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Tim Giago: Thanksgiving -- A holiday of the imagination
Wednesday, November 22, 2006

There is a saying amongst the Lakota that when the Pilgrims first landed at Plymouth Rock they fell on their knees and prayed and then they fell on the Indians and preyed.

So much fabrication has been woven into the landing of the Pilgrims and their dealings with the indigenous people they met that first year it is hard to separate fact from fiction.

The Mayflower actually landed on Cape Cod on November 11, 1620 at a place that would become Provincetown. The landing site proved to be unsuitable. Robert Coppin, the Mayflower’s pilot, remembered another site more suitable to permanent settlement.

On December 16, 1620 the settlers sailed into the harbor the Indians called Patuxet. There are no 17th Century sources that mention landing on a rock, but the Pilgrims called the landing site Plymouth Rock nonetheless.

We were all taught about the first winter in which many settlers died until only 52 of the original 102 remained alive. The history books also teach us that the Indians helped the settlers survive by teaching them how to plant corn, squash and other vegetables.

The Wampanoag were the first Indians to actually meet and speak with the Pilgrims. An Abenaki named Samoset who spoke English he learned from fisherman who visited the coast introduced them to a man named Tisquantum or Squanto. Squanto had been taken to England as a prisoner and spoke fairly fluent English.

Strangely enough, most early works of art depicting the first harvest feast of the Pilgrims shows the settlers fleeing from a hail of arrows.

The first modern image showing the Indians and settlers enjoying a feast in harmony did not occur until after the so-called Indian wars were settled. It was only after the Indians became the Vanishing Americans that they became an integral part of the Pilgrim story.

A stanza from the poem by Felicia Hemans (1793 – 1835) about the landing of the Pilgrims goes:

Ay, call it holy ground,
The soil where first they trod!
They have left unstain’d what where they found –
Freedom to worship God.

 

Perhaps, a century later, an Indian poet would have written;

 

Hau, call it stolen ground,
The soil where first they trod!
They have left a stain over all they found,
And took our freedom to worship God.

The indigenous people of what was to become New England had little to be thankful for in the ensuing years. Many died of small pox, measles and other diseases to which they had no immunity or they died at the hands of the settlers. Their villages were burned to the ground and their women and children sold into slavery or murdered.

Bounties were placed on those who survived and soon hunters and trappers showed up at the trading posts collecting money for their “redskins.”

George Washington chose a day to give thanks for the establishment of a “new nation” in 1789. After the War of 1812 James Madison called for a day of thanks in 1815. History does not expound upon the fact that it was the combined Indian forces of Creek and other Southeastern tribes that helped turn the tide in favor of the Americans at the Battle of New Orleans, a battle that was essential in turning the war against the British.

In 1863, President Abraham Lincoln, at the urging of Sarah Josepha Hale, editor of Godey’s Lady’s Book, set aside the fourth Thursday of November as Thanksgiving Day. In 1941 Congress passed a joint resolution making the fourth Thursday of November the official holiday of Thanksgiving.

During the 1960s Indian activists began to gather at Plymouth Rock on Thanksgiving Day to protest the treatment of the indigenous people and to rail against a holiday based on fiction.

It is a general belief that the United States government began to visualize Indians as part of the first Thanksgiving at Plymouth Rock in order to demonstrate a move toward diversity. Immigrants from many nations, some not so fair and blonde, landed at Ellis Island in search of freedom and a new life.

By this time the Massacre at Wounded Knee had happened and some historians recorded it as the last great battle between the Indians and the government. Wounded Knee was listed as a battle between troops of the Seventh Cavalry and the Sioux. Keep in mind that it was just a short 13 years from the day Lincoln set a date for Thanksgiving to the Battle at the Little Big Horn in 1876.

The troops of the Seventh Cavalry had celebrated Thanksgiving just five weeks before they slaughtered innocent men, women and children at Wounded Knee.

With the Indian wars far behind, and the Indian, now listed as “The Vanishing American,” it was now almost romantic to create a time of peace and tranquility when the Pilgrims brought the Indians to their table at Thanksgiving to share a sumptuous meal centered around the turkey.

And so it seems the American Indian had to be placed on the “Most Endangered Species” list before he could be seated at the table with the Pilgrims.

And of course, the Indian by then had progressed from prey to pray

A great piece buddy!

Member of this message board since 1997

no mention of the thousands of years the tribes were scalping each other before you found a common enemy...thank the Italian Europeans for bringing this word to your primitive vocabulary:

ca·si·no (k-sn) KEY

NOUN:
pl. ca·si·nos

1. A public room or building for gambling and other entertainment.
2. also cas·si·no A card game for two to four players in which cards on the table are matched by cards in the hand.
3. A summer or country house in Italy.

ETYMOLOGY:
Italian, diminutive of casa, house, from Latin

WORD HISTORY:
The history of the word casino reveals a transformation from a cottage to a gambling palace. The source of our word, Italian casino, is a diminutive of casa, "house." Central to the transformation is the development of the senses of casino in Italian. The word was first applied to a country house and then came to be used for a social gathering place, a room or building where one could dance, listen to music, and gamble. This last pastime seems to have gained precedence over the others, at least as far as the development of the word is concerned, and casino took on the meaning "gambling establishment." These senses of the Italian word have all been borrowed into English, the sense "social gathering place" being recorded first in the 18th century, the sense "gambling establishment" first in 1851.

