Nickommo – The ORIGINAL THANKSGIVING

LET US HONOR THOSE PEOPLE WHO MADE THE FIRST THANKSGIVING POSSIBLE - the First Nations

Nickommo – The ORIGINAL THANKSGIVING


Thanksgiving is celebrated on the fourth Thursday of November in the United States. In Canada it is celebrated on the second Monday in October. In 2008, Thanksgiving is celebrated on November 26th in the US, and October 12th in Canada.

Native Traditions of Giving Thanks
by Nancy Eldredge, Education Manager, Wampanoag Indian Program
The American custom of giving thanks did not begin with the arrival of European colonists. Spirituality was (and is) a deeply sacred and personal part of Wampanoag life. Everything is sacred, and giving thanks for the Creator’s gifts is an integral part of daily life. From ancient times up to the present day, the Native people of North America have held ceremonies to give thanks for successful harvests and other good fortune. According to the oral information of tribal elders, giving thanks was the primary reason for ceremonies or feasts.
Giving thanks was an important part of the celebrations, called Nickommo, which are still held by the Wampanoag. Give-away ceremonies, feasting, dancing and sports and games were common features of these occasions. Give-away ceremonies show gratefulness to the Creator who provides for the people and makes possible the blessings celebrated. The act of giving away material things shows respect and caring for others, while reminding the participants that material objects are only secondary to one’s spiritual life.
Thankfulness was woven into every aspect of Wampanoag life. If an animal was hunted for food, special thanks were also given to the Creator and to the spirit of the animal. If a plant was harvested and used for any purpose, or a bird or a fish, if an anthill was disrupted, gratitude and acknowledgement were given for the little ones’ lives. To this day it is the same with most Native people.
http://www.plimoth.org/discover/thanksgiving/native-traditions.php
Prior to the mid-1800s, Thanksgiving had nothing to do with the 1621 harvest celebration, Pilgrims or Native People. Thanksgiving started as a traditional New England holiday that celebrated family and community. It descended from Puritan days of fasting and festive rejoicing. The governor of each colony or state declared a day of thanksgiving each autumn, to give thanks for general blessings. As New Englanders moved west in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, they took their holiday with them. After the harvest, governors across the country proclaimed individual Thanksgivings, and families traveled back to their original homes for family reunions, church services and large meals.
The Pilgrims, Wampanoag and Thanksgiving were first linked together in 1841, when historian Alexander Young rediscovered Edward Winslow’s account of the 1621 harvest celebration. The account was part of the text of a letter to a friend in England, later published in Mourt’s Relation (1622). Young isolated the description of the harvest celebration, and identified it as the precedent for the New England Thanksgiving. At this point, Young’s claim had little impact on the popular concept of Thanksgiving, however.
more http://www.plimoth.org/discover/thanksgiving/pumkin-pie.php
For most Americans, a “traditional” Thanksgiving meal includes a turkey with stuffing, cranberry sauce, potatoes, and pumpkin pie (or sweet potato pie if you hail from the South.). While there are numerous regional and ethnic variations, this basic menu has not changed much in the last two hundred years. Nor is the standard menu much older than that. Our modern holiday fare bears little resemblance to the food eaten at the three-day 1621 harvest celebration at Plymouth Colony, the event now recalled as the “First Thanksgiving.”
The Wampanoag and Plymouth colonists often ate wild turkey, however it was not specifically mentioned in connection with that 1621 harvest celebration. Edward Winslow said only that four men went hunting and brought back large amounts of “fowl” – more likely from the scenario to be seasonal waterfowl such as ducks and geese. And what about the stuffing? Yes, the Wampanoag and English did occasionally stuff the birds and fish, typically with herbs, onions or oats (English only).
If cranberries were served at the harvest celebration, they appeared in Wampanoag dishes, or possibly to add tartness to an English sauce. It would be 50 years before an Englishman mentioned boiling this New England berry with sugar for a “Sauce to eat with …Meat.” In 1621 England, sugar was expensive; in 1621 New Plymouth, there may not have been any of this imported spice at all. by Kathleen A. Curtin, Food Historian
more http://www.plimoth.org/discover/thanksgiving/plenty.php

Even though the first explorers and early settlers had been warned about the heathen savages found in the "New World", they found the First Peoples of this land curious about these strange people, and more than willing to teach them how to survive and live well in their new surroundings. The flow of people into this country was slow in the beginning and, even though there was the occasional hothead among the newcomers, life was generally a peaceful co-existence for almost 150 years.

However, as the trickle of settlers turned into a steady river, the atmosphere began to change. In 1614, a band of English explorers had landed in the vicinity of Massachusetts Bay. When they returned home, they took with them Native slaves they had captured, and left smallpox behind. By the time the Puritan pilgrims sailed the Mayflower into southern Massachusetts Bay, entire nations of New England Natives were already extinct, having been totally exterminated by smallpox.

The Puritans were religious radicals being driven into exile out of England. Since their story is well known, I will not repeat it here. They settled and built a colony which they called the "Plymouth Plantation", near the ruins of a former Native village of the Pawtuxet Nation. Only one Pawtuxet had survived, a man named Squanto, who had spent time as a slave to the English. Since he understood the language and customs of the Puritans, he taught them to use the corn growing wild from the abandoned fields of the village, taught them to fish, and about the foods, herbs and fruits of this land. Squanto also negotiated a peace treaty between the Puritans and the Wampanoag Nation, a very large Native nation which totally surrounded the new Plymouth Plantation. Because of Squanto's efforts, the Puritans enjoyed almost 15 years of peaceful harmony with the surrounding Natives, and they prospered.

At the end of their first year, the Puritans held a great feast following the harvest of food from their new farming efforts. The feast honored Squanto and their friends, the Wampanoags. The feast was followed by 3 days of "thanksgiving" celebrating their good fortune. This feast produced the image of the first Thanksgiving that we all grew up with as children.. more http://www.aaanativearts.com/article937.html
Bottom line:
We have Thanksgiving because of native tribes who lived here before us!
The native people of this so-called “NEW WORLD” saved the original pilgrims from complete obliteration. The Pilgrims were very thankful, as should be. This is where we derive our Thanksgiving traditions, but I ask you to ask yourself this question: Do we ever think to thank these people for helping our ancestors during these rough times. Shouldn’t Thanksgiving include thank you notes, gifts, and gratitude to those who so kindly helped our ancestors and whose good deeds were later rewarded with a Holocaust of their races? I suggest we begin doing something about these “forgotten” good deeds. I suggest each of us pay tribute to the indigenous people in this land of ours. Pay tribute to the peoples who ultimately have paid in blood and tears and poverty for the plentiful harvest we enjoy as America or Canada. Start teaching your children and grandchildren the truth about this nation, that it was never empty “discovered” land, that it belonged to people we wronged (since there is no word strong enough to define all the horror perpatraded against innocent people). Let us teach our children to show their thanks by committing to respect and do right by the First Nations, help them whenever possible, send letters of apology, go visit the places they live and see what you can do to help. That is the NEW AMERICAN THANKSGIVING and it will happen step by step as people with hearts to feel and ears to hear realize what our ancestors have done to the original citizens of this country and Canada, not to mention Mexico! Please commit here and now to take this one day a year and do something for these people who have been suffering for generations because of our forefathers actions. ACT NOW! Spread the word on Facebook, Twitter, and everywhere. If not you, who?