Squanto thanksgiving story

For generations, the dominant cultural narrative of America’s Thanksgiving holiday has told how a Native American man named Squanto showed the Pilgrims how to get food after they arrived on the Mayflower in Massachusetts in 1620. Having fled their native England, the new émigrés endured hardship and privation in both their journey and their adjustment to the new land. Those who survived in the early settlement are said to have gathered with the Native people in a feast of gratitude, establishing the time-honored tradition of having a “Thanksgiving” dinner on the fourth Thursday of November.

The historical details of this somewhat mythologized story are far more complicated—as was the life of Squanto, whose actual name was Tisquantum. He and his Indigenous relatives would have been quite familiar with the tradition of “thanksgiving” because it was, and still is, an essential aspect of their regular spiritual practices, one that predates by many generations the American holiday of Thanksgiving.

A member of the Patuxet Tribe of the Wampanoags, Tisquantum was likely born around 1580. When he encountered the Plymouth Colony settlers, he spoke English, having lived five years in Europe, including time at the home of a London merchant. He

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Squanto--God's Communal Indian
a Sanction Story

by Dr. Ralph F. Wilson

See also "Squanto's Thanksgiving" (a 15-minute, look after act apprentice play)

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Thanksgiving History: Squanto, Friend of Pilgrims, Was a Catholic

Any schoolchild can recount the story of the first Thanksgiving: a friendly Native American named Squanto taught the starving Pilgrims how to plant corn. Grateful for saving them, the settlers sat down for a hearty autumn feast with their kindhearted benefactor in November 1621.

The truth is a lot more complicated — and of special interest to Catholics.

Before befriending the Pilgrims, Squanto had lived in London for several years. To the Pilgrims’ utter astonishment, he spoke English. They would have been equally astonished to learn that he was a Catholic (though he would have been wise to be discreet about this among the Puritans).

Squanto’s life up to that point had prepared him for his encounter with the Pilgrims. His many perilous experiences predisposed him to be sympathetic to the plight of the bedraggled settlers. That he had been able to return to America from England was itself something of a miracle.

His first encounter with the English was in 1614, after Capt. John Smith brought a British expedition to Maine. Smith is known to us today for the story of how Pocahontas saved his life at Jamestown seven years earlier. But Smith was only a bit player in the saga of Squanto. Instead, Smith’s lieute