The true story of Thanksgiving by Karne

OK. I have listened to people on the radio and on TV trying to explain the true story of Thanksgiving--everything from the failure of Socialism to the celebration of the subjugation of the Indians. WRONG. So here is the real and true story:

Everyone knows that a group of religious dissenters along with a group of settler adventurers came to Plymouth Rock to start life in a new world. Most were leaving Europe for better opportunities. Life was hard, the winters were colder than what they were used to, the plants and animals were new and unfamiliar. Many people died.

Fortunately, in the vicinity of Plymouth there was an area with plowed fields, buried baskets of seed corn and other stored food items, but no people. That seed corn helped the little colony survive through the winter.

Where were the people who had plowed the fields? Squanto was able to answer that question. He had been a part of the tribe that had lived in the area, but who had died the previous year in an epidemic of some sort. And why was Squanto still alive? He had spent several years working on a British fishing vessel. He had learned to speak English, had visited England, was shipwrecked on his trip back home, captured by Spanish who wanted to sell him as a slave, and bailed out by the Brits because he spoke perfect English. He got back to his hometown just in time to discover that his people had been wiped out.
Squanto was happy to see the pilgrims. He offered them the use of the ancestral fields, he taught them what foods were edible and which ones weren't. He helped them establish good relations with the neighbors, and basically helped them survive in the new world.

So, after the harvest, the Pilgrims held their traditional Harvest Festival, to thank God for the bounty of the new land, for the success of the harvest, etc. And of course they invited the neighbors, who also held a traditional harvest festival and came with venison and who knows what else. Games were played, food was fixed, and a great time was had by all. Friendly relations were maintained for generations--sixty years of more.

Now, imagine: Turkey, pumpkin, potatoes, cranberries, strawberries, corn, and other foods I can't think of at the moment were unknown in Europe. They are native to America and were unknown to the pilgrims prior to their arrival here.

So on this most American of holidays, we eat native American foods, we thank God for our survival, and we celebrate the fact that we live in America and escaped Europe!!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!! Welcome to the New World!