Thanksgiving like the Pilgrims

Indian Momma and Her Little Pilgrim Girl on Thanksgiving!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!



Thanksgiving was always one of those holidays lost in the shuffle of the closing of Halloween and the beginning of the Christmas season. This year I wanted to make sure to share the importance of remembering that first thanksgiving with my daughter. We were going to enjoy a nice day at home and eat lots of turkey with our lesson but my mom had to work from 1pm to 6pm this day. At first we saw it as a horrible loss. I mean why even cook a big fancy meal when we wouldn't be able to eat it until mom got home around 8pm? So instead we took our bad and flipped it around. We rode into Maryland with mom and while she headed to work we went to Oregon Ridge Park. We love this park because it has so much. There is the big playground, lake, lots of hiking trails, a nature center, and educational classes from time to time. They have just completed a nature playground by the nature center as well. Today we got there to find the most perfect accessory to our day of thanksgiving outdoors, a wigwam. They had built a wigwam in the nature playground and my plans came together perfectly. I had stashed my daughter's civil war apron in my backpack for the day and we made some awesome pilgrim bonnets.(Here is the link for the bonnets. It was fun and fast.  http://www.marthastewart.com/908657/paper-pilgrim-bonnet) Bridget played our pilgrim girl and looked fantastic in this role. We learned what it must have been like for the pilgrims. So many had died since arriving to the new world and they seemed so lost until the Indians showed up to help. 


Last minute I remembered this fabric I had laying around in storage downstairs so I dug it out with some animal fur and grabbed a feather from the woods for a Indian outfit. It was just perfect. I told Bridget the story of Squanto and how he had helped the Pilgrims plant corn and live off the land. We played Indian and Pilgrim for most of the day. Mostly Bridget helped me fix up my wigwam for the winter and I taught her how to whittle a stick. Later we spotted two white tail deer in the woods and tracked them. While there we also got to visit with the animals they keep there. One of those animals just happened to be a turkey. I don't think I ever saw a LIVE turkey on Thanksgiving. Bridget refused to take off her Pilgrim outfit as we hiked back down to the main playground so I wrapped my Indian getup around me like a sarong and we headed on the path getting some weird looks from the fellow hikers out that day. Honestly things like that had no effect on me. I thought I was rocking the Indian look so let them stare. We left that night with my mom to head back home with a new appreciation for those people that gave their first Thanksgiving feast.

It was a great day all in all and we had a blast. We plan to do something like this every year. It was educational but so much fun we forgot how much we were learning. That is the way school should be.

 

Thanksgiving Facts I Learned This Year!

1. We have no idea if turkey was on the menu that first Thanksgiving. In the one and only eye witness account of the day it says they had foul. That could have been a number of birds but I guess turkey was the tastiest so that is what we went with later on. Also on the menu was a lot of seafood since fishing was a main source of their food supply.

2. After the "first" Thanksgiving there was no more until Lincoln's time. It was not a repeated tradition.

 

3. The Indians were not invited guest. I found this shocking! After all without the Indians there would be no Pilgrims. They showed up to find out what the shooting noise was they had heard from their village. Come to find out it was the Pilgrims having shooting games and practice on their day of festivities. While there the Pilgrims did tell them to join in the fun but if you ask me that was a little late. Not only did the Indians stay but they also brought five deer for the feast! What good hearted people.

 

4. The Thanksgiving Day Parade was originally held by Gimbels Department Store in Philadelphia. Later Macy's in New York took it over but it was called The Christmas Parade since it kick started the holiday shopping season. Later they changed the name since people were getting confused.

 

Learning and Turkey,

Theresa