Plimoth Plantation: Virtual Field Trip

Welcome everyone to the first Thanksgiving. We'll be coming to you live from Plymouth Plantation, the extraordinary living museum here in Plymouth, Massachusetts, and during today's

virtual

tour we'll travel back in time to the year 1621, just one year after the voyage of the Mayflower. and about a month after the now famous festival, we will visit the 17th century farm village built by English settlers in the middle of the Wampanoag homeland, we will learn more about the Wampanoag people, the native people who originally inhabited the land and we will learn about the first permanent English settlement of settlers better known as the Pilgrims we will also compare and contrast the daily life of the Pilgrims and the Wampanoag people how they lived how they gave thanks and the food they ate and of course, we will learn about the celebration of the harvest of 1621 which we know today as Thanksgiving so there is a lot to get to in the next 30 minutes and here to help guide us through today's

virtual

field

trip

is the director of education and public programs here at Plymouth Plantation Kim van wermer and education manager randy joseph sorry who is also a member of the wampanoag nation oh welcome thank you for letting us visit tonight and as our google earth map shows students exactly where we are which is in the plymouth massachusetts belt with a why and we are at plymouth

plantation

spelled with one eye and i want to make sure our viewers understand that that is not a misspelling no it is not we decided to have our museum spell the name of the museum the way in which they spelled it was more common in the 17th century in the 17th century though there was no spelling rule so people spelled words the way they sounded today it sounded like Plymouth and it was spelled with one eye yeah now kym tell me what people will find in Plymouth I mean how does the museum tell the story of what really happened during this very important period in history?

Well, it's a museum of people, so when you come here, you see that you meet people who represent the English settlers and you meet people who are native. American who will tell you about the Wampanoags who lived here ok Randy let me talk to you for a minute about the natives as Kim mentioned or the outsiders who inhabited this land long before the pilgrims arrived in the early 17th century by about twelve thousand . years old I understand what you can tell us about the Wampanoag, well to us we were gatherers and hunters we cared for the land and we believed that the Great Spirit Kiat blessed us with everything to live a healthy and successful life in return we honored that we wanted both legs of the four legs water beans father sky mother earth very well I would like to bring the warrior advisor who was the intermediary between the Wampanoag and the pilgrims and his name is hubba burla and I want to receive you hubba knock hubba burla sorry how are you lanique yo mom tell me what is wampa nog the word Wampanoag means wampa nog means people who see the first light people of the morning people of the dawn since we are parents' if we can go we are the ones who see the morning fast so tell me a little bit about how is your daily life on earth real fast when the sun rises we fish we hunt we hunt birds depending on the time of year season oh wow faucet wash tom pand man hunt and fish the thomas we a woman had farm farm home cook meals meet us well and meat that food eaten and i see english chuck walk why in a new comment with the colonists right yes how to talk about the colonists now for so many centuries you lived alone on earth and suddenly you were cohabiting what did you think of the english colonists when did they first arrive? did you become friends with them alright?

Wampanoag wants English, but as long as I stay here and watch, it's okay, it's okay to talk about them. I imagine when they got here they needed help learning how to survive on earth. Did you help them? How did you help them learn to survive here? mostly a test help quantum english teach how to plant corn crop with an economy but not all wampanoags want to help english not all wampanoags want english here you were good you were good with that teacher i saw it told me who sumiko and who is massasoit from womp anak told me to look at English Kim, what if the drill just tells us that the Wampanoags had a thriving culture here before the English settlers arrived?

What do we know? What do we know about these settlers? leave their land leave their homes give up all their wealth really to come to this New England they called it yes they must have had a very good reason and the reason there are several really the main one is because they wanted to better their lives and England was quite populated , they want, they thought they could come here and get their own land, and this would be a place where their families could prosper, which was one of the reasons why a lot of people move, I think, but there are also people among them who they had some kind of argument with the Church of Kings with the Church of England and they wanted to live on English soil, which they considered to be New England because the king claimed it, but they wanted to live on English soil but be far enough away. far from they wouldn't have to worry about being persecuted for following their own religion we know them today as pilgrims where they always call pilgrims they know if they went down to our English town today and asked someone if they were pilgrims they might look a bit confused no It wasn't until the 1800s that a scholar read some of William Bradford's work and saw that there was a passage that said they knew they were pilgrims and he said, oh, they were the pilgrims and somehow it's stuck and people he began to call them that from that moment on we now have two I will call them settlers with us today good wife Elizabeth Hopkins and her stepdaughter Constance they are both with us welcome hello good day I recover constant sector Southdale good wife let me start with you when did you and your husband arrive Steven Wright to the United States?

