#wampanoags

[gwydionmisha]

The myth of Thanksgiving

This year marks the 400th anniversary of the “first Thanksgiving” between English pilgrims and Wampanoags in Massachusetts. But historians say the true story of what happened bears little resemblance to the myth that many Americans learn in grade school.

[thisnegroespeaksofrivers]

Thanksgiving or Thanks-For-Nothing?

When people think of Thanksgiving, what usually comes to mind are the Pilgrims and the Native Americans sitting down together as one to celebrate brotherhood and the joyous season. But things weren’t as rosy as what people read from their butterball turkey wrapers. The first Thanksgiving was never held by the Pilgrims, it took place two years prior in Virginia on December 4, 1619 at the Berkely Plantation. Captain John Woodlief led the festivities, which consisted of prayer and eating. He commerated the event saying, “We ordain that the day of our ships arrival at the place assigned for plantacon in the land of Virginia shall be yearly and perpetually kept holy as a day of Thanksgiving to Almighty God.” But many people still associate the Pilgrim’s Thanksgiving in colonial Massachusetts as the “true” first American celebration, because they had so much to be thankful for. The Pilgrims would have died out if it wasn’t for the Native Americans who helped them through that first bitter winter and should have been thankful to them. And how did they repay them? By decimating them with horrible diseases, taking more of their land and declaring them savages. The Pilgrims took over and defiled their lands and belittled their culture and thought nothing of it. Before people have their second helping of Pumpkin pie, they should know what really happened between the Pilgrims and the Native Americans. When the Pilgrims landed on Plymouth they knew little to nothing about the area. They chose the area that would later be christened Plymouth because of its dependable fresh water and that had already been cleared and used by the Wampanoag Nation years prior. By the end of their first winter, almost half of the settlers were dead, either from accidents that occurred or from scurvy and other diseases. Given that they lacked enough sufficient housing, many of the settlers spent their time aboard the ship that winter, which assisted to spread fatal diseases. Half of the Mayflower's crew also died as they spent the winter with the colonists. The Pilgrims also tried to cultivate wheat for food, but were not used to the soil and were unsuccessful. Squanto, the famed Wampanoag man, found them in a pathetic state. He later said that, “When I first saw them I thought they were seaborne savages.” Having traveled to Europe, he spoke English, and took pity on the Pilgrims. The Wampanoags fed them during the winter and taught them how to grow their own food. The Wampanoags were not merely the “friendly Native Americans” we think of. They had dealt with European slave traders raiding their villages for over one hundred years, and were cautious about helping the settlers. But it was their culture’s way of life to give to those in need. It was believed by the Wampanoags that by giving, there would be enough for all; which is the antithesis of the way we live today, which is based on selling and not giving. But to the Pilgrims and European peoples, the Wampanoags and other Native Americans were nothing more than just heathens and savages; or worse the Devil. The Pilgrims never saw Squanto as an equal, just as an instrument of their God to help his chosen people, themselves! And at the alleged "first Thanksgiving" the Wampanoags provided most of the food. And signed a treaty granting the Pilgrims the right to the land at Plymouth; this detail was one of the reasons for the Thanksgiving celebration, but it has been left out of so many renderings. I wonder why?! Much of the food that we associated with Thanksgiving the Pilgrims and Native Americans were either out or or never had. There was no pumpkin pie, as the had long since ran out of flour and butter, sugar, so there was no cranberry sauce as well. Most Europeans also belived that potatoes were poisonous, so they were none on the Pilgrim's tables. While there was corn, it was not made in the way we think of today like corn on the cob; rather it was dried and made into corn meal and into the vegetable stew Succotash. While there was turkey, there was also geese, lobsters, cod, bass, eels, swans and duck. The meat that was most popular at that feast was venison. And since they had no hot chocolate, coffee, tea, apple cider or soft drinks, everyone just drank beer. Another important factor into the meal was that even though the Wompanoags brought most of the food, the Pilgrims never thanked them for it. The Wompanoags thought the celebration was in honor of them helping the settlers survive thus far. And what did the oh so “thankful” Pilgrims give to the Native Americans as a thank you for their help? Disease! Within the 20 years of the Thanksgiving, European disease and deceitfulness had decimated the Wampanoags. Most of the diseases came from animals that the Europeans had domesticated. Cowpox from their cows led to smallpox, one of the great killers of Native Americans. It spread through gifts of blankets used by infected Europeans. Many estimate that diseases accounted for a death toll reaching 90 percent in some Native American communities. By 1623, Mather the elder, a Pilgrim leader, was giving thanks to his God for destroying the heathen savages to make way "for a better growth," i.e. his people. The decimation of the Wampanoags and early Manifest Destiny of the Pilgrims were only the beginnings of the Native Americans’ troubles. They constantly had to deal with disease, famine and European Americans, who laid claim to the lands that the Native Americans had lived in for thousands of years prior to their arrival! It wasn’t until 1924 that Native Americans were even given citizenship form the American government! Such appreciation! People complain of how many immigrants come to America and do not learn the language and do not assimilate to the culture. But they’re just following what the original settlers were doing to the Native Americans. The "First Thanksgiving" is more than just a story we read in children’s books or see in Mayc's parades. It is one that has been sugarcoated over the centuries, being told with many half-truths to people all over the world, as well as our very own. The truth needs to be told, no matter how unpleasant it may be to people. The Thanksgiving we celebrate is at the cost of others, so instead of just digging into the Turkey and a going to a football game, we should pause and reflect on the lives that were lost to be truly thankful for ours. This is what people believe happened at the First Thanksgiving. If they only knew the truth.This is what people believe happened at the First Thanksgiving. If they only knew the truth.

