Azhdaya's Laire

Feast Day Has Roots in

European and Native American Paganism

It's taught that the Pilgrims established Thanksgiving, to share their abundant harvest with local Wampanoag Tribe, “People of the Dawn.” They were gatherers, hunters, farmers and fishermen. The colonists arrived in December and endured hard times, barely surviving. Colonists recorded Indians were robbed and their fields were plundered, most likely because of this.

Wampanoag Tribe Helping Pilgrims Leads to Thanksgiving

Wampanoagan Samoset came to help the colonists, but his command of the English language was limited, so he later brought Squanto, who knew English well, to teach the Pilgrims survival skills. He taught the immigrants how to grow beans, corn, squash and other crops, using fish as a fertilizer. Squanto showed them which plants were poisonous and those used for healing. He taught the people how to obtain sap from maple trees, dig for clams and other skills . . .

The Pilgrims celebrated the first New World harvest. Leader Captain Miles Standish invited Chief Massasoit and 90 braves, including Squanto and Samoset, to join them in 1621 . . .

Thanksgiving was not the first feast celebrating harvest. Pagans had festivals giving thanks for bounty . . .

Native American and Pagan European Thanksgiving Roots

The Wampanoag had their own harvest celebration in which they gave thanks for abundant crops to Kiehtan, the Creator. They believed corn, the most valued crop, was a gift from him. The tribe expressed gratitude to the spirits of the game for the animals they killed for food . . .

Read more:

http://paganismwicca.suite101.com/article.cfm/thanksgiving_pagan_roots#ixzz0WGGZFcRK

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