Squanto, Pilgrims and Thanksgiving

Now I will admit that I am so fascinated by Native American culture. I don't know if it is the drop or so Native American blood I have in me--my grandfather always said someone along the way married a Native American (well he used Indian), but I don't know much more than that. My sister however does and she found out recently that our Native American ancestor answered Lincoln's first call for soldiers for the Civil War. I love to learn about the way different tribes live(d) and hear the stories. I love them so much I took a class on Native American Culture in college. Anyway, I guess I'm working on passing on my love to Hazel.

We have been reading many books about Native Americans--Wampanoags in particular--as well as much on Squanto. I have learned so much that I never learned in school. Now with many things in history, there are different versions in the books as well as on-line. Here is what seems to be the most widely viewed. Tisquantum or Squanto was a member of the Patuxet Tribe and  was kidnapped at age 12 by Europeans led by Captain Thomas Hunt. Squanto and his fellow braves were taken to Malaga, Spain and sold as slaves. Squanto however was bought by monks who believed God had other plans for Squanto. He spent five years with the monks and learned their language and their religion.  Then the monks sent him to England so he could eventually go home on a ship there. More ships sailed to the New World from England than Spain. They arranged for him to live with a merchant, John Slany, and his family. He learned English there and was amazed by the large city of London. About five years after arriving in England, Squanto was able to go home on John Smith's (of Pocahontas fame) ship led by Captain Thomas Dermer. Squanto had known Captain Smith and Captain Dermer from trading with them as a boy. Squanto was able to translate for the English when they came to Native Americans and thus was useful and worked for his journey.

Source: By The German Kali Works, 
New York [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

Upon arriving home, Squanto saw that the Patuxet village was deserted. The fields were untended and not even dog barked to greet him. He walked to a nearby village of the Wampanoags and discovered that his tribe had been wiped out by an illness. He lived with the Wampanoags for a bit, but eventually went to live on his own in the woods. One day Samoset came to visit him. Samoset was sagamore of an Eastern Abenaki tribe that resided in what is now Maine. He was visiting Massasoit, the chief of the Wampanoags. Samoset had learned broken English from the fishermen and traders he met. (Source) Samoset was the first Native American to approach the Pilgrims in Plymouth. He went to get Squanto since Squanto's English was better. 

Samoset greeting the Pilgrims

Squanto was amazed at the changes to his village when he saw the Pilgrims and what they had done. He was happy to see life back in his village. Samoset and Squanto helped Governor Carver and Chief Massasoit reach a Peace Treaty. This treaty lasted for over fifty years until Massasoit died. They agreed to help one another and not to fight each other. Squanto stayed and taught the Pilgrims how to grow the native crops like corn, where and how to fish, which native berries were safe and good and other important things. Governor Bradford is quoted as to have said that Squanto "...was a special instrument sent of God for their good beyond their expectation."(Source)  In Squanto and the Miracle of Thanksgiving by Eric Metaxas, there is a similar quote from Governor Bradford. This book really focuses on the religious side of things. Apparently from several sources Squanto truly converted to believing in the European God. Squanto lived with the Pilgrims until he died. Some sources believe that the Wampanoags may have poisoned him. (Sources: The books shown above and Wikipedia)

To go with learning about the Native Americans in the Thanksgiving story, we made a simple Native American craft for our Thanksgiving table. We followed the instructions in Kathy Ross' book, Crafts for Thanksgiving. We used a paper towel roll and construction paper to make Native American headdress napkin rings.

 

We also made a strawberry corn bread. The recipe came from Thanksgiving Crafts by Judith Hoffman Corwin. The introduction to the recipe discussed how the Native Americans had thanksgiving festivals. This recipe might be used for a strawberry festival. Hazel did not like the bread, Steve did and I thought it was all right. I of course made it gluten free. It was made with frozen strawberries (but thawed) and I used the entire bag instead of measuring them out. I am glad I did because it had very little liquid in the recipe.

For more Native American posts check out Pocahontas, The Wampanoag Tribe, A Native American Cinderella (includes two books and a craft), Native American Cinderella 2 (two more similar stories), and The Turkey Girl, a Zuni version of Cinderella.

More Thanksgiving Books & Crafts

Today I am going to share an easy Thanksgiving craft and several great Thanksgiving books we have been enjoying. We will start with the books. 

Fairy Tales in a Different Culture: The Turkey Girl

For our final Native American Cinderella tale, I am sharing a Zuni version called The Turkey Girl retold by Penny Pollock. Now this story is a bit of a stretch to be a Cinderella tale, but I have seen it on various lists of types of Cinderella tales, so I am sharing it. First a bit about the Zuni people.