[mitnames2016]

Robert Boyle (1627-1691)

Robert Boyle was a founder of the Royal Society (1660) and a leading light in 17th century science. He was an early adopter of research utilizing the vacuum pump, and an influential proponent of tightly controlled and closely observed experimentation – a hallmark of the Scientific Revolution. He urged fellow "experimental philosophers" to report unsuccessful as well as successful results and, crucially, he insisted that the substances used in experiments should be as pure as possible. Of course he also articulated what is now known as Boyle's Law.

MIT's rare book collections, unsurprisingly, include several scientific works by Boyle. But his name also appears in at least one unexpected publication. Our 1685 second edition of Mamusse Wunneetupanatamwe Up-Biblum God – also known as the Eliot Bible – is dedicated "to the Honourable Robert Boyle Esq."

Boyle was both devout and enormously wealthy, and in 1662 he was appointed governor of the New England Company, known also as the Corporation for the Propagation of the Gospel in New England. It was just what it sounds like: an organization that funded initiatives to convert the Native American population to Christianity. The Company was based in the British Isles but it paid the salary of preachers in New England and helped establish a printing press in Cambridge, Massachusetts that produced, among other things, the first Bible printed in North America.

Called the Eliot Bible and first printed in 1663, it presented the text of the King James Bible in a phonetic version of the "Massachusett" language that could be read aloud by preachers for the purpose of "saving" members of the tribes native to New England. During the succeeding decades that initiative, coupled with brutal warfare, epidemics, and other inexorable pressures, all but destroyed indigenous cultures in New England, including language traditions.

But in the late 20th century our copy of the Eliot Bible, in a wonderful reversal, would be used by MIT linguists as an essential tool for the reclamation and reconstruction of the Wôpanâak language. That work continues with the Wôpanâak Language Reclamation Project, and the language is being taught to Wampanoag descendants in Plymouth and other communities today.

[thisnewengland-blog]

Wealth creation and not

Good article by Shannon Mullen in the latest Boston Magazine about the astonishing high-tech wealth-creation machine burgeoning around Cambridge's Kendall Square.

Truly glittering! We took a tour a few months ago.

Also fine piece by Jason Schwartz on the Wampanoags' push for a casino in southeastern Massachusetts. Too bad that unlike high tech, casinos don't create wealth except for the owners/operators, and the latter tend to live far away -- where  much of the revenue goes. Generally for the broader community, casinos tend to decrease wealth and increase social problems.

Still if people wanna gamble, let 'em gamble....

