Native American breaking news: summary of events Nov. 5-11, 2023.

All About America explores American culture, politics, trends, history, ideals and interesting places.

Every year, on the fourth Thursday in November, Americans celebrate Thanksgiving. It's a celebration from 1621, when colonists arriving from England shared a friendly feast with the native inhabitants of the land. In Plymouth, Massachusetts, site of the first Thanksgiving, historians and others are trying to isolate facts from the fictional stories that have sprung up around the holiday more than 400 years ago. "The problem is that there's so much stereotyping and misinformation put into this story," said Paula Peters, a citizen of the Mashpee Wampanoag tribe, the alleged attendees of the first Thanksgiving. "It's a story that really''devalues the history of the Wampanoags'. "

The Pilgrims arrived on the Mayflower in 1620. By their second winter, they were struggling until the natives taught them how to grow crops and live off the land. "When we think about the Pilgrims arriving, we forget about the aspect of the Wampanoags helping them to survive that winter, or even develop that land or waters, which is very important," says Malissa Costa, a Wampanoag tribal member who manages the Plymouth Patuxet Ethnopark. The park, located a few kilometers from the site of the first Thanksgiving, also features a 17th-century English village. Actors dress up as Pilgrims to show the lifestyle of the colonists, and Thanksgiving traditions are recreated for visitors. "What the Pilgrims celebrated is what they would''To have food. ' They won't go hungry next year," says Malka Benjamin, director of colonial interpretation and education at Plymouth Patuxet Museums. "So, guests will be able to help prepare food for the celebration. They may have to participate in a game, a sport ... there will be musket firing demonstrations." Musket firing caught the attention of Native Americans, and that's how the Wampanoag ancestors came to the first Thanksgiving, according to Peters. "At some point they decided, '\''Oh, it's not a threat. They're just celebrating their harvest'\'. And you know what?

The Pilgrims originally came to America seeking religious freedom, but it doesn't seem to be for everyone, Peters said. "They sacrificed a lot for religious freedom, but they didn't offer that same grace to the Native Americans who were already living here," she says.

Peters says Americans today often eat traditional Thanksgiving dishes including turkey, stuffing, sweet and regular potatoes, and pumpkin pie. About what was eaten at the first three-day''pier, the museum has a display of foods that were probably eaten at the 1621 dinner. "There's roast turkey, roast goose, and you see all the classic corn, bean and pumpkin dishes. There's corn, beans and pumpkin," Pickering says, pointing to the produce in the display case. "And also a standard New England dish - pumpkin stew, mussels, to represent all the seafood that was eaten." The Wampanoags are believed to have brought game hunting with them. "And there may have been some cranberries, since it was the fruit of the season," Peters says.

The Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe has begun preliminary procedures to create their own ethnopark. The town of Mashpee, about 43 kilometers from Plymouth, is negotiating the transfer of three parcels of land to the tribe''to create a traditional Wampanoag village and ethno park. Costa, who directs a similar project at the Plymouth Patuxet Museums, wants visitors to realize that Native Americans shouldn't be reduced to the past alone. "The main thing I want them to recognize is that the Wampanoag are still here," Costa says. "I want them to think of Wampanoags and Native Americans not just as people who used to live - or even Native Americans who used to live - but as people who continue on their paths, continue to teach the public. "