Open your eyes to the real Thanksgiving

Gustavo Quintero
English 48A
October 4, 2007
Journal #6 Loewen Ch. 3

Quote:
"For that matter our culture and our textbooks underplay or omit Jamestown and the sixteenth-century Spanish settlements in favor of Plymouth Rock as the archetypal birthplace of the United States....in contrast to Squanto, a volunteer, the British in Virginia took Indian prisoners and forced them to teach colonists how to farm."(Loewen 90)


Summary:
Schools from kindergarten to high school teach students that the Pilgrims landed on Plymouth Rock. Plymouth Rock is credited as being the point in History where the Pilgrims settled into America. Yet as the quote above states, most students are not taught that there were Spanish settlements before the Pilgrim settlements. Thanksgiving is also seen as a celebration which was started by the Pilgrims which could be no further from the truth.


Response:
With Thanksgiving a little over a month away we as critical thinking college students need to examine and pick apart the myth the is Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving was first made into a federal holiday while Abraham Lincoln was in office. Thanksgiving began in 1863 during the Civil war as a way to increase patriotism amongst feuding Americans. From the get go this holiday that is celebrated by millions of Americans on the thirds Thursday of each November seems almost phony. As Loewen Says: "No one used the term Pilgrim until the 1870's."(Loewen 95) The pilgrims are not even initially included in the Thanksgiving celebration, yet if you were to walk into any elementary school in the U.S. during November almost surely you would see pictures and posters of Pilgrims sitting alongside Indians.

The story, in a nutshell, of Thanksgiving is as follows: The Pilgrims escaped religious persecution from the English church. The Pilgrims then went aboard a ship where they endured terrible weather on their way to America. When they reached America they landed at Plymouth Rock. Here they managed to set up a village and survive the bitterly cold winter that hit this region of America. After surviving the harsh winter, while giving thanks to God, they became friends with nearby Indians and they had a huge feast in commemoration of their first winter.
This is the story by which I was raised by in school. After reading Loewen's book has done an exceptional job of putting the facts out in the open for people to read. His book serves as a medium in order to expand the knowledge that one has about certain American cultures and celebrations.

From what we know from historical facts anthropologists have concluded that Native Americans were the first people to celebrate, what we now know as Thanksgiving. The Native Americans had been practicing Autumn harvest celebrations for thousands of years. It was not the Pilgrims who began the tradition but the Native Americans. The food that is eaten during this feast is also food that is all indigenous to America. This food includes wild turkey, squash, beans and corn. Lastly it was the Native Americans who helped the pilgrims survive the winter, and later how to plant corn and other crops.

With all that I have read regarding the Native Americans role in Thanksgiving it really makes me think about what is really important during this holiday. Its not necessarily the food and the and the remembering of our "forefathers" but rather getting together with my family and having a wonderful and delicious meal.