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The majority of
Americans look forward to Thanksgiving.
There’s plenty of home-cooked food, sporting events broadcasted on
television, a chance to reconnect with family, and hard-to-beat bargains on the
day after, known as Black Friday, sales.
The majority of Americans also think they know the story of the first
Thanksgiving. However, many are incredibly mistaken.
The modern idea of
Thanksgiving, which includes pilgrims and American Indians peacefully enjoying
a meal of turkey and other foods at a feast they had planned to celebrate their
friendship, is a manufactured concept, a rewriting of history. This idea was
not prominent until 1863, when President Abraham Lincoln declared it a national
holiday to be celebrated on the last Thursday of the month of November.
Here’s where it
gets tricky.
In 1939, the last
Thursday of November fell on the last day of the month. Retailers were upset
because they were afraid that, since most Americans do their Christmas shopping
after Thanksgiving, shoppers would buy less merchandise. The retailers begged
President Franklin Delano Roosevelt to move Thanksgiving to the next-to-last
Thursday of November. He agreed, and in 1940 Thanksgiving was again held on the
next-to-last Thursday of the month. However, sales statistics showed that
shoppers didn’t buy any less merchandise based on when Thanksgiving was held,
so it was unnecessary to change the date of Thanksgiving. So, to settle the matter
once and for all, the United States Congress stepped in and declared that
Thanksgiving would be held on the fourth Thursday of November every year.
Right here, we see
that the date of Thanksgiving itself was not planned to honor a historic moment
– but rather to boost retail sales. Now let’s turn to the story of the first
Thanksgiving.
The previously
mentioned idyllic picture of pilgrims and American Indians sharing a meal that
is taught in elementary schools across the country was created during the Civil
War by Sarah Josepha Hale, editor of Godey’s Lady’s book. Hale’s intentions
were admirable – she wished to bring a nation torn apart by conflicting ideas
back together. A clever way to do this was to celebrate an earlier partnership
between two diverse sets of people living in the same land. Hale wrote to President Lincoln, who agreed
to use this story and holiday as a way to draw the feuding Americans back
together. This tale of friendship in the worst of times caught on – and has
never faded from prominence in American culture.
The true story,
however, is much grimmer. In 1637, the
governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, John Winthrop, proclaimed a day of
thanks for the safe return of a group of hunters from the colony. Some of these
colonists decided to celebrate by going to loot a village. And loot they did; over 700 Pequot Indians
were massacred and their supplies stolen. The colonists later had a feast, and
a few non-Pequot Indians who wandered by did partake in some of the food, some people
say because the colonists were frightened of revenge. But the pristine picture
later painted by white Americans was grossly inaccurate.
Today, a group of
American Indians known as the United American Indians of New England meet every
year when most Americans are eating their own feast and watching football on
television at Plymouth Rock in Massachusetts. These Indians have a Day of
Mourning in which they remember the lives that were lost over 300 years ago.
The modern holiday
of Thanksgiving is evidently dreamt up by the American government in an attempt
to draw together its citizens - but ultimately ends up isolating an entire
sub-culture of the population.
The final decision
on what should be celebrated each November is in the hands of individual
Americans: should we celebrate the slaughter of innocent people? The
achievements of both the native peoples and
the colonists who settled in the plentiful land? Or the wholesome image that
makes people feel good about eating, shopping, and not having to go to work?
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