We are brought up to believe that Thanksgiving day was created because the Pilgrims and the Indians decided to have a day of peaceful feasting and from that time forward, called it Thanksgiving Day. This is what I was taught in school many moons ago and, to this day, is still being taught to my grandchildren.
Isn't it funny how history can be sugarcoated for future generations, just so they cannot see the truth in how this country actually came to be? No wonder they are so confused when it hits them in the face. How are they supposed to believe what we tell them if they are lied to from the very start?
The first Thanksgiving Day Holiday was declared in 1637 by Governor John Endicott of the Massachusetts Bay Colony in celebration to thank God for their "victory" the day before in the slaughter of 700 Native American men, women and children while they were celebrating their own religious thanksgiving called the Green Corn Dance.
While the whole village was was inside the main lodge singing, dancing, feasting and telling stories, they were surrounded and then told to come out. As the first of them came out of the lodge, they were shot. Those that remained inside were burned alive.
Throughout the early history, there were tribes and settlers that did coexist, with the natives helping out the settlers during their first harsh winters and then teaching them about the indigeous plantlife. The Cherokee even adopted some of the European ways by living in houses and wearing their clothes. None of these, however, were Pilgrims or Puritins. There were many Quakers that coexisted with the Cherokee and other tribes.
To learn more about the Thanksgiving Day Massacre - History click on the link.
Today...I feel we celebrate Thanksgiving Day the right way...family and friends joining together in harmony...no matter who they are, or where they came from. I just wish they would stop teaching half-truths (and sometimes outright lies) to our children when it comes to the history of this land of ours.
Nuff said...Happy Thanksgiving.
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