We arrived at 1620 in the month of November that we had been preparing. In June we got on the ship and Julie sailed it under such an anchor. November 11. not find Plymouth and start building our houses until Christmas day December 5th and 20th I want to want to ask you a little bit about the

trip

because I know you gave birth to your son Oceanus in the sea which is me guess a name appropriate it's the military his birthday tell me a bit about how the trip was for your family it was terribly horrible you know we were all pretty sick from the pitch and roll of the ship and/or everything in our stomachs we didn't stay there very long it was very dark we were under the covers and there were so many beds 102 people we couldn't move mostly we sat together on our bed in the dark and told stories and slept and prayed for us a lot where i was afraid how long the trip was oh it was more than two months your father said 65 66 days it was me that's a long time to live in those circles constant factual conditions you were only 15 when you came here with your family what It was some of the biggest adjustments you had to make really it's just the lack of civility in this new country because we have, um, it's so wild and we came from London with a lot of people who are very active in those things and in this new country. we must be we don't have a washerwoman so we must do her own laundry and spend many hours doing it we don't have a butcher baker and all these things we must be hunters and stuff in england none of us can do but try and you had to sell your own clothes you had to do all the things I'm teaching you we saw things like this yes our aprons and our chefs and stuff we do we should keep them separate until we get more supplies from England or not no no I don't know how to make Wi-Fi good it's obviously your lives changed drastically when you got here, how well do you and your neighbors get along with the natives?

Talk later. briefly about this: hubba-wha gang what were some of the biggest challenges you faced in your day-to-day life with them? right now there is a Peace Treaty with these people for which we are very grateful and this man Hubble marks he lives in our city and is helping us with the relationship between the great massive king of the people of Pokanoket, we are grateful for that relationship, although there are others in this area who do not wish us so well and we are a little feared by them. there are men who watch our town every night to make sure that other neighboring people who do not wish us well do not do us any harm.

It's a great comfort to have that relationship, although I imagine it's a good relationship. learning a bit about daily life what it's like for both settlers and natives here and I'd like to do a bit more compare and contrast these lives some of the basics from both perspectives so let me start with you Good Wife Let's talk about the house I know you'd like to give us a little tour of the house, so tell us a little about it. My hosts here in New England are very different from those in England. Our houses here are covered with timber on the outside which is very expensive in England and there is no hosiah on top livid and it was covered in timber the roof is that like many in England but here we thought you made it out of reeds and cattails from the marsh and not with straw like we may have at home some houses have rushes in england most have straw inside here is a room saw you can see and in the corner here is a bed that goes down to the floor for Constance and her brother also has a little on the floor at night this right here is an eel pot we fished for eels in the english river eel favor roasted eel eel pie is actually a good meal and here is the bed my husband lay on and I sleep the children as I said bring your beds to the floor at this table is where we eat and meet I prepare my food here and in this area this is my kitchen and here is the fire where we cook all the things we eat or we cook it on a fire and this is my host new plymouth pretty simple housing is it is and looks very cozy actually and hob amok i know your home a little bit - i think its called is very different can you describe a little bit of that nucky's yes womp anak wheat to OSH is allow me is all tree bok tree tree skin yes it's not flat rounder round like peace to sua da small da much smiled or a smaller door ok Nicky's yes you have to crawl actually yes ok clearer open a lot warmer much warmer talking about warm it seems a little warm I want to talk about the clothes right now obviously there are some noticeable differences as we can clearly see I thought maybe you could describe what you are wearing as if my daughter and the balloons eyewear will wear a waistcoat over a wool petticoat which is the warmest yes we wear linen things like this too my apron and we have stockings with Garrett oh yes Julie and the bonnet on my head and I have a hat for the witnesses outside to shield the sun from his face, it is very appropriate to wear a hat also has an underwear that goes from our Nick to the knees, so it is a leather Xuan, of course, yes, and leather shoes, and do you wear the hats indoors too or only when you are outdoors or not usually but you always cover your head yes that is correct it is more practical when one is working to cover one's hair it is not the law but this is how everyone like us in england there are noble and wealthy people who let their hair down or bare it but we are not that type ok central mark can you describe what you are wearing please I'm Nicky some ah headdress edges yeah from Panisse waka warriors um-what warriors pinnock and leather darling ethic darling darling Lola English Chuck catwalk Mancala tights loafer tights Yosh made of moose moose the keys and uh oh mommy everything is dear and everything you wear around your neck is all handmade the keys yeah yeah um i can walk chuck walk ski honk for the winter alright it's really hot actually um wanted to hang out for a bit now to give thank you I know everyone there are many different ways to give thanks and many different reasons how and why we give thanks I am curious about how the settlers and natives expressed gratitude there are specific rituals and celebrations that you follow of course every day we give thanks at all times always when we are eating and when we are cooking we are thanking God for what he has given us and for what we have to eat so every time we eat we pray we pray through the day to thank God that all the good things we have are far away of God's goodness we should always be thankful for and always humbly remember and mark are the rituals you perform to express gratitude now keith yes when wampa nog hunts yes before we die and after praying we give thanks before we eat meat ash needs a sheet mhm we pray we give thanks before the sun rises we pay we give thanks or the sun sets we pray we give thanks you are thankful for the day every day i will Tire the food you eat well.