The Zuni live in New Mexico and have been there for 3,000 to 4,000 years (according to archeologists' estimations). Their reservation is about 450,000 acres. They are farmers of maize (corn) and wheat. They also now engage in jewelry making as an important income to the Zuni people. The traditional Zuni life is a matrilineal line. They have very specific groups and order for religion and life. Zunis still practice their own religion and beliefs. They are very artistic and express their beliefs in their art. The Zuni language is believed to be more than 7,000 years old.

Source: By Kmusser (Self-made using the National Atlas.)
 [CC-BY-SA-3.0], via Wikimedia Commons

The Zuni live in pueblo style of houses. Pueblos are built of clay and often are built into the ground or on top of one another. Here is a picture I found of a Zuni Pueblo. (Sources: The Pueblo of Zuni, Zuni Indians, Wikipedia)

Source: Timothy H. O'Sullivan [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

Now onto our story. In the author's note it is mentioned that Frank Hamilton Cushing included this tale in his collection of Zuni folktales. Cushing traveled to New Mexico in 1879 to study the Zuni. He admired them so much that he became a member of the tribe and lived with them.

A young orphan girl lived  in the shadow of Thunder Mountain and nestled against the edge of the pueblo village, Matsaki. She was very poor and herded turkeys for a living. The wealthy families of Matsaki valued the turkey tail feathers for decorating prayer sticks and ceremonial masks. They paid the young girl with corn and cast-off clothes and called her the Turkey Girl.

Source: Wikimedia Commons

Her days started at dawn when she led the villagers' turkeys to the flat-topped mesa of Thunder Mountain to graze. Then at sunset she led the turkeys back to their stockade of cedar sticks. The turkeys were her only friends. The humans did not talk to her even when she went to the spring to get water and saw others there.   

One night while at the spring, a herald-priest announced from one of the flat housetops that a Dance of the Sacred Bird would be held in Hawikuh in four days time. The Turkey Girl caught the excitement and imagined herself dancing with others. She could not stop dreaming of the dance and told the turkeys all about her dreams. On the day of the dance, the villagers left at dawn for Hawikuh. The Turkey Girl was left with the turkeys and her normal day, however she had tears running down her cheeks. While walking along the birds cause a commotion and get her attention. Then a huge turkey stepped forward and begins to talk to her and tells her she shall go to the dance. Then he tells her the turkeys will take care of her tattered clothes if she goes into the pen with them.

In their pen the turkeys break into song and dance and clean the girl. Then they have her undress. Swaying up and down the turkeys tread and tap new life into her clothes. They sing while they work.  Soon she is dressed in a white doeskin dress belted with red and yellow cloth. They give her rare shells and beautiful moccasins. Next the turkeys cough up jewels that the people have dropped on the ground over the years.  Then the turkeys give her one condition--she must not forget them and will show this by returning to them before Sun-Father returns to his sacred place and while she is gone to leave their pen unlocked so if she does not return before night they will be free.

She rushes off to the dance feeling beautiful and special. When she arrives the dancing has already started. She hears music from drums, flutes, turtle rattles and notched sticks. The musicians miss a beat when they see the beautiful stranger.  She joins the dance and has a wonderful time. The braves want to dance near her. As the sun's rays began to go down, she thinks when the music dies I will leave, but with each break the music started right back up and she continued to dance. As darkness approaches she thinks of leaving, but a brave brushes against her and she wonders why she will leave for turkeys. Then as night sets in she remembers the kindness of the turkeys and she runs home to their pen. She however is too late. The turkeys had waited for the sun to set but  left Matsaki forever. She is full of sorrow and even more so when she sees her dress was back to rags. She understands she has lost her turkey friends forever.

From this day on the turkeys have lived apart from their tall brothers for the Turkey Girl had not kept her word.

Join us later this week for more on Native Americans!! Also visit last week's fairy tales for other Native American versions of Cinderella.

More to Thanksgiving: Cranberries

I feel like so much of Thanksgiving is focused on the meal. We tend to forget the real reason for Thanksgiving. Most of us are no longer farmers and you can get just about anything you want to eat at any time of the year nowadays. I am going to take some time this week to look at things other than turkey and the pilgrims. Today's topic is still food, but it is one that is truly from Thanksgiving and Massachusetts. It is cranberries. We are going to look beyond using them for sauce (although I do love making a whole berry sauce each year).  Hazel and I started with a book called Cranberries by William Jaspersohn. Now Hazel loves cranberries or at least dried cranberries, cranberry sauce and cranberry baked goods. She is not completely fond of cranberry juice, but will drink one of the cran-other fruit juices, so I picked up this book for that reason. Also when I was researching one of my favorite topics--Native Americans, I found some neat decorations using cranberries.