Lincoln 1845 ft/.35 mile T1=118MPH 
Eldora 2287 ft/.43mile T3=135MPH
Port 2716 ft/.51 mile T3=TBD
Grove 2792 ft/.53 mile T3=135MPH
Selinsgrove 2847 ft/.54 mile T1=136MPH
"I didn't move to PA from El Paso in search of better 
weather." Van May

double or nothing pale face ?

The French deserve some blame also, why not everyone else does!!

Good one BRR!!

"Strangely enough, most early works of art depicting the first harvest feast of the Pilgrims shows the settlers fleeing from a hail of arrows." So your people started the hostility?

And how many women and children did the indians massacre?

The Romans fed Catholics to the lions, yet I am a Roman Catholic.

It's called history for a reason. It is past.

Just as expected from BRR, more white

supremist b.s. Don't you have an Aryan Nations Rally to attend? Isn't it York that holds these quite

often....I'm sure you know all the dates.

Thanks, Cheroger. Tim Giago is the oneof the few real journalists left in this country.

i am an American...no prefix...you see, i need no crutch as you kind relies...deal with it wagwam man.

too bad your tribes choose politically to cling to their past, while cherry picking certain measures from European culture to fake an allegiance to your past.

tell me again...what was the indian word for litigation?

Lincoln 1845 ft/.35 mile T1=118MPH 
Eldora 2287 ft/.43mile T3=135MPH
Port 2716 ft/.51 mile T3=TBD
Grove 2792 ft/.53 mile T3=135MPH
Selinsgrove 2847 ft/.54 mile T1=136MPH
"I didn't move to PA from El Paso in search of better 
weather." Van May

cheroger does that make you a red supremacist?

I always knew I would find out what went on at the first Thanksgiving, now Roger gives his first hand account!

I wish I were that old also, as I think I would have enjoyed History when it was simply called the daily news.

LOLw/Cheroger.

Happy Thanksgiving.

Save your butt, get a colon screening TODAY

For complete line of Sponsor Awards check out 
MarshallTownLaser.com

Duane Davis

Laser Engraving 
641-751-7777
101 N Center
Marshalltown, Iowa 

No Cherokee word for litigation. But there is one for BRR, "White Trash"

Trudge, you are right on about Tim Giago. Do you frequent "Indianz.com"?

Duane, I thought that was you atop the nest when the ship came in.

Happy Thanksgiving to all, regardless of race, politics, wing or non-wing.

looks just like him?

Save your butt, get a colon screening TODAY

For complete line of Sponsor Awards check out 
MarshallTownLaser.com

Duane Davis

Laser Engraving 
641-751-7777
101 N Center
Marshalltown, Iowa 

Thanks Duane, all that photo lacks is a swastik.

And, whatever you do, please do not show an enlargement of your new screenphoto!

Watch your e-mail, I've got one to send to ya if I can make it work. Going from smoke signals to pdf file transfers has been quite a challenge. I'll let you decide if it's proper to post.

Their land was invaded with the intention of a takeover.

What would America do today if the roll was reversed on them? Better yet, how many men, women and children have WE killed in Iraq?

People crack me up when they say that we coddle the American Indian, but didn't/don't we do that even today with the Jews?

BTW, I don't have one drop of Indian in me and many from my mothers side was wiped out in the holocaust, so don't tell me that I have a skewed view. 

Member of this message board since 1997

"Their land was invaded with the intention of a takeover.

What would America do today if the roll was reversed on them?"

We would fight back. Just as the indians did. They lost.

Right or wrong, it is history. Nobody alive today did it. Should we all move back to Europe and give the nation back to the indians?

We all can trace our family back to a nation that was invaded and conquered once or more. Many people came to America to get away from a war or a conquering power.

I doubt many people think about pilgrims & indians when they celebrate Thanksgiving now. We think about gathering our families together and being thankfull for all we have.

"Better yet, how many men, women and children have WE killed in Iraq?" Not near the 3 million + that Saddam did!

Is it safe to call the millions of illegal Mexicans coming into this country every year an invasion or repopulation of the American Southwest or are they just taking back lancd that is rightfully theirs?

Damned liberal mindset, be careful what you wish for...

Not all Muslims are terrorists, but almost every terrorist is Muslim...

Cheroger, I've been reading Mr. Giago's works for 20-some years. Our daily paper here in Lincoln, NE used to carry his articles weekly. "Indianz" is one of the finest spots in cyberwhut.

My great granddad was a cardsharp who won the family farm from the guy that stole it from the Pawnee. Now we face losing that land to the corporate bastards bent on poisoning our food, soil, plantlife, and water.......and so it goes.

Nice work Roger, as per usual. If you ever get up in these here parts lemme know, always a place for you or in fact ANY other Hoser travellin' to the Great White North. In Canada the word Indian is non-existant these days, the proper term is Native and my daughter corrects me often and informs me as well, damn History Major that she is. Take It Easy.....

Bring your golf clubs, it's almost season round these days, lol.....

Thanks for the support Mikey. I never played the game in the snow or ice, it would be a challenge for sure. If I ever come your way it will be in the summer time, I'll let you know. Now that I'm retired, right after the Chili Bowl, I'm headed south of the freeze line, somewhere around Phoenix.

You going to make the Chili Bowl this year?