>Can anyone tell me if these thanksgiving stories are real or hoaxes? I
>recall during past thanksgivings similar versions later turning out to be
>hoaxes on the internet. Just wanted to be sure.
>
>
>Steve
I consulted Jill Lepore's "The Name of War" (a definitive study of the
genocidal wars against New England Indians in the 1600s) and found that
thanksgiving dinners were celebrated all through the year and had mostly
religious significance. However, there were often special celebrations over
victories such as the time the Pequot leader Philip was captured and
executed. On August 17, 1676 soldiers brought his head to Plymouth where it
was put on a tall pole for public viewing during the feast. Even after the
thanksgiving dinner was done, the decaying head remained on the pole for
decades. As far as the massacre of 700 Pequots being the signal event for
the very first thanksgiving feast, I could find no reference to this in
Lepore's scholarly work. There are, however, several articles that turned
up in Lexis-Nexis that refer to this for what it's worth.
Louis Proyect
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