Our harvest being gotten in, our Governor sent four
men on fowling, that so we might after a mor
e special
manner rejoice together, after we had gathered the
fruits of our labours. They four in one day killed as
much fowl as, with a little help beside, served the
Company almost a week. At which time, amongst
other recreations, we exercised our arms, many of the
Indians coming amongst us, and amongst the rest their
greatest king, Massasoit, with some 90 men, whom
for three days we entertained and feasted. And they
went out and killed ve deer which they brought to the
plantation and bestowed on our Governor and upon
the Captain and others.
1
Although there is
nothing in this letter to
suggest the giving of thanks,
this is the celebration that has
traditionally been associated
with the contemporary
Thanksgiving holiday. The
“First Thanksgiving” was
based on customs that the
Europeans brought with
them. Although
traditional
Wampanoag foods such as
wild duck, goose, and turkey
were part of the menu, the
Indian contribution to the
event was ve deer, which were roasted. The robust
ale, made from the one successful English crop of
barley
, was the main non-Native food. In many ways
this three-day feast symbolizes a rarely achieved
relationship of peaceful coexistence between Indians
and Europeans in the 17
th
century.
Afterward
Although the peaceful relations established
by Massasoit were often strained by dishonest,
aggressive, and brutal actions on the part of the
colonists, Massasoit kept his part of the treaty all
his life. Upon his death in 1661, forty years after the
landing of the rst “boat people,” the fragile peace
began to deteriorate. In 1675, full-scale war erupted,
ending with the defeat of the Wampanoag under
Massasoit’s son, Pometacom, called King Philip by
Mourt, George. A Journal of the Pilgrims at Plymouth:
Mourt’s Relation. New York: Corinth Books, 1963.
the English. Though decimated by European diseases
and defeated in war, the Wampanoag continued to
survive through further colonization in the eighteenth,
nineteenth, and twentieth centuries.
The Wampanoag Today
Today the three primary communities of
Wampanoag people in Massachusetts are Mashpee
on Cape Cod, Aquinnah (Gay Head) on Martha’s
Vineyard, and Herring Pond in south Plymouth.
Aquinnah and Mashpee are both federally recognized
tribes, Aquinnah having been so since 1987 and
Mashpee since May 2007.
The Wampanoag people
live within their ancestral
homelands and still largely
sustain themselves as their
ancestors did by hunting,
shing, gardening, and
gathering. There are many ne
artists who practice traditional
basketry, wood carving,
pottery, and
wampum-making.
While there were several
generations in which the
Wampanoag language was
not in use, the W
ampanoag
Language Reclamation Project has now been ongoing
for the past twelve years. There is a steadily growing
increase in uency, and young children hearing it as a
rst language. Additionally, the Wampanoag maintain
a rich and vital oral history and connection to the
land. The Mashpee Wampanoag hold their annual
powwow on the 4
th
of July weekend every year and the
Aquinnah host their annual gathering in September.
Thanksgiving is a combination of Puritan religious
practices
and the European harvest festival, which
now includes Native foods. It is still composed of
a display of plenty, focused on an elaborate feast.
Today’s Thanksgiving football games are the modern
equivalent of the English farmer’s medieval harvest-
time tradition of staging sporting events, such as
leaping, vaulting, and archery. The turkey shoot,
which survives in some areas, has evolved from the
medieval practice of “exercising arms.”
3