Definition Essay: My Love For Thanksgiving

Growing up a stone’s throw away from Plymouth rock, there were few things I knew more about than Thanksgiving. From Kindergarten onward I was inundated with mountains of information on the pilgrims that led me to have a strange affinity for them but especially their Thanksgiving celebration, which lasted even after I left Massachusetts for New Jersey. My love for Thanksgiving stemmed from a sense of civil pride that was instilled in me from the stories I was told about the holiday’s origins. From the familiar story, of the pilgrims and their friendship and celebration with their neighbors, the Wampanoag tribe, Thanksgiving took on a special meaning to me, and I trusted that it was the truth. The meaning, as I saw it, was that Thanksgiving was the most truly American holiday we as Americans observed. The

But on the other I could not stomach the thought I had been ignorant of this aspect of history. And so to rationalize both my beliefs and fears I turned to research the subject on my own and with an open mind. As I scoured historical databases I found a myriad of sources that gave me factual insight into the history surrounding Thanksgiving. From first-hand accounts, I verified that there was at least some spirit of togetherness at the table- a military treaty that was signed and then disregarded fifty years later during the King Phillip’s War. But the rest of the tale and the mythos I ascribed to it fell short of the truth, unlike the horrible things my classmate related such as the grave robberies committed by the pilgrims. I was deeply ashamed, both for the history I uncovered and for my previous ignorance.With this new information, I realized it would be disingenuous to continue on believing what I did about Thanksgiving when I now knew its true context in history. The “meaning" of Thanksgiving to me now is that it is a relic of a dark period of American