Harvest Ceremony

BEYOND THE THANKSGIVING MYTH

Summary: Native American people who first encountered the “pilgrims” at what is now Plymouth,
Massachusetts play a major role in the imagination of American people today. Contemporary celebrations
of the Thanksgiving holiday focus on the idea that the “first Thanksgiving” was a friendly gathering of two
disparate groups—or even neighbors—who shared a meal and lived harmoniously. In actuality, the assembly
of these people had much more to do with political alliances, diplomacy, and an effort at rarely achieved,
temporary peaceful coexistence. Although Native American people have always given thanks for the world
around them, the Thanksgiving celebrated today is more a combination of Puritan religious practices and the
European festival called Harvest Home, which then grew to encompass Native foods.

The First People families, but a woman could inherit the position if
there was no male heir. A sachem could be usurped by
In 1620, the area from Narragansett Bay someone belonging to a sachem family who was able
in eastern Rhode Island to the Atlantic Ocean in to garner the allegiance of enough people. An unjust or
southeastern Massachusetts, including Cape Cod, unwise sachem could find himself with no one to lead,
Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket, was the home as sachems had no authority to force the people to do
of the Wampanoag. Although culturally, politically, things. If people did not like their sachem, they were
religiously, and economically similar to the free to move and switch allegiances.
Narragansett people to the
west, Wampanoags did not There were 69
speak the same language and autonomous villages within
considered the Narragansett the Wampanoag nation.
their traditional enemies. The sachem of each village
collected tribute from the
The Wampanoag people of his village, such
practiced agriculture and as a portion of the hunt and
followed a seasonal round the harvest. This food was
of gardening and fishing redistributed to the needy
near the coast in spring of each village. In 1620,
and summer, moving to one very influential sachem
sheltered inland locations for of the Wampanoag was a
hunting in fall and winter. remarkable statesman named
They cultivated several Massasoit.
varieties of corn, beans, and squash. These were dried
and stored in underground caches and—along with Spiritual beliefs involved a reciprocal
numerous wild vegetables, nuts, and fruits—traded relationship with nature. Offerings in the form of
to other groups for things they needed, but did not food and precious objects, such as shell beads, were
produce themselves. given back to the earth to express thankfulness and
respect to supernatural beings. The Wampanoag
Wampanoag society was stratified and social people understood that one couldn’t keep taking from
position was inherited. Each village was headed by a the earth without giving something back. It has long
leader called a sachem, who ruled by persuasion and been customary for horticultural Indian people to
by consent of the people. Ordinarily, the sachemship have ceremonies in which they express their thanks
was passed down through the male line in “royal” for a bountiful harvest. The Wampanoag celebrated

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their harvest with a ceremony that combined feasting, The Wampanoag, seeking a military befriended the
dancing, and ceremonial games with a “give away” Europeans, who possessed formidable weapons with
in which families gave away personal possessions to their muskets and fowling pieces. Two Indian men
others in the community who were in need. who knew how to speak English made the initial
advances. Samoset, an Abenaki from Maine, and
From 1616–1617, three to four years before Tisquantum, a Wampanoag, had both learned English
the European adventurers and religious refugees as slaves in Europe. Tisquantum (called Squanto by
anchored the Mayflower in Cape Cod Bay, the Indians the Europeans) was a Patuxet Wampanoag who had
of southern New England had been decimated by been kidnapped by Europeans and sold into slavery
diseases introduced by European explorers. The a few years before the epidemic. After several years,
effects of the diseases were particularly hard felt he was able to find a ship that was coming back and
along the coast. Whole villages were wiped out; returned home. When Tisquantum found his way to his
historians estimate that as many as three-fourths of village, he discovered he was the only living Patuxet
the Wampanoags were killed. The entire population of left.
the Wampanoag village of Patuxet was wiped out by
a terrible plague. When Europeans founded Plimoth As the “starving time” of the European’s first
Plantation amid the ruins of Patuxet, they found the winter turned to spring, Tisquantum began to teach
human bones littering the ground because there had the settlers how to survive and he set up a meeting
been no one left to bury the dead. between Massasoit and the first Governor of Plimoth,
John Carver. Massasoit then negotiated a peace treaty
The Immigrants with the newcomers in which they pledged to maintain
friendly relations and to come to each other’s aid in
A majority of those who came to American case of outside attack, among other things.
on the Mayflower came to make a profit from the
products of the land, the rest were religious dissenters The summer passed and Tisquantum helped
who fled their own country to escape religious the newcomers learn to plant and care for native crops,
intolerance. The little band of religious refugees and to hunt and fish, and to do all the things necessary to
entrepreneurs that arrived on the Mayflower that partake of the natural abundance of the earth in this
December of 1620 was poorly prepared to survive. particular place.
They did not bring enough food, and they arrived too
late to plant. They were not familiar with the area The Harvest Celebration
and lacked the knowledge, tools, and experience to
effectively utilize the bounty of nature that surrounded As a result of the help the Europeans
them. For the first several months, two or three received from their new allies, they overcame their
died each day from scurvy, lack of adequate shelter, inexperience and—by the fall of their first year
and poor nutrition. On one exploration trip, the in Wampanoag country, 1621 —they achieved a
settlers found a storage pit and stole the corn that a successful harvest. They planted their fields with a
Wampanoag family had set aside for the next season. mixture of European seeds and corn given to them by
Massasoit. Their foreign seeds did not do well, but the
Contact corn crop saved them. They decided to celebrate their
success with a harvest festival, the Harvest Home,
The Wampanoag were facing danger of a which they most likely had most likely celebrated as
different kind. Their enemies, the Narragansett, children in Europe. The Harvest Home consisted of
who lived to the west, were hardly affected by the non-stop feasting and drinking, sporting events, and
epidemic. They were now much more numerous than parading in the fields shooting off muskets. This is the
the Wampanoag, and the balance of power was tipping celebration that Edward Winslow relates in his letter
in their favor. The Wampanoag were undergoing of December 11, 1621. This letter is the principle
pressure from the Narragansett, who were beginning surviving written record specifically describing the
to demand tribute from some Wampanoag villages. events of the “First Thanksgiving.”

