Thanksgiving has long been a beloved holiday in American homes. It signifies the start of the holiday season; everyone is in high spirits; but, there comes a time when we need to teach our young ones about the meaning of the particular holidays and its history. And teaching the history of Thanksgiving for kids is certainly not that simple.
When it comes to Thanksgiving, some of the information that we’ve been taught is not so straightforward as it seems. Even some adults are not too familiar with all the historical aspects, and the disputes, such as the location or the circumstances of the “First Thanksgiving”, which is certainly not helping matters. Although, it does leave room for inquiry, and we’re happy to oblige.
Teaching kids the history of Thanksgiving from a single perspective, or rather, the one version where the Pilgrims came and everything was merry-go-round-like will certainly be misleading. So, how do we, as educators, approach this issue in a way that would be unbiased and ideal for kids?
Well, there’s really no way around it; if we’re to teach kids the history of Thanksgiving respectfully, we’re gonna have to start from the ground up and include all the facts regarding this popular holiday. Sugarcoating history is a slippery slope, if not outright disrespectful to the parties in question.
The complete impartial recount will present children with an opportunity to think critically and debate, as well as teach them to appreciate the fact that sometimes there can be more than one side to history’s chronicles. We’ve already talked about historical bias, so without further ado, let’s get into it.
The Roots of Thanksgiving
The first thing that we need to clarify when teaching the history of Thanksgiving for kids is that the holiday itself, or rather the customary expression of gratitude through prayer, by no means emerged in the USA as we know it. Thanksgiving, even though it wasn’t named as such, has been present in cultures around the world for a very long time.
It can be traced back as far as antiquity, where the ancient Greeks, Romans, and Egyptians held feasts in tribute to their gods, thanking them for the fall harvests. The Jewish holiday of Sukkot, or the Feast of Tabernacles, is also very similar to the modern-day Thanksgiving we all know and love. Lastly, going back to North America, the indigenous tribes on the continent have also had a rich tradition of conducting bountiful feasts on the laurels of their great autumnal harvests.
Do note that presenting this information to your students should by no means devalue Thanksgiving itself, but rather complement their common knowledge, and, if anything, even deepen their understanding of the fact that this is indeed a secular holiday. With that out of the way, let’s continue by going over what we already know about Thanksgiving.
First Thanksgiving
So, the event widely accepted as the First Thanksgiving refers to the feast after the first successful harvest by the Pilgrims at Plymouth in October 1621 and the circumstances are as follows. Before that fateful feast, the Pilgrims had settled in an abandoned area, formerly inhabited by the Patuxet Indians. The last surviving member of the tribe, Squanto, had taught the Pilgrims how to grow crops and survive the winter. The ordeal of the harsh winter was lessened by the help from the Wampanoag tribe who gave the settlers additional provisions. As an expression of gratitude, they then invited the indigenous people to a bountiful feast.
The Thanksgiving Proclamation
The holiday as such was not to be repeated and officialized until nearly two centuries later, in 1789, when George Washington issued the first Thanksgiving Proclamation in which he stated that Thanksgiving should take place on the third day of October as “a day of public thanksgiving and prayer”. After that, the tradition was observed on-and-off throughout the Civil War, until 1863, when Abraham Lincoln proclaimed that Thanksgiving should be a national holiday that would take place on the final Thursday of November each year.
The Problems With How We Teach Thanksgiving to Kids
The first common problem with how we teach the history of Thanksgiving for kids is that, for some reason, which is likely to be that we don’t like explaining certain uncomfortable truths, we tend to not talk about the fact that the core concept of the First Thanksgiving is flawed.
As we explained in our “roots” segment, it is simply misleading to state that the customary tradition of Thanksgiving occurred in that particular timeline. Many other cultures took part in the custom way earlier and even on the same territory, as evidenced by the native tribes celebrating it. Furthermore, it is also disputed that the New Englanders were the first Europeans who took part in Thanksgiving on American soil. There is some evidence that the French Huguenots in Florida in the 1560s or the Spanish conquistadors in the 1590s also took part in a Thanksgiving ritual.
Secondly, the event in Plymouth, Massachusetts wasn’t even referred to as the first Thanksgiving by New Englanders until the 1830s, which goes to show that it was a revisionist device that we won’t continue to elaborate on in this segment.
