Thanksgiving: A Day of Mourning Thanksgiving is a holiday that many equate with family, food, and being grateful for what one has. A federal holiday, Thanksgiving is celebrated to mark early colonists (pilgrims) supposed feast with Native Americans. The reality, however, is far from this. Thanksgiving is known to have originated from the encounters that white colonists had with the indigenous Wampanoag tribe in the Cape Cod area. The English colonists established a colony in this area in the 1600s. The Wampanoag were successful hunters, farmers, and fishermen. The first official mention of “Thanksgiving” was in 1637, when the colonists massacred a Pequot village. They celebrated this “victory with the feast. Over 500 Pequot men, women, and children were killed, their village burned to the ground. |
|
