a harvest feast and prayer meeting. The colonists,
living under the Plymouth Company charter, established Fort St. George around the
same time as the founding of Virginia's Jamestown colony. Unlike Jamestown,
however, this site was abandoned a year later.
Two years before the Pilgrims on December 4, 1619, a group of 38 English
settlers arrived at Berkeley Plantation in what is now Charles City, Virginia.
The group's charter required that the day of arrival be observed yearly as a
day of thanksgiving to God. Captain John Woodleaf held the service of
thanksgiving. Here is the section of the Charter of Berkley Plantation which
specifies the thanksgiving service: "Wee
ordaine that the day of our ships arrival at the place assigned for plantacon
in the land of Virginia shall be yearly and perpetually keept holy as a day of
thanksgiving to Almighty god." In
addition to 1619, the colonists perhaps held service in 1620 and 1621. The
colony was wiped out in 1622. It was a private event, limited to the Berkeley
settlement. Thus Spanish, French and British colonists held several
Thanksgiving services in America before the Pilgrim's celebration in 1621. Most
of these early thanksgivings did not involve feasting. They were religious in
nature, i.e. worship services of thankfulness to God." Source
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 leader, and an 11 foot high wall was erected
around the entire Plymouth settlement for the very purpose of keeping
the Indians out!
As the
Puritans prepared for winter, they gathered anything they could find, including
Wampanoag supplies. One day, Samoset, a leader of the Abenaki, and Tisquantum
(better known as Squanto) visited the settlers. Squanto was a Wampanoag who had
experience with other settlers and knew English. Squanto helped the settlers
grow corn and use fish to fertilize their fields. After several meetings, a formal agreement
was made between the settlers and the native people and they joined together to
protect each other from other tribes in March of 1621. One autumn day, four
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 53 strong English settlement with 90 of his men to see if the war
rumour was true. Soon after their visit, the Native Americans realized that the
English were only hunting for the harvest celebration. Massasoit sent some of
his own men to hunt deer for the feast, and for three days, the English and
native men, women, and children ate together. They also played ball games,
sang, and danced. Source
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'....
It is true that the Pilgrim killed most of the 700 Pequot in the stockade, it is also true that most of those burnt alive, otherwise killed, or taken captive were mostly old men, women, and children, but what John Two-Hawks is not telling you is what led up to that massacre, it was called The Pequot War and was brought into an armed conflict over who was to control the fur trade, political divisions between the Pequot and Mohegan widened as they aligned with
different buyers of the fur, the Mohegan with the English, and the Pequot with the
Dutch. This resulted in
a series of escalating incidents and attacks that increased tensions on both
sides.
On July 20,
1636, a trader, John Oldham, was attacked on a trading voyage to
Block Island. He and several of his crew were killed and his ship looted by
Narragansett-allied Indians who sought to discourage English settlers from
trading with their Pequot rivals. In the weeks that followed, colonial
officials from Massachusetts Bay, Rhode Island, and Connecticut, assumed the
Narragansett were the likely culprits. Knowing that the Indians of Block Island
were allies of the Eastern Niantic, who were allied with the Narragansett,
Puritan officials became suspicious of the Narragansett. However, Narragansett
leaders were able to convince the English that the perpetrators were being
sheltered by the Pequots.
In May,
leaders of Connecticut river towns met in Hartford, raised a militia, and
placed Captain John Mason in command. Mason set out with 90 militia and 70
Mohegan warriors under Uncas to punish the Pequot. At Fort Saybrook, Captain
Mason was joined by John Underhill and another 20 men. Underhill and Mason
sailed from Fort Saybrook to Narragansett Bay, a tactic intended to mislead
Pequot spies along the shoreline into thinking the English were not intending
an attack. After landing the troops on shore, Mason and Underhill marched their
forces approximately twenty miles towards Fort Mystic (present-day Mystic) and
led a surprise attack before dawn. However,
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 see
nothing wrong with gathering
with family to give thanks to our Creator for our blessings and sharing a
meal. I do, however, 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'. It is my hope that
children's plays about 'the first
Thanksgiving', complete with Indians and pilgrims chumming at the dinner
table, will someday be a thing of the past.
Why perpetuate a lie? Let us face the truths of the past, and give
thanks that we are learning to
love one another for the rich human diversity we share.
(Written by
John Two-Hawks)
While it is
true that John Winthrop the governor of Massachusetts Bay Colony declared in
1637, “This day forth shall be a day of celebration and thanksgiving for
subduing the Pequots.” This is not the origin of our current Thanksgiving Day holiday celebration, our Thanksgiving date from George
Washington's 1789 Thanksgiving Proclamation:
Whereas it
is the duty of all nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to
obey His will, to be grateful for His benefits, and humbly to implore His
protection and favor; and Whereas both Houses of Congress have, by their joint
committee, requested me to "recommend to the people of the United States a
day of public thanksgiving and prayer, to be observed by acknowledging with
grateful hearts the many and signal favors of Almighty God, especially by
affording them an opportunity peaceably to establish a form of government for
their safety and happiness:" Go here to read the complete Proclamation
And even
more so upon Abraham Lincoln's 1863 Proclamation Declared Thanksgiving a
National Holiday:
By the
President of the United States
A
Proclamation
The year
that is drawing toward its close has been filled with the blessings of fruitful
fields and healthful skies. To these bounties, which are so constantly enjoyed
that we are prone to forget the source from which they come, others have been
added, which are of so extraordinary a nature that they cannot fail to
penetrate and soften the heart which is habitually insensible to the
ever-watchful providence of Almighty God. Go here to read the whole proclamation
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