<USS Avalon> Re: Annual Thanksgiving post

Annual Thanksgiving Post

[OOC: I’d like to give you another point-of-view on the holiday. As a Navajo 
writer, I have plenty of friends from other tribes and the subject has 
naturally come up over the years. What follows is a combination of history and 
their 
reactions to the holiday. I guess what is important to remember is not 
everyone may view a particular subject exactly the way you do.]


Traveling

After the events of the past few days, it is good to have some travel time to 
relax in and to prepare for the next battle. In the his quarters, Nerys and 
Karg were discussing what to do for dinner. Nerys asks, "Aren't you coming down 
to have Thanksgiving dinner with the crew?"
Karg wags his head, "I, uh . . . I don't do Thanksgiving."
"You don't! Why not?"
Karg just looks at her. He is not angry but waiting for her to realize . . .
"Oh, of course, sorry." Coming back to sit near him she asks, "Honey, there 
is so much about your mother's culture that I need to understand. Please tell 
me what's troubling you."

"OK . . .what do you know about Thanksgiving?"
"Just the what I heard on DS9, the pilgrims were starving and the Indians 
brought Turkey and stuff for a big feast."
Karg has heard this response before. "Actually, their entire harvest had 
failed the year before. Tisquantum was a native of the Patuxet tribe, which 
lived 
at present-day Plymouth. He was kidnapped in a very brutal manner by the 
English who wanted to have some prizes to show off at home, "we used little 
delay, 
but suddenly laid hands upon them . . . For they were strong and so naked as 
our best hold was by their long hair on their heads". Brought into England, 
Tisquantum lived with Sir Ferdinando Gorges, whose Plymouth Company had a lot 
of 
financial possibilities to exploit in the New World. Gorges called him 
Squanto, taught him some English, and eventually hired him to be a guide and 
interpreter for his sea captains who were exploring the New England coasts. 

Just little more than a year after Tisquantum was returned to his homeland, 
the Pilgrims arrived--in November 1620. After the Pilgrim explorers checked out 
all of the surrounding regions, they finally decided to settle at Plymouth in 
late December. Little did they know that just a couple years ago, Plymouth 
had been center of the Patuxet tribe. 

Two months after settling at Plymouth, an Indian visiting from Maine, by the 
name of Samoset, walked right into the middle of the Colony which was being 
built, and welcomed the Pilgrims in English. Somewhat fearful and somewhat 
astounded, the Pilgrims and Samoset talked all day and night. After Samoset had 
led 
several tradings with the Pilgrims, he told the Wampanoag living at Pokanoket 
that the Pilgrims wanted to make a peace with them. Massasoit sent Tisquantum 
to be interpreter, and on March 22, 1621, the Pilgrims met Squanto for the 
first time. That day, Squanto negotiated a peace treaty between Massasoit and 
the Wampanoag, and John Carver and the Pilgrims. It essentially stated that the 
Wampanoag and the Pilgrims would not harm each other, and they became a 
military alliance as well, such that if one were attacked, the other would come 
to 
the aid. 

Tisquantum lived out the rest of his life in the Plymouth Colony. He 
befriended the Pilgrims, and taught them how to manure their corn, where to 
catch fish 
and eels, how to hunt venison and turkey and acted as their interpreter and 
guide. Without Squanto's help, the Pilgrims would probably have had severe 
famine over the next year, and would have lived in constant fear of their 
Indian 
neighbors--Indians who were actually quite peaceful, but who had been 
rightfully angered by the cruel treatment they received from many English ship 
captains 
like Thomas Hunt. 

The next harvest was a bumper crop and the Indians were invited to a 
celebration the English had brought with them then called ‘Harvest Home’."

"In 1624 the Puritans arrived. By the way, do you know the difference?"
Nerys shakes her head and she sips some tea. "Most of the people from Earth 
spoke of them interchangeably as though they were the same."
Karg continues, "The Puritans wanted to stay connected to the Church of 
England but they were very strict. For instance, they didn't celebrate 
Christmas 
because they claim it isn't in the Christian Bible. I think they get off on the 
privations they dealt themselves. Anyway, the Pilgrims were a reform group who 
wanted to make significant changes in the church. These are the same folks 
who would start the witch hunts in just 65 years in 1689. Both groups were 
kicked out of England for being religious extremists.

"The western border of the colonies was being populated with settlers that 
were comprised of a dubious lot. They were outlaws and runaways. With them they 
brought disease and alcohol. The frontier was a breeding ground for conflict 
with the Indian population. Initially the frontiersmen turned on the Indians in 
an attempt to move them off the land. When the Indians retaliated, the 
settlers turned to the government for help. The settlers demanded retribution 
for 
the Indian reprisals. The government created the scalp bounty as a means to 
pacify the settlers. Simply, they paid a fee for each scalp that was delivered 
to 
the locally appointed magistrate."

"Although the army was accomplishing the task of displacing the Indians, the 
bounty encouraged settlers to mount attacks on the Indians whenever they 
could. The French used the bounty on scalps to eradicate a peaceful tribe in 
Newfoundland. White frontiersmen would scalp not only the warriors but the 
women and 
the children as well. The government could not tell the difference. This 
practice of paying a scalp bounty inspired a widespread retaliation from the 
Indians. However, the Indians were blamed for initiating the practice, because, 
as 
was claimed, no European would stoop so low as to take a scalp. It should also 
be noted that only the Indians were held accountable for the practice."

Nerys is shocked. "Oh my word, Karg, that's horrible."
Karg continues," As soon as they were well fed they turned to stealing the 
Indians land it seems. Shows a lack of gratitude to say the least. But it began 
a policy that lasted for 250 years with the goal of the extermination of every 
Indian on the continent. I have a friend who takes his tent and bedroll and 
goes into the wilderness alone for the 4 day weekend. He says it makes him feel 
closer to his ancestors but he is always sad when he comes home."
Shaking her head Nerys asks. "How could anyone do that and for so long?
Karg says quietly, "Exactly, my love, how could they?"

Respectfully submitted,
Sr. Lt. Karg
Chief Tactical & Chief Covert OPS Officer
USS Avalon

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