Everyone wants a surprise under the Christmas tree!

[shouldiquestionthis-blog]

Thanksgiving story.

When the Pilgrims crossed the Atlantic Ocean in 1620, they landed on the rocky shores of a land where the Wampanoag  Indians were living. The Wampanoags were part of the Algonkian-speaking peoples, a large group that was part of the Woodland Culture area. These Indians lived in villages along the coast of what is now Massachusetts and Rhode Island.

 The Wampanoags moved several times during each year in order to get food. In the spring they would fish in the rivers for salmon and herring. In the planting season they moved to the forest to hunt deer and other animals. From December to April they lived on food that they stored during the earlier months.

    These Wampanoag Indians of the Eastern Woodlands called the turtle, the deer and the fish their brothers. They respected the forest and everything in it as equals. Whenever a hunter made a kill, he was careful to leave behind some bones or meat as a spiritual offering, to help other animals survive. Not to do so would be considered greedy. The Wampanoags also treated each other with respect. Any visitor to a Wampanoag home was provided with a share of whatever food the family had, even if the supply was low. This same courtesy was extended to the Pilgrims when they met.

 We can only guess what the Wampanoags must have thought when they first saw the strange ships of the Pilgrims arriving on their shores. But their custom was to help visitors, and they treated the newcomers with courtesy. It was mainly because of their kindness that the Pilgrims survived at all. The wheat the Pilgrims had brought with them to plant would not grow in the rocky soil. They needed to learn new ways for a new world, and the man who came to help them was called "Tisquantum" or "Squanto"

In the spring, Squanto was out hunting along the beach near Patuxet. Startled to see people from England in their deserted village. For several days, he stayed nearby observing the new comers. Finally he decided to approach them. The Pilgrims were very surprised to meet two Indians who spoke English.

The Pilgrims were not in good condition. They were living in dirt-covered shelters, there was a shortage of food, and nearly half of them had died during the winter. They obviously needed help and the two men were a welcome sight. Squanto, who probably knew more English than any other Indian in North America at that time, decided to stay with the Pilgrims for the next few months and teach them how to survive in this new place. He brought them deer meat and other new vegetables and showed them how to build Indian-style houses. He pointed out poisonous plants and showed how other plants could be used as medicine. He explained how to dig and cook clams, how to get sap from the maple trees, use fish for fertilizer, and dozens of other skills needed for their survival.

By the time fall arrived things were going much better for the Pilgrims, thanks to the help they had received. The corn they planted had grown well. There was enough food to last the winter. They were living comfortably in their Indian-style wigwams and had also managed to build one European-style building out of squared logs. This was their church. They were now in better health, and they knew more about surviving in this new land. The Pilgrims decided to have a thanksgiving feast to celebrate their good fortune. They had observed thanksgiving feasts in November as religious obligations in England for many years before coming to the New World.

Captain Miles Standish, the leader of the Pilgrims, invited Squanto, Samoset, Massasoit (the leader of the Wampanoags), and their immediate families to join them for a celebration, but they had no idea how big Indian families could be. As the Thanksgiving feast began, the Pilgrims were overwhelmed at the large turnout of ninety relatives that Squanto and Samoset brought with them. The Pilgrims were not prepared to feed a gathering of people that large for three days. Seeing this, Massasoit gave orders to his men within the first hour of his arrival to go home and get more food. Thus it happened that the Indians supplied the majority of the food: Five deer, many wild turkeys, fish, beans, squash, corn soup, corn bread, and berries. Captain Standish sat at one end of a long table and the Clan Chief Massasoit sat at the other end. For the first time the Wampanoag people were sitting at a table to eat instead of on mats or furs spread on the ground. The Indian women sat together with the Indian men to eat. The Pilgrim women, however, stood quietly behind the table and waited until after their men had eaten, since that was their custom.

For three days the Wampanoags feasted with the Pilgrims. It was a special time of friendship between two very different groups of people. A peace and friendship agreement was made between Massasoit and Miles Standish giving the Pilgrims the clearing in the forest where the old Patuxet village once stood to build their new town of Plymouth.