The book talks about the white blooms of the cranberry plants and how they reminded the pilgrims of cranes. They named them "crane-berries" which has been shortened to cranberries. In August the cranberries are a waxy green and in September they begin to turn red. The book also goes through the two ways of picking the cranberries depending on what will happen with the cranberries. It then goes through the whole process of packaging them.

Now according to an article in Better Homes and Gardens (November 2013, page 172),  cranberries are loaded with nutrition from vitamin C to antioxidants and other health benefits. They quote one study showing that people who drank two glasses of low-sugar cranberry juice a day had significant drop in their blood pressure. They also can ward off urinary-tract infections, gum disease and stomach ulcers. 

We decided to make a few cranberry decorations. The first we found at Ocean Spray's website. They have many crafts there that use their cranberries. We decided to do a simple one with a paper plate. We used white glue to glue the cranberries on and I have to say, it is not holding well. I would use tacky glue instead.

The second thing we did was great for a centerpiece. I found the idea on Many Hoops. Many Hoops is wonderful resource for Thanksgiving. It is a website devoted to uniting America and getting past our horrible history. It is a project that was run by two women: one a descendent of the pilgrims and the other a Native American. This is the simple idea of using candles and cranberries. Their glass dish looks so much better than our dish.

Of course there is also the other favorite of stringing popcorn and cranberries for the Christmas tree. Another great idea was shared at Sharing Saturday by Little Bins for Little Hands called Fine Motor Skills with Cranberries. She has many wonderful tools to use with the cranberries. What a fun way to play and bring Thanksgiving to her child.

So go get healthy and have some cranberries and maybe try a few of the great decorations out there. I hope you will join us tomorrow for our final Native American Cinderella tale. This one is from the Zuni Tribe. If you missed the last ones there have been two weeks of four similar tales from various Native American tribes and you can find them here and here. Later this week we will look at Squanto as well as other Native American crafts and history as well.

Sharing Saturday 13-45

Thank you to everyone who shared with us last week!! There were some amazing and inspiring things shared. I haven't seen all of them, but have enjoyed the ones I have gotten to so far. I hope you have had a chance to check them all out and leave some comment love for each other! Now onto our features.

From Gift of Curiosity: 20+ Turkey Crafts & Activities

With Thanksgiving next week, I decided to feature some of the Thanksgiving lessons, crafts and decorations shared. We had so many wonderful Thanksgiving ideas shared. I picked only a few of them. If you are looking for a lesson, craft or decoration, make sure to go back and check the rest of them.

1) From Thank You Honey: Tiny Turkey's

2) From Green Owl Art: Corn Cob Doll

3) From Sugar Aunts: Cardboard Tube Turkey Juice Box Cover

4) From There's Just One Mommy: Candy Corn Turkey

5) From 3 Boys and a Dog: Thanksgiving Printables: Reading Flashcards 

6 & 7) From Bible Fun for Kids: Thanksgiving with Preschool 

8) From  Kims Kandy Kreations: Turkey Napkin Place Card Printable

9) From EduArt 4 Kids: Thanksgiving Crafts: Awesome Turkeys and Indian Pottery (Sorry I couldn't take a picture from the site.)

Thank you to everyone who shared last week!! I hope you will join us and share again!! If you are featured here, please feel free to grab a featured button to display proudly on your blog. 

Featured Button Code:

<a href="http://craftymomsshare.blogspot.com/" target="_blank"><img alt="Photobucket" border="0" src="http://i1101.photobucket.com/albums/g424/cpericola/SharingSaturdayoption2-002.jpg" /></a>

From Your Hostess:
This week we shared two more Native American Cinderella tales, our exploration of Thailand with Around the World in 12 Dishes, a round-up of Thanksgiving books we enjoy and a thankful corn craft, and a wonderful flamingo book for Flamingo Friday.

Next week I will be focusing on Advent, so if you have any Advent calendars, wreaths, etc. please share them so I can feature them!!

Now for This Week's Party  
A Few Simple Guidelines:
1)  Please follow Crafty Moms Share via GFC (or one of the other ways that work for you).  

2)  Link any kid-friendly, child-centered post. Please no etsy shops or giveaways, etc.  Remember to link to your actual post. 

3) Post the newly updated button on your sidebar or somewhere on your blog to help spread the word.

<a href="http://craftymomsshare.blogspot.com/search/label/Sharing%20Saturday" target="_blank"><img alt="Photobucket" border="0" src="http://i1101.photobucket.com/albums/g424/cpericola/SharingSaturdayoption2-150_zpsba88f805.jpg" /></a>

4) I would love it if you would follow me on Facebook,  Google+, and Pinterest 

 Disclaimer: By sharing here, you are giving Crafty Moms Share permission to use your photos for features and to pin your craft at Pinterest.