The Pilgrims’ Landing
The storied Plymouth Rock is generally pointed to as the piece of evidence that the Pilgrims landed then and there. But, the only information that we have pointing to it as the exact landing spot is yet another inconclusive recount – second-hand information relayed 121 years after the alleged landing. Moreover, it definitely comes off as odd that William Bradford never even mentioned Plymouth Rock in his memoir.
The Pilgrims’ Quest
Another prominent issue with how we teach the history of Thanksgiving for kids is that we often mention that the Pilgrims came to America in the quest for religious freedom. While they did initially leave England to exercise greater religious freedom, they did so by going to Holland, or Leiden, to be specific. Bradford and Winslow did find greater liberty when it came to their beliefs in Holland, so if that’s the only thing they were after, they would’ve stayed there. Instead, they opted to explore the New World in pursuit of better and easier living, as well as all the opportunities such an exploratory journey would bring.
The Pilgrims’ Name
While we know them as Pilgrims, when teaching about Thanksgiving, we also tend to omit the fact that this is a largely fabricated moniker, if we’re being blunt. The Pilgrims had actually referred to themselves as Separatists, most of them being either Methodists or Puritans. But, due to the pilgrimage they had undertaken, and some revisionist tendencies we mentioned above, by the 1800s, they were dubbed as pilgrims.
The Pilgrims’ Image
The way we visually represent the Pilgrims is also a fallacy. By now, we’re all too familiar with the buckled hats and black clothing, but that couldn’t be further from the truth. In fact, the Pilgrims had an appreciation for brighter colors; red, orange, and green garments were not uncommon among the Plymouth Colony settlers.
The Pilgrims’ Relationship With the Settlers
Probably the biggest fault with how we teach Thanksgiving is that we tend to misrepresent the relationship between the Pilgrims and the natives as amicable. Even though there might’ve been an exchange of goods between the parties and perhaps a cordial approach from the Wampanoag tribe, at least at first, there’s hardly any concrete evidence of actual congeniality. They might’ve shared a feast celebrating the harvest, but that doesn’t indicate coexistence by any stretch of the imagination; there are more than enough indications of the opposite.
Teaching the History of Thanksgiving for Kids: Tips & Resources
When pointing out the problems, it would be only right to include solutions as well. So, the main solution to teaching Thanksgiving to kids respectfully is to simply present multiple perspectives around the holiday’s history. We, as educators, often fall into the trap where we teach in a condescending manner without being aware of it. What we mean by this is that no matter the age group, we shouldn’t misrepresent the facts, or sugarcoat, as we said earlier, in fear that the students won’t understand or won’t be able to “cope with uncomfortable truths”. Such teaching is but an indication of the teacher’s inability rather than a moral high ground of protecting the children.
By considering our suggestions and applying them in the classroom (or when homeschooling), we wholeheartedly believe that the children will be presented with an opportunity to learn to think critically, but they’ll also avoid marginalizing and disrespecting certain ethnic groups, which would surely come as a consequence if we’re to further skew discourse on an already troubled history.
On a practical note, KidsKonnect has more than enough resources in the form of worksheets that would aid you in getting all the aforementioned points across. The worksheets have been designed for use with any international curriculum and you can edit them to make them as specific as you’d like.
- History of Thanksgiving for Kids Facts & Worksheets
- Thanksgiving Day Proclamation Facts & Worksheets
- Thanksgiving Day Facts & Worksheets
- Thanksgiving Around the World Facts & Worksheets
- Thanksgiving Manners Facts & Worksheets
- Thanksgiving Feast Facts & Worksheets
- Thanksgiving Traditions Facts & Worksheets
- The Presidential Turkey Pardon Facts & Worksheets
Before You Go
The holiday season is a jovial time to enjoy ourselves and give thanks for what we have, but it also provides ample occasions for valuable lessons that will stick with your students for life. By teaching the history of Thanksgiving for kids respectfully, you won’t only teach proper history, but also encourage acceptance of cultural differences and work toward building historical awareness.
We hope that you found our article insightful and that it will benefit you as an educator as well as your students. For more teaching resources and worksheets, check out our extensive library that has proven to be more than useful to hundreds of thousands of teachers across the globe. For more content on all topics related to education, head over to our blog.
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