Could Native Americans and European pilgrims have peacefully existed in the 1600’s? What a myth! Everyone knows the Europeans came to exploit the Native Americans, arrogantly mislabeled them Indians, and then slaughtered them wantonly through disease and battle. We’re often told that the colonists were always the aggressors, and the native peoples the hapless victims.[1] Is it time to throw away the old Thanksgiving myths?
The Old Myths about Thanksgiving
The story of Native Americans assisting a dwindling population of European pilgrims to survive must be later a fabrication. The motivation of seeking a place to live and worship God freely must be a cover-up for the dark deeds of colonizing ancestors. Certainty, we are told, a tale of Native Americans and pilgrims sharing a turkey dinner after the first harvest in 1621 cannot be true. It’s a myth! It’s propaganda!
Need we say more? Or should we examine the original sources?
1. What the Original Sources Say about the Feast
Yet, the historical facts point to the legitimacy of the traditional Thanksgiving story—a beautiful exception in the volatile colonial period. No, the first attendees of the feast did not directly call it “Thanksgiving.” Yes, venison may have taken center stage instead of turkey. However, the friendly, three-day gathering of ninety Wampanoags and the fifty-three remaining Christian pilgrims is indisputable. Published just months after the event, pilgrim Edward Winslow wrote of the celebrations:
“[O]ur harvest being gotten in, our Governor sent four men on fowling, that so we might, after a special manner, rejoice together after we had gathered the fruit of our labors. They four in one day killed as much 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 among the rest their greatest king, Massasoit, with some ninety men, whom for three days we entertained and feasted; and they went out and killed five deer, which they brought to the plantation and bestowed on our governor, and upon the captain and others. And although it be not always so plentiful as it was at this time with us, yet by the goodness of God, we are so far from want.”[2]
Outnumbered nearly two to one, the pilgrims hosted their Native American neighbors and gave thanks to God for His provision, enjoying a feast and target practice with their guests.
2. What the Original Sources Say about the Relationships
Later, in that same document, Winslow praised the Wampanoags for their faithful friendship with the pilgrims during that first year: “We have found the Indians very faithful in their covenant of peace with us; very loving and ready to pleasure us [make us happy]; we often go to them, and they come to us; some of us have been fifty miles by land in the country with them, the occasions and relations whereof you shall understand by our general and more full declaration of such things as are worth the noting, yea, it has pleased God so to possess the Indians with a fear of us, and love unto us, that not only the greatest king amongst them, called Massasoit, but also all the princes and peoples round about us, have either made suit unto us, or been glad of any occasion to make peace with us, so that seven of them at once have sent their messengers to us to that end.”
Winslow continues further down the document, commending the Wampanoags for establishing peace, not just with the pilgrims but also with neighboring Native American peoples: “There is now great peace amongst the Indians themselves, which was not formerly, neither would have been but for us; and we for our parts walk as peaceably and safely in the wood as in the highways in England. We entertain them familiarly in our houses, and they as friendly bestowing their venison on us. They are a people without any religion or knowledge of God, yet very trusty, quick of apprehension, ripe-witted, just.”[3] One year after disembarking from the Mayflower, the pilgrims thanked God for the peace that had spread since their arrival.
3. What the Original Sources Say About the Pilgrims’ Intentions
Such an atmosphere of peace was consistent with the pilgrims’ intentions toward the Native American peoples. Before setting out from Europe, William Bradford wrote that one of their motivations for fleeing to the new world was “an inward zeal and great hope of laying some foundation or making way for propagating the kingdom of Christ to the remote ends of the earth.”[4] In addition, when the local chief Massasoit fell ill, Winslow visited him and recommended medical treatment that led to the chief’s recovery. These persecuted Christians sought peaceful coexistence with the local population and the opportunity to take the gospel to them in what they considered to be the uttermost part of the world (Acts 1:8).[5]
While to the south in Jamestown, Virginia, the regrettable behavior of both Europeans and Native American peoples led to violence in 1622, the early record of the pilgrims in Massachusetts is one of peacemaking, mutual trade, and feasting together. Unfortunately, this state of affairs would not continue indefinitely as new settlers arrived and subsequent generations fell away from God. However, the harmony of the first Thanksgiving stands out in a difficult era.
The New Myths about Thanksgiving
Historical myths do exist. However, the factual account of the first Thanksgiving feast is not one of them. Reports to the contrary are the real myths. Let us not obscure the record of how Christians seeking to worship God interacted with the Native Americans. What a contrast to the often forceful methods of the Roman Catholic conquistadors, the greedy merchants of Jamestown, and the big business of the slave trade!
True Christianity transforms behavior. The new birth shapes how we view other peoples and cultures. As part of God’s creation, humankind is one race, equal and beautiful in the sight of God. As fallen creatures, every person (and the cultures they comprise) sins and fails. The great struggle of history is not between the powerful and the oppressed along ethnic lines. Such a view is simplistic and cannot comprehend the greater battle between God and the evil in this world. It cannot fathom when God’s light overcomes the darkness and transforms human interaction.
Living in a Spirit of Thanksgiving
Therefore, let us celebrate when we see God working through His people and overcoming cultural divides. Let us give thanks that God provides for our physical needs and brings peace in a broken world. Let us seek unity, not division. Let us seek truth, not new myths.
[1] This is a stereotype that often was true as European powers in the 1500’s and 1600’s explored and conquered around the world. However, to uncritically force this stereotype on all events and situations is historically inaccurate. In addition, the caricature that the native cultures disrupted by European exploration were generally peaceful and prosperous, mostly devoid of oppression, violence, and poverty, is also a gross oversimplification and often contrary to the actual conditions.
[2] Edward Winslow, A Relation or Journal of the Beginning and Proceedings of the English Plantation Settled at Plimoth in New England (London: John Bellamie, 1622).
[3] Ibid.
[4] Nehemiah Adams, The Life of John Eliot (Boston: Massachusetts Sabbath School Society, 1847), 9.
[5] For a snapshot of a later gospel outreach to the Native American peoples, read about John Eliot and David Brainerd in my book, Daring Devotion: A 31-Day Journey with those who Lived God’s Promises.
