To be quite honest I have very little memory of years prior to high school due to an injury. I am/will however to do my best. First I remember there being something about the Mayflower however nothing ever mentioned about other ships, just the Mayflower. They landed in Plymouth trying to flee religious persecution in England. Once they landed the weather was significantly different than in England. Since they weren’t ready for the harsh environment they didn’t know how to grow the right foods to grow for the environment. Due to this they starved and froze to near death. On the brink of death “Indians” aided in the survival of the pilgrims. One specific Indian, Squanto befriended the pilgrims since he knew how to speak English. Squanto knew English from prior travels with other settlers England. Squanto and his tribe assisted the pilgrims in their survival by showing the practically everything. He showed them how to grow crops, build shelter and even multiple methods of cooking. Without the help they would never had survived. The thanksgiving meal was a means of appreciation towards the natives.
Some of the crafts that I recall doing was making a turkey place mat out of the outline of my hand. Along with the place mat there was Indian hats made out of paper and a paper feather. A big thing that would happen would be a big potluck that was done. Of course it involving food I can only remember that. In the potluck the food brought was things such as turkey, mash potatoes, stuffing, rolls, pumpkin pie, corn, and something to drink. While I would start to eat, they teacher would tell us what they actually ate. For example instead of raised rolls there would have been a unleavened bread, instead of turkey they had pheasant or quail. They would also have more root based vegetables. The teachers explained that there wasn’t really anything sweet on the table in the 1600’s since sugar was very rare.
I think it’s funny that you emphasize the Mayflower so much. I think most people forget what the three ships were called and I find that interesting because they were all so important. But you’re definitely right, in school teachers talk about the Mayflower the most and I’m curious as to why that is? The three ships were: the Mayflower, Santa Maria and the Pinta
To be honest I think its a Paul Revere situation. Meaning that there were many people that were doing something but only the popular one was noted in history. For example with Paul Revere there was another rider that was making the dash to all of the minutemen but Revere was well know, the other guy not so much. Thus history remembers him rather than the other guy.
This is probably one of my biggest pet peeves. I would like to figure out why it was decided that Paul Revere was the most important part of the dash or that the Mayflower was the most significant ship of the three sailing to America.
I do have to say that you have a better memory than I do. Looks like you were able to identify a lot of the facts that lead up to the first Thanksgiving and you remembered the crafts that were completed. It looks like we all had similar activities and the tradition has kept pace as my children completed the same activities a couple years ago as well.
Karina
I have to say when I was younger I don’t think I paid much attention about the Mayflower. I’m not sure why because as I got older that seemed to be pretty important. I think it is cool how you went into much detail about that as well. I also can’t mention the hand turkeys, that is something that seemed like everyone did. Also is just something that must have stuck in all of our minds.