“Every day (is) a day of thanksgiving to the Wampanoag . . .(We) give thanks to the dawn of the new day, at the end of the day, to the sun, to the moon, for rain for helping crops grow. . . There (is) always something to be thankful for. .. Giving thanks comes naturally for the Wampanoag.” – tribal elder Gladys Widdiss

Our myth makes us think white Americans started Thanksgiving.  As if no one ever had Thanksgivings or festivals or a God before the colonizers.  As if the first peoples didn’t thank God for provision.  Not to mention, even the actual first white thanksgiving is up for debate.

One of the ‘first thanksgivings’ took place in St. Augustine, where Spanish Admiral Pedro Menéndez de Avilés landed in 1565.   There was a Catholic mass with the Timucua Indians watching, and then “Afterwards, everyone gathered for what appears to be the first feast between Europeans and Indians on North American soil.”

Or, you can go to San Elizario, a community near El Paso, TX, where in 1598 a Thanksgiving festival was held after hundreds of people followed the explorer De Onate 350 miles across the Mexican desert.

Or, “Not only had Jamestown preceded Plymouth…documents showed that in 1619, colonists landing at nearby Berkeley had designated their arrival date a day of annual thanksgiving.” – L&S

Now when it comes to Native American celebrations, there are many.

“Roger Williams reported that the Narragansett people of southern New England held feasts or dances of distinct types.  He distinguished first of all between public and private events, then between ceremonies and celebrations.  Ceremoines, he wrote, took place on occasions of ‘sicknesse, or Drouth, or Warre, or Famine’; celebrations took place during times of ‘caulme of Peace, Health, Plenty, Prosperity.’” – DL

For the Pequot, their most important celebration was Schemitzun – the Feast of the Green Corn and Dance. This festival celebrated the first ears of corn ripening.  Lasting 3 days and including people from many villages, preparation took weeks.  Food was prepared, shelters built, gifts exchanged, games stories, and dancing were all hallmarks of the celebration.

“Our ceremonies are cyclical, as our stories need to be re-told and acted upon as part of our process of remembering and maintaining balance within our communities. It is the stories that sustain us and ensure our continuity as peoples.” – Corntassel

Some of the Wampanoag celebrations include a clambake, the New Year at spring planting time, the Strawberry Thanksgiving in summer, the Green Bean Harvest and Green Corn Harvest in mid-summer, the Cranberry Festival in October (named by some the ‘Cranberry Thanksgiving’), and the Winter Solstice celebration.

Cranberries are important to the Wampanoag because they have always used them.  They were stored and eaten in the winter, used by fishermen at sea, and sold for money.  Cranberry Day is a tribal holiday to give thanks for the fruit.

“Cranberry Day is the most important and meaningful holiday of the year for us.” – Wampanoag Tribe

Books/Resources

A Voyage Long and Strange: On the Trail of Vikings, Conquistadors, Lost Colonists, and Other Adventurers in Early America (L&S)
Daily Life of Native Americans from Post-Columbian through Nineteenth-Century America  (DL)

Pequot

Nickommoh!: A Thanksgiving Celebration
The Pequot Tribe
The Pequots
Where the Great Hawk Flies

Wampanoag

Tapenum’s Day: A Wampanoag Indian Boy In Pilgrim Times
The Wampanoag: People of the First Light
Clambake: A Wampanoag Tradition
People of the Breaking Day
The Wampanoag
The Wampanoag and Their History

Part 1 – The First Thanksgiving and the Myth of America
Part 2 – The Myth of America – Columbus, Christ-Bearer
Part 3 – The Myth of America – Jamestown – The Wrong Story To Tell
Part 4 – Pilgrims – God’s Provision at the Expense of Other People
Part 5 – Myth of America – Biased History Lesson
Part 6 – The Mayflower Compact – for God and King and White America
Part 7 – The First Thanksgiving – for a Massacre
Part 8 – The First Thanksgiving – Fears, Power, and Privilege
Part 9 – Colonialism – A History Lesson with Skittles

This series is available as a 40 page pdf, giving an introductory look at settler colonialism as it relates to the founding of America.  Discusses Columbus, Jamestown, Pilgrims and Native Americans and includes 4 lessons to teach the topics to kids.
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