I just want to ask you about those rituals that continue in modern customs with theWampanoag. I am definitely with the Wampanoag in the Confederacy, one nation. The ceremonies during the summer and spring. Spring is our New Year, so that's it. the time we would have a ceremony and give thanks also the first ripening berry of the year is a strawberry we have a strawberry thanksgiving part of our harvest we have a green corn thanksgiving and then also fall the blueberry is one last berry and we are well known in a wing with four blueberries and then we have ceremony and also for winter they are called nekoma because over time it is a time that snowfall is called medicine and then when it melts everything it's new again and i love hearing that strawberries are first in darvis's heart and blueberries are last, that's interesting and all, right?

I'm talking about food I wanted to ask you. it's food a part of your daily thank you ritual it will really gain as a tone we give thanks true it's a day we don't eat anything we fast our eldest can say plymouth we will give thanks for something wonderful good that has happened and we won't eat all day but we will pray for even our hunger will remind us of our gratitude for what God has given us, and therefore for us a thanksgiving is a day when we eat nothing. different for us today is food a part of a ritual so obviously when you are hunting it must be yes according to the time we give thanks and celebrate first many of the berries strawberries blueberries is all i is everything finds us everything is in the sauce meat, right, no.

I want to go back to the first harvest meal that we've talked about, the year 1621, when this occurred when the Plymouth settlers and queer folk shared in an autumn harvest festival that I believe is recognized today as one of the First Days. Thanksgiving in the colonies. I know there are many uncertainties about this, but what do we know about what really happened? Well, we're lucky to have a source. Edward Winslow wrote a letter to a friend in England describing the event and it gives us a lot of information we know it lasted three days we know they had wild birds that went out to hunt birds we know there were banquets and sports and we know there were about 50 Englishmen there and more of 90 wampa dogs, so the bundle and I were there, yes, but it's also that if it's some kind of gathering, you'd probably bring women and children.

Massasoit comes in Pokanoket we think he stopped at every town going down to Rhode Island up here and gathering Panisse - the relationship between these two cultures was still new at the time because a treaty was signed in the spring so anything could happen at any time but as the document is being written we know that Massasoit sent five warriors to shoot five deer so we also saw that he was the leader of the Pocono bogeyman yes and he sent those men and native ways when you're gifting someone we know it's all in a good way and so it's a gift at the banquet you would bring food for the colonists ok it's a lot like what we do today. a little about the food that was eaten at the first meal of the harvest, yes, really, I helped my mother fix the food and helped her prepare what we had, um, we grilled the pier, the father shot that day that it was falling. and he shot it on the pier, we drafted it together, yes we had some of the native car and this country, yes we had some of that in lower Pompeii, that's a gourd it takes, that's a foot plate, yes, we eat that all the time. weather this time of year yes those are some of the things yes very good leafy stuff and hubba muck what did the Wampanoag contribute to the party?

We Panisse walk the Warriors mm-hmm, rot, I spoke well, deer, deer, yes, this morning you mentioned it. I'd love to know what events were held with the sporting events, so we looked at that kind of thing and the bar throw where guys take a big beam and see how far they can throw it and which guy can throw. the furthest to a good test of strength for them in the trailer and they favor that and of course exercising their arms and it's always entertaining for us to see them firing their guns and practicing their military skills because it's important for us to go to our box strong but also very good entertainment to see them do that and they did it that day too and today it meant hoisting a big pigskin and they throw it in the air at vacation time we call it football you throw it with your hand and yes we throw it with our hands that's right communities um I know a lot of our students watching today have so many questions so I've been asking all the questions and I think it's time we listened to some of them so we had so many submissions that we only have time for a few and the first one comes from a kindergarten class at South Elementary School in San Diego, California, let's look at this question, what toys and games do kids like us have?

