We like to believe in a festive first Thanksgiving celebrating shared life in the 'New' world between the Indians and the Plymouth settlers, yet the truth is less sanquine. According to most historians, the Pilgrims never would have invited the Indians to join them. Pilgrims perceived Indians in relation to the Devil (in Governor William Bradford's words, they (the Indians) were "savage people, who are cruel, barbarous, and most treacherous.") and the more probable reason they were invited to the feast was for the purpose of eventually negotiating a treaty that would secure the lands for the Pilgrims. Perhaps one reason we have so many myths about Thanksgiving is that it is more an invented tradition, than an historically specific one, an amalgam of the first tense meeting in 1621 for primarily political purposes and a more horrific event that took place nearly 16 year later in 1637: The Pequot Massacre.
![<?php echo $config['site_title']; ?>](/static/images/rp-navimg.gif)
![Support the <?php echo $config['site_title']; ?>](/static/images/support.png)
