Thanksgiving:Remembering the Wampanoag

Today is the day that those of us from the United States celebrate Thanksgiving. This is done in memory of the survival of the first English settlers in what they called the New World in the early 1600's. They would not have survived that first year without the help of those who already lived in that part of North America, the people who call themselves the Wampanoag.

Most of the English who arrived in what would later become Massachusetts were ill-prepared to survive in this new environment. The crops were different and the winters were harsher than anything they had experienced before. Without the willingness of the Wampanoag to help these people who had strange appearances and even stranger customs learn new ways, the new settlers would certainly have been doomed.

The photos in this collection were taken at Plimouth Plantation. In an earlier post, I took you through the replica 17th Century English settlement where reenactors simulated life in the Plantation. The Wampanoag who work in this part of Plimouth Plantation are not reenactors. Rather, their goal is to tell modern visitors about their past and present and show them aspects of traditional life among their people during the 17th Century. Essentially it is a place where the Wampanoag can say "That is where we came from and this is who we are today". I felt that it was a meaningful collaboration between the First American peoples and the European peoples. It was representative of who took place in the early 1600's.

Thank you for visiting, please feel free to stop by again. In the meantime, may your travels be interesting and enjoyable.

Happy Thanksgiving.

Kerry