In 1620 a band of religious separatists who weren’t happy with their situation in England (Church of England) or Amsterdam or Leiden (cultural influences) departed for the New World. For some reason, they planned their trip such that they arrived in Massachusetts in December. They found land that had been cleared by a prior Indian settlement and subsequently decimated by disease — most likely smallpox — and were able to settle there during the winter.
Fortunately, a native Patuxet named Squanto who had twice been kidnapped and enslaved by Englishmen was able and willing to translate for the Pilgrims and teach them how to raise corn and catch eel. Having survived their first year by the skin of their teeth and brought in their first harvest, the Pilgrims celebrated their first Thanksgiving 386 years ago.
So, today, as you enjoy your turkey and mashed potatoes and what have you, give thanks to God and/or Squanto as your preferences dictate.
So would it be redundant to say “Thank God for Squanto?”
Happy Thanksgiving!
Not at all. Right back at you!
Then, of course, following King Philip’s War in 1676, the decendants of the Pilgrims sold Massasoit’s childrena nd grandchildren into slavery. I think I’ll salute Squanto.
Don’t get me wrong – I adore Thanksgiving and all that it symbolizes. I’m just tired of having it sanitized.
What, you mean the version where the Pilgrims came to the U.S. with religious freedom for everybody in mind, landed on Plymouth Rock, held hands with Squanto and the Indians as they worked in harmony to raise lots of food, founded America, and everybody lived happily ever after with liberty and justice for all?
So when we give thanks.. let’s remember also to commemorate the lives of all those who have built this country.. be they native or immigrant, regardless of faith and heritage.
I love the food.. and hate the calories.. so I’ll be in the gym with you Doug
Right on, hm. I poke at some of the sanitized myths of our country and rail against what I regard as misguided leadership, but that’s only because I love this country and all of the opportunity it provides.
As for exercise, my former legal assistant told me she and a group of like minded folks were going to do a pre-Thanksgiving 5k run, even in the less than optimal weather this morning. I’m not anywhere near that hardcore, but lots of food and lots of exercise seems like a good thing to me. Though, tonight I think it’s just going to be the Colts game after I roll away from the table.