JACKSON, Wyo. — The holiday of Thanksgiving dates back to the founding of the U.S., but its romanticized, potentially problematic history makes it a unique celebration in current times.
According to the National Museum of the American Indian (NMAI), the narrative of the “First Thanksgiving” is often told as a friendly harvest celebration between pilgrims and Indigenous peoples. This version of events is considered inaccurate by many historians; the NMAI contends this story is a “myth” rooted in the mid-1800s when English accounts of the 1621 harvest event “resurfaced and fueled the American imagination.”
National Geographic emphasizes that there remains “very little historical record” of this day.
It wasn’t until 1863 that President Abraham Lincoln declared a national Thanksgiving in November during the Civil War to promote gratitude and unity, NMAI says.
“In the decades that followed, the ‘First Thanksgiving’ myth and the national holiday evolved into a foundational, national story reinforced by memorials, holiday marketing, literature and school curriculums,” NMAI writes.
But what many people understand as the celebration of Thanksgiving is incomplete; the Wampanoag, who infamously sat down with the settlers, and other Indigenous voices have been largely absent from this narrative.
According to the NMAI, harvest ceremonies and festivals have been integrated in Wampanoag tradition for thousands of years. Cranberry Day is one example, an October harvest celebration for the Aquinnah Wampanoag.
“The Wampanoag practiced daily and seasonal traditions of giving thanks long before the encounter with English settlers and the formation of Thanksgiving as a national holiday,” the NMAI writes.
The NMAI suggests that inviting or sharing these traditions with white settlers was often more of a political move with short-lived collaboration and not the beginning of any sources of friendship. National Geographic explains that the Wampanoag were in a “weaker” position in the area among other Tribes, namely the Narragansett, so it makes sense that they would try to use settlers to fortify their strength.
According to National Geographic, when the pilgrims and the Wampanoag sat down for the first Thanksgiving in 1621, “it wasn’t actually that big of a deal.” Rather, National Geographic suggests this was likely a routine practice for making alliances.
Giving thanks is also a longstanding, central tradition among Indigenous peoples that is still practiced today, the NMAI writes.
Grand Teton National Park (GTNP) and the John D. Rockefeller, Jr. Memorial Parkway are the homelands of 24 Tribes with ancestral and cultural connections. There are 27 listed Tribes who have historic connections to the lands and resources now found within Yellowstone National Park (YNP).
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