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Our harvest being gotten in, our Governor sent four the English. Though decimated by European diseases
men on fowling, that so we might after a more special and defeated in war, the Wampanoag continued to
manner rejoice together, after we had gathered the survive through further colonization in the eighteenth,
fruits of our labours. They four in one day killed as nineteenth, and twentieth centuries.
much fowl as, with a little help beside, served the
Company almost a week. At which time, amongst The Wampanoag Today
other recreations, we exercised our arms, many of the
Indians coming amongst us, and amongst the rest their Today the three primary communities of
greatest king, Massasoit, with some 90 men, whom Wampanoag people in Massachusetts are Mashpee
for three days we entertained and feasted. And they on Cape Cod, Aquinnah (Gay Head) on Martha’s
went out and killed five deer which they brought to the Vineyard, and Herring Pond in south Plymouth.
plantation and bestowed on our Governor and upon Aquinnah and Mashpee are both federally recognized
the Captain and others. tribes, Aquinnah having been so since 1987 and
Mashpee since May 2007.
Although there is The Wampanoag people
nothing in this letter to live within their ancestral
suggest the giving of thanks, homelands and still largely
this is the celebration that has sustain themselves as their
traditionally been associated ancestors did by hunting,
with the contemporary fishing, gardening, and
Thanksgiving holiday. The gathering. There are many fine
“First Thanksgiving” was artists who practice traditional
based on customs that the basketry, wood carving,
Europeans brought with pottery, and wampum-making.
them. Although traditional
Wampanoag foods such as While there were several
wild duck, goose, and turkey generations in which the
were part of the menu, the Wampanoag language was
Indian contribution to the not in use, the Wampanoag
event was five deer, which were roasted. The robust Language Reclamation Project has now been ongoing
ale, made from the one successful English crop of for the past twelve years. There is a steadily growing
barley, was the main non-Native food. In many ways increase in fluency, and young children hearing it as a
this three-day feast symbolizes a rarely achieved first language. Additionally, the Wampanoag maintain
relationship of peaceful coexistence between Indians a rich and vital oral history and connection to the
and Europeans in the 17th century. land. The Mashpee Wampanoag hold their annual
powwow on the 4th of July weekend every year and the
Afterward Aquinnah host their annual gathering in September.

Although the peaceful relations established Thanksgiving is a combination of Puritan religious

by Massasoit were often strained by dishonest, practices and the European harvest festival, which
aggressive, and brutal actions on the part of the now includes Native foods. It is still composed of
colonists, Massasoit kept his part of the treaty all a display of plenty, focused on an elaborate feast.
his life. Upon his death in 1661, forty years after the Today’s Thanksgiving football games are the modern
landing of the first “boat people,” the fragile peace equivalent of the English farmer’s medieval harvest-
began to deteriorate. In 1675, full-scale war erupted, time tradition of staging sporting events, such as
ending with the defeat of the Wampanoag under leaping, vaulting, and archery. The turkey shoot,
Massasoit’s son, Pometacom, called King Philip by which survives in some areas, has evolved from the
medieval practice of “exercising arms.”
 Mourt, George. A Journal of the Pilgrims at Plymouth:
Mourt’s Relation. New York: Corinth Books, 1963.
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Classroom Discussion Topics

• The harvest celebration of 17th century settlers at Plimouth presents a very different image from what we
generally think of as the “First Thanksgiving” between Pilgrims and Indians. How far off is the modern story of
Thanksgiving from what actually happened? What do you think about the idea of the “Thanksgiving myth” as a
representation of what we celebrate today?

• Edward Winslow’s 1621 letter states, “…many of the Indians coming amongst us, and amongst the rest their
greatest king, Massasoit, with some 90 men...” Discuss the possibility that the Wampanoag people were not
initially extended an offer as guests to the harvest celebration, but showed up to investigate as the Europeans
“exercised…arms” and ended up with an invitation to join. Why would it have been important for Massasoit to
engage with the Europeans at that time?

• Think about the numerous different encounters between the Wampanoag people and Europeans—explorers,
religious refugees (pilgrims), and entrepreneurs—in the 17th century. While these encounters had various
outcomes, both positive and negative, what are some of the reasons that parties from the two groups
joined together during the harvest celebration in 1621? How did the “encounter” at that event impact their
relationships with each other?

• Native American people around the country have different ways of approaching the idea of giving thanks.
For example, there are community feasts, seasonal celebrations, and give away ceremonies. Research some of
the various methods of giving thanks among Native people in the region where you live. Why is giving thanks
important to them? How do their ways of giving thanks impact your understanding of Native American people
and the Thanksgiving holiday?