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nIt’snalways nice to have a harvest festival—although most of us live inncities, far from farmlands, and eat produce from innumerable harvestsnall over the world!
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nHowever,nsome people do not see Thanksgiving as a happy holiday that harkensnback to a wonderful feast enjoyed by “Pilgrims” and “Indians,”ncooking and eating together in peace. Some people see it as a day tonregret the way things turned out for the native peoples who lived innthe Plymouth area and elsewhere in the Americas. Instead of gatheringntogether with family over a roasted turkey and televised football,nthey gather together to hear speeches about the truth behind thenmythologized Pilgrim/Indian feast.
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| This is not how it was at the first Thanksgiving! |
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| Massasoit was the leader of the Wampanoag tribe. |
nEvennthough most sources I have consulted indicate that the firstnThanksgiving was indeed a harvest festival, as I described in this 2010 post, some sources claim that the 3-day event was actually anmeeting between English “Pilgrims” and Wampanoagn“Indians” to discuss land rights.
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nAccording to Turquoise Butterfly, the Wampanoag brought most of the food eaten during thenmeeting, because that was what their culture dictated as the politenthing to do.
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