By: Wanish Tortes-Mcginnis

Ever since Thanksgiving became a holiday, the history behind it has been tattered and torn into lies and some truths. Although know one really knows as to who killed who and who’s responsible for the outcome. Many people and historians have different opinions and attributes as to what happened on the feast of thanksgiving day. For many Americans Thanksgiving nowadays is a holiday to be thankful whether that be family, the food on the table or just to be alive and well. For many indigenous people Thanksgiving is a day of mourning remembering the people that died for their land and those who were taken by disease. Thanksgiving is based on the period of time when the pilgrims came from England to North America, nowadays called Plymouth Massachusetts. The small ship called the Mayflower left Plymouth, England, carrying 102 passengers an assortment of religious separatists seeking a new home where they could freely practice their faith and other individuals lured by the promise of prosperity and land ownership in the “New World.” After a treacherous and uncomfortable crossing that lasted 66 days, they dropped anchor near the tip of Cape Cod, far north of their intended destination at the mouth of the Hudson River. One month later, the Mayflower crossed Massachusetts Bay, where the Pilgrims, as they are now commonly known, began the work of establishing a village at Plymouth. Although the pilgrims made it to the” New World” they were not ready for the days to come. Harsh winters and small supply of food and goods almost killed the entire colony, however in march when winter had passed the pilgrims got an astonishing visit from a member of the Abenaki tribe who spoke English. Several days later the same man brought a man by the name of Squanto. Squanto, a member of the Pawtuxet tribe who had been kidnapped by an English sea captain and sold into slavery the last of his tribe. Squanto taught the pilgrims how to cultivate corn, extract sap from maple trees, fish in the rivers, and even formed an alliance between the pilgrims and the neighboring tribe the Wampanoag. In November of 1621 Governor William Bradford organized a feast with the Wampanoag and neighboring tribes to give thanks to their first successful harvest which is called the First Thanksgiving.