HIST 100: Engineering The Past

The First Thanksgiving

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In elementary school, I was taught that the first Thanksgiving was a celebration of the pilgrims arrival to America on the Mayflower. It was a time to be thankful for the things I had. My elementary school mind usually thought things like “I am thankful for candy, Santa, and my parents.” Typically, we had a classroom feast of some sort. We each shared with the class something we were thankful for, and dressed in pilgrim-like or Native American clothing for a day. We made pictures and crafts, turkeys being the most common theme. One activity in particular I remember was tracing my hand on a piece of paper and making the tracing into a turkey. Popcorn was also a big part of my Thanksgiving celebrations during elementary school. To my knowledge, the Natives and pilgrims were the best of friends; no one in the colony died or got sick or suffered from cold or starvation. Mashed potatoes, gravy, stuffing, cranberry sauce, rolls, butter, corn, and of course turkey were what I assumed to be the main dishes at the pilgrim’s feast, since that is what was served at ours. The main message I got about Thanksgiving was that it was a celebration of the pilgrims’ arrival, and a day to be thankful for my family.

The First Thanksgiving

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The very first thing I remember being taught was in second grade, we learned all about Squanto and how he approached the villagers who were starving and helped teach them how to plant and how to raise animals so that they would survive. Because of this, the Native Americans and the villagers all celebrated by having a large feast.

The first activity we did was the class split in half, and half of us dressed up in paper costumes made to look like “pioneer wear.” And then the other half dressed up as Native Americans. Then we all put our desks together and drew food to make it look like a large feast. Then we all sat and “ate” together. Luckily the teacher had brought juice and crackers so that we didn’t have to eat paper.

First Thanksgiving

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This is an interesting blog post because as I read the instructions I tried to dig deep and remember what I was taught in elementary school about the First Thanksgiving. To be honest, I don’t remember much. I find it sad that I don’t really know that much about the true meaning of this beloved holiday! The real reason we celebrate Thanksgiving has definitely gotten lost in the commercialization of it.

I remember talking about the pilgrims and Native Americans coming together and celebrating a successful harvest by creating a large feast. I remember there being corn, bread, pumpkins/gourds and turkey. I can picture a drawing of Native Americans in the loin cloths and face paint and the pilgrims in their white and black clothing (and weird hats) standing around a picnic-like table.

Around Thanksgiving we would make the hand turkeys to take home to our parents. Sometimes we would used dried corn kernels and glue them to a piece of paper. I remember the term friendship and kinship being used to describe the relationship between the pilgrims and Native Americans.