This is a picture of a Turkey race. There are two stories told about the history of Thanksgiving. One is a traditional story from popular culture. That the Pilgrims experienced trouble in the first years of arriving on the continent and that the Native Americans helped them through the hard times. The story then claims that in gratitude for the help the Pilgrims had a feast which they invited the natives to.
Historical research like that performed by Peggy and James Baker in "Thanksgiving: a brief history" (EBSCOHost, Academic Search Complete) shows that the history of Thanksgiving is more complicated than the traditionally shared story from United States popular culture. Their research shows that what is considered the first Thanksgiving may have actually been more like a traditional English harvest festival. According to the Bakers the first Thanksgiving was "a solemn day of humiliation, to seek the Lord by humble and fervent prayer, in this great distress." (pg 1) This seems to imply that the first Thanksgiving may not have been a feast at all as also referenced in the link below the picture.
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ReplyDeletehttp://anthropologyofussociety.wordpress.com/2013/04/14/cheyenne-sun-dance-ritual-research-unit-2-by-erik-lee/