The Real History of the Thanksgiving Holiday

So for Thanksgiving purposes, there’s no reason to censor Cortez from Thanksgiving folklore.

Thanksgiving is easily one of the most recognized and observed holidays of the year, with celebrations ranging from parades and football games to family get-togethers and lavish turkey dinners. Quick learners, these Pilgrims, and in the fall of 1621, the Pilgrims joined Massosoit and his tribe for a three-day feast to celebrate their successful harvest.

IN 1817, the state of NY designated an official Thanksgiving holiday and were followed by several other northern states. And that is something we need to maintain in our time of celebration.

In May of this year, I was privileged to spend a few days in the Boston area, accompanied by granddaughter, Blake, and daughter and son-in-law, Sarah and Jerald. “Daddy, why don’t those people go home and eat, just like we are going to do?” he asked with raised eyebrows. Clearly a special time of year. To be honest I think it’s turned into something that celebrates family. Later, they were looked back upon by Congregationalists, who became the established church of MA, as their religious ancestors. During the winter, numerous colonists died from either disease or exposure, leaving only half of the original pilgrims to see the spring of 1621. They support indigenous struggles in New England and throughout the Americas.

On this Thanksgiving Day, anyone who is not of Native American ancestry should be grateful that their forebears managed to get here when they did.

Here are some key moments and people in the history of Thanksgiving, majority culled from History.com and Biography.com, as well as websites devoted to the history of pilgrims and Native Americans. Thanksgiving Day is a reminder of the genocide of millions of their people, the theft of their lands, and the relentless assault on their culture. Participants in a National Day of Mourning honor Native ancestors and the struggles of Native peoples to survive today. O’Fallon’s local charities and non-profit groups work hard throughout the year to provide programs and services for those less fortunate and it is through the dedication of these groups and the community’s generosity that numerous families in O’Fallon will experience a happy and peaceful holiday season.

The organization has a website explaining their position and their objection of the commercial celebration by many, especially in Plymouth. As a little girl I always thought that the ideal Thanksgiving was a representation of everything my parents fought for, everything they went through for my brother and I to live the American dream. Later, that same native would return with Squanto of the Pawtuxet tribe. “We are treated either as quaint relics from the past, or are, to most people, virtually invisible”. I know that they glorified the first Thanksgiving as a time of peaceful relations between the settlers and the natives and that it was not like that at all.

And maybe that is something we should in fact, take away from the pilgrims. “It is a necessary part of the healing process”. They also proclaim that Thanksgiving itself comes from Christian history and should not be a national holiday in a nation without a single religion. They fast, they march. But they made a difference because they took action. They should not only be remembered, but be celebrated, recognized and respected by the government as well as society.

Our observance should reflect a faith in the future, and an acknowledgment of God’s bounty including His grace and forgiveness.