Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving in America originated in 1621 as a celebration of the Pilgrims first harvest in the New World. This is the story of how it came to be.

The Pilgrims were illegal immigrants from Europe, who came to America on the Mayflower to escape religious prosecution and persecution in their home country and build new lives and homes in the New World. At the time, the inhabitants of the land the Pilgrims arrived in was the Wampanoag nation. Even though the Pilgrims didn't speak the language, three months after they arrived, the leader of the Wampanoag, Massasoit, managed to work out a treaty with the Pilgrims which granted them amnesty, work permits, and land to build their homes on.



The Pilgrims, though brave and hard workers, didn't have the job skills or training to enable them to survive and prosper in their new country. That first winter when they arrived was rough. 45 out of 102 immigrants died. The Wampanoag nation took pity on them, and kindly taught them how to fish, how to hunt, and made sure they could provide for their families so their undocumented children wouldn't starve.

Using their newly taught job skills, the Pilgrims went to work. They planted crops, hunted, and and with government assistance provided by the Wampanoag, the Pilgrims built up their tiny little community until it was able to survive. In the fall, they decide to hold a harvest festival, and give thanks for their good fortune.

The celebration featured a feast that included numerous types of waterfowl, wild turkeys and fish procured by the immigrants, and five deer provided by the Wampanoag supplemental nutrition assistance program. The Wampanoag also gifted the immigrants with public educational assistance by providing an agricultural specialist named Squanto, who would remain in Plymouth to teach the immigrants better farming techniques like using dead fish to fertilize the soil.



All in all it was quite a celebration. It lasted three days, attended by both citizens and the newly arrived immigrants. It started a tradition that we continue today. The Wampanoag nation is gone now, but as we celebrate the holiday that their kindness made possible, remember to give a little thanks to the Wampanoag nation, who opened their borders to people in need and helped them make better lives for their families.

Happy thanksgiving everyone.

 

Actually Larry, the Wampanoag people lived in the area for thousands of years. There were sixty-seven tribes and bands of the Wampanoag Nation and as many as 12,000 Wampanoag who lived in forty villages in the early 1600's. They may not have had a Congress and department of Immigration and Customs, but they had pretty definite ideas about what they considered their land and they'd fought against other tribes to defend it.

The fact is, the Pilgrims arrived and set up shop up without the prior permission of the government and the native people already there. That's an illegal immigrant.

But if it makes you feel better we can call them "unauthorized" immigrants.

 

Hey now. Be nice to America, or we'll bring democracy to your country.