Thanksgiving celebrations raise questions
In 1620, 102 English immigrants sailed across the vast open sea on the Mayflower and anchored near Cape Cod on what is now the Massachusetts coast. The two-month journey through the salty sea, enduring a harsh, unforgiving winter upon first arrival left the Pilgrims’ population at half of what it was at departure. Standing on one weak leg, thoughts of the thousands of other settlers who died in the New World lingered in their minds. Did the journey they set out to live, to save them from religious persecution, lead them to a fate to meet the one they worship?
Not expecting this new life to be as harsh as it was, a relationship with the local Indigenous people became critical. The Pilgrims wanted to show gratitude toward Indigenous people, who helped them survive; they hosted a great feast to bring the two cultures together, producing the first Thanksgiving.
We all heard this story or another very similar type, but how true is it? During the latter half of the 1800s, the need for publicly funded schools was on the rise. What will the children be taught about the beginning of this young nation? Rescuers of this autumn harvest, or this idea of the “first Thanksgiving,” peeked its head out and was pulled out by the American people to be admired. The American imagination was sparked, leading to paintings and myths of this story, which is filled with bravery and hardship– the perfect ingredients for an authentic American tale.
Sarah Josepha Hale, an editor of a magazine called Godey’s Lady’s Book, pushed for this myth to become a national holiday, to show the foundation of this nation being laid. In 1863, President Abraham Lincoln issued a national proclamation stating that Thanksgiving would be a national holiday held on the fourth Thursday in November.
Without the Wampanoag people, the people who trace their blood to this historical moment would have nothing to go back to besides a ghost town. Who are the Wampanoag people? This Indigenous tribe, who lived on the lands of present-day New England, lived not just off the land, but for it. With their matrilineal social structure and complicated language and folk stories and myths of their own, they were not these “savages” who the settlers had to cure, but people just as sophisticated as the Pilgrims. Though the Pilgrims of the Mayflower were new to seeing the Wampanoag tribe, for the tribe these settlers were not new. The Great Dying from 1616-19, caused by the transmission of Leptospirosis and smallpox from settlers to Indigenous people, killed 90% of the coastal Wampanoag population, just before the white sails of the Mayflower revealed themselves over the horizon.
The feast that brought the two groups together was due to a misunderstanding of the Pilgrims’ musket fire. Ousamequin and 90 men came over to observe, only to see a three-day celebration taking place. The Wampanoag’s weakened state was a flare in the sky, which brought the attention of another Indigenous tribe called the Narragansett. Narragansett would have tried to conquer the weakened Wampanoag people, but fearing for his people, Chief Ousamequin turned toward the Pilgrims. The Wampanoag-Pilgram treaty was signed by both sides to declare peace. It is the only one between an Indigenous tribe and the English to be honored until after all who signed it died. The treaty did not last forever and ended due to the start of King Philip’s War (1675-78).
The history of all the Indigenous tribes in the United States is devastating and a bloodstain on the county’s history, but the unity that the first settlers of the Mayflower and Wampanoag people should have been an example set for those of the future.
The present-day question of whether or not this holiday that holds such a complicated history should be celebrated is one that should not be answered fast. It is not only the history of the people involved in the true story, but also the creatures on the table while it is being told. According to the Food Empowerment Project organization, 46 million turkeys are killed for the sole purpose of being eaten on Thanksgiving. Additionally, ReFED, whose mission is to end food waste, found that food waste on Thanksgiving totals 316 million pounds; with that much food, we could have provided five meals to 47.4 million people expected to experience food insecurity. With all the food and animal waste, and given the holiday’s negative history, the question of whether we should still celebrate it seems clear.
Being aware and knowing the history behind what we are celebrating could be the key. But Thanksgiving brings families together to share stories and opinions over a table of great food. If Thanksgiving is about being thankful for what you have and who you have around you, then maybe celebrating is worth it in your mind. One day a year should not be dedicated to this act of thought; the holiday’s lesson could be to stretch it into everyday life.