Thanksgiving

Most of my good friends know that Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday, at least theoretically. It is devoid of most rules, is not exclusive to any religion and there is no gift pressure beyond bringing a pie or a bottle of wine. I choose to ignore some history, though.

American Indians are probably not big fans because Thanksgiving is so closely associated with Pilgrims from the Mayflower and other Northern European refugees from a couple of other later boats. As most of us probably knew once and forgot in the meantime, the Mayflower almost didn't make it to the still waters of Cape Cod Bay. It straddled the shoreline of what is now the Cape Cod National Seashore and - had it attempted to go farther South and onto to what is now New York, it would have hit such rough seas that it would likely have either sunk at sea or been destroyed as it attempt to get close to land. After making landfall in what is now Provincetown, Massachusetts, the remaining Mayflower Pilgrims were in desperate need of food, fresh water and a warm, dry place to sleep. Before settling in Plymouth, they uncovered a stash of corn at what is now Corn Hill, MA on the outer Cape. They debated briefly and then stole it. They didn't consider the Cape terribly hospitable for growing crops (they were right) so they moved across the bay, but not before running into some local Indians (at what is now called First Encounter Beach).

Plymouth didn't turn out to be the best deep water port. They eventually figured out that Boston was much better but had mostly been claimed by the time the first pilgrims realized the difference. American Indians, through alliances among tribes and with various pilgrim groups, did attempt to live peacefully and respect each other's "space", as we say today. They broke bread together, did some limited trading but nothing suggests that there was ever a big picnic table with a perfectly browned turkey, etc., with Indians and Pilgrims happily chatting over who had a better pie crust. The Indians felt threatened. The Pilgrims felt threatened, too. Then the wars came, alliances were shifted or shattered and the Pilgrims through luck, better technology and loss of life began the process of taking over New England.

I only say this because when we complain too much about American Indian tribes that establish casinos near our homes, I think it's important to understand that several hundred years ago, Europeans - mostly puritan Christians - took away so much land that it left the American Indian population practically decimated within 50 years of the first landing. I have no real interest in gambling but did go to Foxwoods in Connecticut to see what the Pequots had done to earn millions each year in gaming revenue. Much of it is cheesy but some of the revenue has gone toward preserving the spoken history of the tribe and establishing educational funding for every member of the tribe. My hope for them is that they can find a way to celebrate their own kind of Thanksgiving despite the long history of struggle and strife.