THANKSGIVING & BLACK FRIDAY
The holiday season is in full swing in the USA. Both Thursday and Friday are public holidays here. It's the busiest time of year on the road and at airports around the country for domestic travel. Thanksgiving feels a lot like Christmas in the UK, turkey with all the trimmings is the traditional meal.
HISTORY - ORIGIN OF THANKSGIVING
Diseases brought over by the early explorers claimed the lives of many Native Indians prior to the arrival of the Pilgrims in Plymouth, in December 1620. As a result the Pilgrims arrived into Plymouth amid the ruins of the Native American Indian villages of Pawtuxet. The Europeans were poorly prepared to survive. They did not bring enough food, and they arrived too late in the year to plant. They were not familiar with the area and lacked the knowledge, tools, and experience to effectively exploit the bounty of nature that surrounded them. For the first several months two or three of them died each day from scurvy, lack of adequate shelter, and poor nutrition. Once they discovered that the nearby Wampanoag Indians placed grain and precious ornaments with their dead they robbed the graves to steal the ornaments and to feed themselves. The Wampanoag Indians had become greatly outnumbered by their neighbouring tribe - The Narragansett Indians - as a result of the diseases that plagued their people. In order to counter pressure from the Narragansett to provide them with tributes, the Wampanoag Indians sought military alliance with the Europeans, who possessed formidable weapons. The Indians began to teach the Europeans how to survive and negotiated a peace treaty in which they pledged to maintain friendly relations with each other, and to come to each other’s aid in case of outside attack.
The Native American Indians understood that you cannot keep taking from the earth without giving something back and it has long been customary for them to have ceremonies in which they express their thanks for a bountiful harvest. Through the alliance, the Europeans learned to plant and care for Indian crops, to hunt and fish, and to do all the things that were necessary to partake of the natural abundance of the earth. As a result they overcame their inexperience and in the autumn of 1621 had their first successful harvest. They decided to celebrate their success with a harvest festival as the Indians did. Forty years later full scale war erupted between the colonists and the Indians and ended with the defeat of the Wampanoag. The Wampanoag had become a subjugated minority in the land of their ancestors. Today their language and land has been almost completely lost. There are currently two enclaves of Wampanoags in Massachusetts, one at Mashpee, the other at Gay Head on Martha’s Vineyard.
Black Friday follows Thanksgiving and refers to one of the busiest shopping days of the year. Stores offer huge savings and often open their doors at 5am for shoppers eager to purchase the best bargains. The 'Black' in Black Friday is a reference to the amount of spending that often pulls stores out of the red and back into the black.
source: The National Museum of the Native American Indian http://www.nmai.si.edu/education/files/harvest.pdf
I saw a trailer on TV here for a new film called 'Apocalypto' by Mel Gibson about the once great Mayan civilisation. A lot of the movie is shot at Tikal in Guatemala. It's due out here in the USA on 8th December.
HISTORY - ORIGIN OF THANKSGIVING
Diseases brought over by the early explorers claimed the lives of many Native Indians prior to the arrival of the Pilgrims in Plymouth, in December 1620. As a result the Pilgrims arrived into Plymouth amid the ruins of the Native American Indian villages of Pawtuxet. The Europeans were poorly prepared to survive. They did not bring enough food, and they arrived too late in the year to plant. They were not familiar with the area and lacked the knowledge, tools, and experience to effectively exploit the bounty of nature that surrounded them. For the first several months two or three of them died each day from scurvy, lack of adequate shelter, and poor nutrition. Once they discovered that the nearby Wampanoag Indians placed grain and precious ornaments with their dead they robbed the graves to steal the ornaments and to feed themselves. The Wampanoag Indians had become greatly outnumbered by their neighbouring tribe - The Narragansett Indians - as a result of the diseases that plagued their people. In order to counter pressure from the Narragansett to provide them with tributes, the Wampanoag Indians sought military alliance with the Europeans, who possessed formidable weapons. The Indians began to teach the Europeans how to survive and negotiated a peace treaty in which they pledged to maintain friendly relations with each other, and to come to each other’s aid in case of outside attack.
The Native American Indians understood that you cannot keep taking from the earth without giving something back and it has long been customary for them to have ceremonies in which they express their thanks for a bountiful harvest. Through the alliance, the Europeans learned to plant and care for Indian crops, to hunt and fish, and to do all the things that were necessary to partake of the natural abundance of the earth. As a result they overcame their inexperience and in the autumn of 1621 had their first successful harvest. They decided to celebrate their success with a harvest festival as the Indians did. Forty years later full scale war erupted between the colonists and the Indians and ended with the defeat of the Wampanoag. The Wampanoag had become a subjugated minority in the land of their ancestors. Today their language and land has been almost completely lost. There are currently two enclaves of Wampanoags in Massachusetts, one at Mashpee, the other at Gay Head on Martha’s Vineyard.
Black Friday follows Thanksgiving and refers to one of the busiest shopping days of the year. Stores offer huge savings and often open their doors at 5am for shoppers eager to purchase the best bargains. The 'Black' in Black Friday is a reference to the amount of spending that often pulls stores out of the red and back into the black.
source: The National Museum of the Native American Indian http://www.nmai.si.edu/education/files/harvest.pdf
I saw a trailer on TV here for a new film called 'Apocalypto' by Mel Gibson about the once great Mayan civilisation. A lot of the movie is shot at Tikal in Guatemala. It's due out here in the USA on 8th December.
Labels: black, friday, Indian, Plymouth, social, thanksgiving
