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📌There are two hypotheses surrounding the origin of Thanksgiving: the Anglo-Saxon origin and the Hispanic origin.
📌The Anglo-Saxon origin dates back to 1621, when the English colonists of Plymouth (Massachusetts) held a banquet to celebrate the harvest together with the Wampanoag tribe, and the Hispanic origin is located in 1565, in Florida, where the Spanish garrison organized a banquet, together with the Saturiwa tribe, to celebrate the harvest.
📌There is another debate surrounding the supposed brotherhood between settlers and tribes, a historical correction that presents a narrative in which the union was merely the prelude to the plundering of Native Americans.
Every year, millions of people gather with family and friends to celebrate Thanksgiving Day (Thanksgiving, (in English). Thanksgiving around the world is more than a holiday: it's a time for family togetherness, reflection and gratitude – and also for turkey, mashed potatoes, and cranberry sauce.
Connect Arizona, a media partner of Factchequeado [Name of the person] received inquiries from their community about the origin of this celebration. Have you ever wondered about its history? Have you heard the theory of its Hispanic origin? The story behind this celebration has been the subject of debate, and various hypotheses about its origin have emerged. We'll tell you about it in this article.
Related>>> The history of Thanksgiving: an American celebration with Hispanic touches
Two origins for one party
Sometimes, history unfolds like a mosaic, with pieces that intertwine to form a single image. Thanksgiving is no exception to this versatility.
According to National GeographicTraditionally, the first "official" Thanksgiving is considered to be the one celebrated in Plymouth, Massachusetts, in the fall of 1621, although there is evidence that it had been celebrated previously in other places, such as Virginia. The date commemorates the first harvest obtained by the early English colonists after a harsh winter, and the feast they shared for three days with the Wampanoag tribe of what is now the state of Massachusetts in the northeastern United States, who had given them food to survive the previous winter in exchange for their help against a rival tribe, the Narragansett.
“Giving thanks for the creator’s gifts had always been part of the Wampaonag way of life,” the museum says on its website. Plimoth Plantation, in Massachusetts, dedicated to one of the first British colonies in America.
In 1789, Washington He issued a proclamation designating Thursday, November 26 as Thanksgiving Day. It was in 1863 that President Abraham Lincoln proclaimed that Thanksgiving would be celebrated on the last Thursday of November.But it took more than 70 years for Congress to declare the day a legal holiday.
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The Hispanic origin
This hypothesis states that the first time Thanksgiving was celebrated was actually 56 years earlier, in 1565, in Florida, and by a Spaniard.
According to The Hispanic CouncilIn August 1565, the Spaniard Pedro Menéndez de Avilés founded the first European settlement in St. Augustine, Florida. Faced with the advance of the French, who threatened the Spanish establishment in the New World with their presence south of the Carolinas, the Spanish monarchs sent Menéndez to defend their positions. A few days after his arrival, with the help of the Saturiwa tribe, Menéndez attacked Jacksonville, then known as Fort Caroline. As a token of gratitude for their assistance, Pedro Menéndez de Avilés shared a large meal and a Mass with some of the Saturiwa natives who were in St. Augustine.
“It was Pedro Menéndez de Avilés in 1565 who first hosted an event of such magnitude from a cultural perspective, exchanging goods and celebrating with a dinner alongside the Native Americans. And it was a little further south, in what is now the state of Florida, specifically in St. Augustine, the first permanently inhabited city in the United States, founded by the Spanish,” state historians María Lara Martínez and Laura Lara Martínez in their book, regarding the origins of Thanksgiving. A Brief History of Spain: From Atapuerca to the Era of Globalization.
Related>>> Prayers for Thanksgiving Day: an opportunity to give thanks in community
The other debate
While the above refers to the "official" or commonly told history, the debate not only revolves around the origin of Thanksgiving, but also around the supposed brotherhood between the colonists and the tribes.
“As a scholar of indigenous and Native American rhetoric, I maintain that this superficial history [of the origin of Thanksgiving] obscures the realities of what many historians and activists call ‘settler colonialism,’” the historian says. Lorenzo Veraciniwhich states that colonial activity is not just about a nation sending explorers and bringing back resources. It is also about what happens when a new people arrives and tries to establish themselves as the “superior” community.
To Emilio Doménech, journalist newtralThe reality is somewhat different from the idealized versions of the origin of Thanksgiving. Despite the encounter and feast between colonists and Wampanoags in 1621, barely a generation later the relationship between them transformed into a brutal war that would ultimately deprive the Wampanoags of their ancestral lands. This debate raises a conflict that does not seek to eliminate the holiday. "but rather redirect the discussion to debates about history and historical manipulation, and thus better understand how idealized the relationships between civilizations are, which in many cases always ended up killing each other."
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Factchequeado It is a means of verification that builds a Spanish-speaking community to counteract misinformation in the United States.
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