By Violet Wisdom
Our kindergarten version of this annual American Holiday is far from historically accurate. To begin with, there was not one single feast. Feasts of Thanksgiving were common and the pilgrims did share a meal of thanksgiving with the Wampanoags. That feast also didn’t look much like our modern table spread of turkey, mashed potatoes and green bean casserole.
“Our harvest being gotten in, our governor sent four men on fowling, that so we might after a special manner rejoice together after we had gathered the fruit of our labors. They four in one day killed as much fowl as, with a little help beside, served the company almost a week. At which time, amongst other recreations, we exercised our arms, many of the Indians coming amongst us, and among the rest their greatest king Massasoit, with some ninety men, whom for three days we entertained and feasted, and they went out and killed five deer, which they brought to the plantation and bestowed on our governor, and upon the captain and others.”
~ Excerpt from a letter written by Edward Windslow in 1621, Plymouth Colony.
Well that’s enough to usurp any grade school holiday presentation. I’ll leave it up to you to find out why the construction paper headbands and black and yellow buckled tube hats joyously gathered together over a cardboard turkey is nearly mythology. But first, there’s one more aspect of this period almost NONE of have ever been told. That’s right, those first Europeans saw a little bit more than just North American Indigenous people, native animals, plants and trees. The Puritans also saw UFO’s.
John Winthrop, Governor of Massachusetts Bay wrote about one of those encounters in his journal in 1639. The following story regarded three of the colony’s men and the “great light” they saw while traveling along the Muddy River by boat:
“When it stood still, it flamed up, and was about three yards square.” “when it ran, it was contracted into the figure of a swine.” “ran as swift as an arrow.”
Winthrop wrote again about strange sightings in 1644;
“About midnight, three men, coming in a boat to Boston, saw two lights arise out of the water near the north point of the town cove, in form like a man, and went at a small distance to the town, and so to the south point, and there vanished away.”
“A light like the moon arose about the N.E. point in Boston, and met the former at Nottles Island, and there they closed in one, and then parted, and closed and parted diverse times, and so went over the hill in the island and vanished. Sometimes they shot out flames and sometimes sparkles. This was about eight of the clock in the evening, and was seen by many.”
Just west of Plymouth, you will find the Bridgewater Triangle, a hotbed of paranormal activity and UFO sightings that goes as far back to the times of Colonial Settlers, and some legends belonging solely to the Wampanoag, even further. Specifically it is believed that Hockomack Swamp was cursed by the Wampanoag people after fighting with the colonists during King Philip's War resulted in the loss of the Wampum Belt. The belt served as a means of keeping the people’s history, and just over a year ago was returned to the Wampanoag Nation from Europe.
So if you really want to have an authentic colonial experience, put away those hand-traced turkeys and tune into the X for the most recent UFO information out there. I promise it’s okay. I heard our shows go great with sweet potatoes and pumpkin pie.
Violet Wisdom
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