Thankful Reads: 1621 A New Look At Thanksgiving
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Library Book
Habit is a powerful thing. In the next few weeks a great majority of people in the United States are going to engage in what they believe is a Traditional Thanksgiving Celebration. Airports will be packed, Lines in grocery stores will grow and that last can of Cranberry sauce can be worth it’s weight in gold.
Grade school kids will make Turkey posters out of hand tracings and learn about that first Thanksgiving from years ago. What they are learning isn't the whole story! In this book readers get a true look at the lifestyle of those early settlers and also a look at what that first gathering was like( It was actually a 3 day feast instead of one meal).
One of the most interesting things I learned in this book concerned the energy of entitlement. The Wampanoag Indians didn't think they owned the land. They instead were caretakers of the region and gave serious thought to what effect their actions would have on the future generations of their people.
For the English arriving at a land that was unoccupied meant it was theirs for the taking. They found stores of food and didn't think twice about taking them and beginning the farming process. It never occurred to them to ask for permission to be there.
The Wampanoag were very alert to the settlers presence and trod carefully. The first leader to approach them was Samoset from the Abenaki tribe. Samoset brought a very important companion: Tisquantum called Squanto, who spoke English because he was kidnapped by earlier colonists.
Squanto was a big help in gathering information and brokering peace. He was also present at the November celebration that cemented the friendship between the two groups.
I really enjoyed this book! It was wonderful to see the various pictorial layouts with actors wearing historical clothes and in a setting similar to the snapshot in history.
To learn more about the project that worked on this book visit www.plimoth.org
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