A number of sources say that one of the main American holidays, whose appearance is described in a beautiful legend, was in fact originally timed to the massacre of the indigenous population of the continent. We checked if it was true.

Traditionally countsthat, having arrived in America at the end of 1620, the immigrants survived the winter heavily, but then learned from local Indians to grow corn and other crops, distinguish edible plants from the poisonous, at the same time adopting many more useful skills. In the fall of 1621, colonists have harvested a good harvest, for which they decided to thank the Lord. The Indians who helped the colonists were invited to the celebration. Since then, the celebration has become regular and today it is known under the name of thanksgiving.

However, recently on the Internet you can read the following: “During one of the next wars, the Indians gathered on their green harvest holiday. Now there is Connecticut, the city of Groton. There were 700 Indians - women, children, men and old people. They gathered in one big house. The immigrants, learning about this, tracked them and arranged an attack. The men were killed on the street, everyone else was burned in a large house. Some of the Indians were sold into slavery. In honor of this victory, the governor of the colony announced his thanksgiving day. So for the first time celebrated this holiday. <...> inspired by the victory, the colonists began to destroy one village after another. Some of the Indians were killed, and some were sold. Ships with Indian slaves began to swim from America. Awards were assigned for the scalpes. After another successful massacre, the second day of thanks was declared. This time it happened in Massachusetts, the city of Stamford. This went on many times. Atrocities acquired an increasingly massive character. George Washington noticed that the holiday should be celebrated once a year, and not every time after a successful massacre. Later, Abraham Lincoln will make thanks to the official state holiday. On the day of the approval of the holiday, Lincoln will give an order against the Siu, who have died from the hunger of the Siu, Minnesota. In fact, thanksgiving is the day of the genocide of the Indians. ”

Similar information can be found out from Russian -speaking publications in social networks, and from English -speaking. In the second case, Jay Winter (Night Wolf) tells the story - a representative of the indigenous population and former presenter Radio show "True about American Indians and other indigenous peoples." In the publication of an authoritative magazine Time In 2019, it is clarified that we are talking about the first official mention of thanksgiving - after the massacre of representatives of the Pekot tribe in 1637 in Connecticut. This story is described in more detail in the newspaper Huffington Post. In many publications, there is a call to replace the day of thanksgiving during the day of the genocide of the Indians.

Let's understand what is known for sure about the events of 1637. On the night of May 26, the colonist detachments along with representatives of two local tribes attacked On the fortified village of Pekotov near the Mistik River. This campaign became one of the episodes of a long war, in which the Allies of the specified tribe were Dutch immigrants, and ethnic British acted in coalitions with the historical enemies of the Pekot. As a result of the attack, at least 500 local residents were killed, including men, women and children, and the village was burned to the ground. The information that came to us allow us to say that what happened can really be called a massacre or even an attempt by a genocide, given Certificates The British attacking the attack, and the fact that the war claimed the lives of more than half of all the paces of the planet. Soon for this tribe one of the first reservations, and by 1910 the number of ethnic groups Falled up to 66 people. Nowadays, the trend seems to have succeeded straighten.

Now about the reaction to the destruction of the village. John Wintrop, Governor of the Kolonia Massachusetts (who also fought with flashes), wrote in his diary June 15, 1637: "In all churches, a thanksgiving prayer for the victory over baking and other grace took place."

A similar event took place in October, on the occasion of new triumphs over the flair. Apparently, these prayers became the basis for the emergence of the version of the origin of the day of thanksgiving. Indeed, in English, a grateful prayer is indicated by the same word thanksgival, which appears in the name of the festival beloved by the Americans. Both in churches and beyond, similar religious initiations (let's call them even days of thanksgiving) in those days were arranged regularly. The same John Winthropa often mentions them in his diary - for example, “thanks to all plantations” for the successful arrival of ships from England in July 1630, seven years before the massacre near the Mystic River. Another Thanksgiving was declared in September 1641 "For the success of the Parliament in England."

Indians, who are believed to help the first settlers to settle in the Plymutsk colony (now the stateachusetts, east of Connecticut), belonged to the tribe Vampanoaga. David Silverman, professor at the University of George Washington and author of the book “This Earth is the Earth: the Vampanoaga Indians, Plimutskaya Colony and the Alarming History of thanksgiving”, in response to the question of the connection of the holiday with the massacre declared: “There is no doubt that in Connecticut and Massachusetts, after those events, a thanksgiving prayer was held ... but to make a connection between it and the modern holiday is untenable. Among the British was a tradition to celebrate the days of thanksgiving to God for grace. <...> there were hundreds, if not thousands of thanks. Some of them were associated with victories over the Indians, but the majority were not. ”

A similar opinion is held and Chris Newel, ex-head of the education department at the museum and the research center of the Figs. “As for the English days of thanksgiving that took place in the 17th century, they have nothing to do with the holiday that we celebrate today,” he says. - This holiday was not until the 19th century. The English day of thanks was the day of prayer ... Day of the post, completely different from the holiday. "

The holiday of thanksgiving became Indeed under President Abraham Lincoln. It is believed that this was an attempt to unite the country against the backdrop of the Civil War. According to Newella, a textbook story about a joint celebration was chosen simply as a beautiful foundation. Moreover, in the promotion of this story in newspapers and textbooks, the key role was played by Sarah Joseph Hale, who is better known as the author of the children's poem "Mary had lamb". David Silverman He thinksthat the beautiful background appeared a little later, closer to the end of the 19th century. He adds that the friendly relations of the vampanoags with the Europeans who really took place were the result of the cold political calculation of the Aboriginal people - albeit erroneous, since this did not save their tribe from conquest. The harvest festival in 1621 took place, but without Indians.

And finally, facts They say The fact that thanksgiving was celebrated even earlier, in 1619, in the Virginia colony. It is, apparently, in the days of the Civil War, to mention the southern state in a positive manner was considered inappropriate, and the role of the pioneer went to the Northern Massachusetts.

Thus, although the traditional history of Thanksgiving was not without myths, the history of the Indians genocide has almost no relation to the current holiday.