How much of the history of the American Thanksgiving holiday do you and your children know? As we all look forward to a sumptuous meal, time with friends and family, and perhaps a parade or football, I thought a look back at the facts about the day might be a good idea too.

To start us out, here’s a Thanksgiving cast of characters, the major and minor roles.

King James I … he’d been persecuting the Separatists because they wanted to leave the Church of England.
Separatists … not to be confused with the staid and drab Puritans, who didn’t arrive in the New World until ten years later.
Christopher Jones … captain, or “master,” of the Mayflower and its crew.
Pilgrims … the term first meant the Separatists because of their wanderings in search of religious freedom, but later it was applied to everyone on the Mayflower.
William Brewster … leader of the group of Separatists who sailed on the Mayflower.
The “strangers” … others who joined the Separatists on the Mayflower.
Oceanus … the baby boy born to Stephen and Elizabeth Hopkins during the voyage.
John Carver … first elected governor of the Plymouth colony.
Miles Standish … led an exploration party onshore before the Pilgrims disembarked.
Samoset … native American of the Wampanoag tribe who brought Squanto to help the Pilgrims.
Squanto … his perfect English and knowledge of fishing, planting, hunting, and trapping saved the Pilgrims.
Massasoit … chief of the Wampanoag tribe, who signed a peace treaty with the Pilgrims.
William Bradford … the colony’s second governor. To acknowledge the blessings of God, he instituted the three-day feast we call the first Thanksgiving.

A fierce storm blew the Mayflower five hundred miles off course. The Pilgrims weren’t prepared for the harsh winter conditions they found at Plymouth soon after they went ashore on December 11, 1620.  During their first winter, the Pilgrims experienced severe sickness, starvation, and exposure. Ten of the seventeen male heads of families died, and only three wives of seventeen were left after three months. By March of 1621, nearly half of all the Mayflower settlers were dead.

On November 11, I’ll post “A Thanksgiving Time Line.”

image:  http://www.bighillgoddess.com; used under a Creative Commons license

DIANE