So here I like your hairstyle kids is asking if kids have toys and games like us that's something yeah kids have that's right kids oh yeah we have a puppet it's made of linen with wool and stuff yeah , a cup and a ball. I shouldn't try to do it because I should surely miss hey Jules it's this is a bowl it's made of leather suffered with a lot of wall it must bounce very tight pakad and I have in my pocket here our marbles we play with also so many games yes yes on boards moving pieces on the boards and we also have and did you bring any toy for our kids to play with yes um and the same ball the ball and the Cup looks like it's made of bones though yes yes yes ok moose balls yes the soca Kohi Oaxaca ball all gages ball yes dear lava and spot Oh Thor is inside Nucky's yes and an adult dog means almost the same thing so the following question was sent by Palm Avenue School in San Bernardino California and they asked where they stayed when they first arrived in the new world before they built their houses we were on the ship that the Mayflower that came in came here and anchored and once we found Plymouth the ship could only go a mile or two offshore because the harbor is so shallow you couldn't get in a big ship which means we were living two miles out on the ocean sea in december jan february very cold and very crowded there and the men rowed in little boats to build their hoses every day and then go back to sleep on the boat and the people got very sick that winter and many of them died as a result of that it was hard we were so thankful when our host was completed if it wasn't it was good to be around. a fire and i'm sure you didn't have planes back then call hello you must have been so thankful to have your own oh we are yeah were you by a fire and cooking over a fire?

I am so wonderfully well yes and your feet firmly on the ground are doing well our next question comes to us from Conway Grammar School which is in Conway Massachusetts how do you keep food cool if you don't have a refrigerator? meat the venison fish clams be all fresh every day for you to eat the meat fresh yes you don't have to sit well oh yes since we need a con bestkuda pieces of pumpkin ooh fresh small a little fresh and rest what i all the rest grow old dry dry and we can keep all the time a winter spring for when we grow up next year our next question comes to us from a third grade class at Alpharetta Elementary School in Alpharetta Georgia and let's see what they ask hi I'm CJ and little Frankie here wants to know what you missed about your homeland Frankie wants to know what you missed about your homeland I really miss the markets at the fair which is the best because in London there are different markets selling all the different things that you can see and lots of entertainment to see some at fairs and such and you should miss a lot and just the comfort of other people around you.

I'm very used to a lot of people always seeing diverse and not in this country it's mostly Yankee trees. trees and there are only about 50 of you at that time almost half our company is dead okay we have one we have time for one more question and it comes to us from a 2nd grade class at Willow Grove School in Poway California and Kim, I'm going to ask you this question, how did the word Thanksgiving actually come about? Well, I think it comes from giving thanks because that's certainly what we do, although I think there are two different kinds of Thanksgiving.

The Hopkins wife talked about what for them is more of a religious celebration where there is no food involved but definitely a time to give thanks and then there is the harvest celebration that we have been talking about that took place in 1621 which was also a way of giving thanks but it was called more of a harvest celebration well our own Thanksgiving is right around the corner how different would you say the harvest of 1621 was from todays celebration thats a good question, I think they didn't have parades or Black Friday that day. after all that and all the meals were a little different we don't know for sure if they actually had turkey back then no mashed potatoes so different meals different meals and how similar would you say the celebration could be .

What are some of the customs that have come down and should have been preserved through the years? Well, I think it's for all the people who are given thanks that day for family, loved ones coming together to make a meal that brings people and you together. i dont see uncles aunts and cousins ​​so much maybe once or twice a year and thats the time they sit down to celebrate and celebrate family life yes i agree with you i think thats what makes this party in particular be so special, the idea of ​​giving thanks so transcends so many of our beliefs our customs there really is a real cross-cultural acceptance of giving thanks and I think we all make it our own I was just reflecting when we talked about food my own family i come from an italian family and our turkey stuffing is made with provolone cheese and ham and pancetta bacon Italian bacon, so it's very different, yes, but I think everyone has their own traditions, right?

And speaking of food, I get really hungry to talk about it, terrible about the housewife. I'm not offering you some food, actually, we have a turkey porridge that's partially cooked with Indian corn that we keep dry all year in Turkey, so I have a porridge here mixed with turkey and Indian corn. And, boy, yes, Constance, you can serve him that, so it's a basic dish to give him a high. You'll only know what I'll just eat, it's usually easier, right? Wow thanks Constance some bread for you master ok other things we could keep cussing about fresh turkeys something small like that we'll eat it fresh after we cook it good master hop amok I would say this is really good yes thank you teacher this is very very good my my husband says turkey voltage is very current it is very good i have to say i am very thankful to be here today i am very thankful to have met you all a little better to learn about their customs the relationships between the two of you this amazing amazing museum if you haven't visited Plymouth Plantation yet i urge you to do it with your families with your schools this is really this experience is more than just getting into the machine of time is a powerful history lesson and it's a history lesson brought to life and it's a lesson in understanding how that history informs us today, so from all of us here at Plymouth Plantation from all of us at Scholastic we want to wish you a very , very happy Thanksgiving thanks for joining us today bye everyone