Squanto, a Patuxet Native American who resided with the Wampanoag tribe, taught the Pilgrims how to catch eel and grow corn and served as an interpreter for them (Squanto had learned English as a slave in Europe and from watching reruns of 'The Brady Bunch'). The two cultures shared a harvest feast and exposed one another to their strange and wonderful cultural and culinary offerings, and then settled in to watch Superbowl I. According to historical records, the Pilgrims and Indians got together in 1621, in the Virginia Colony. Having had better luck through the subsequent summer, the grateful people established a day of thanksgiving and invited the local Indians to share their bounty and play Charades. The Pilgrims, who crossed the Atlantic, landed into a bleak November winter and saw half of their numbers perish during the course of the cold season, as food was in short supply after the long journey and space heaters and thermal underwear had not yet been invented. But first, a little historical perspective. I'm here to correct this outrageous oversight. Not one word is said about the actual first Thanksgiving, the one involving Jews.
In school, we all learn the story of the first Thanksgiving in America, with the Pilgrims from England and the Native Americans from – well, whatever they called this place before we renamed it America.
