A few Thanksgivings ago, my one set of nephews couldn't come to my parents, so set #2 were stuck doing the traditional "basement show"/Thanksgiving pageant on their own. Naturally, having a cast of 2, both of whom would of course be playing arriving pilgrims, they asked their slightly older, history PhD student aunt to guest star as the welcoming Native American person. "We'll arrive on the boat," they told me (they had built a boat set out of a chair and some construction paper) "and you act happy to see us, and tell us welcome to the New World, etc."
(In fairness to them, they were so little (like 4 and 6) that they didn't know what a "pilgrim" was. They thought it was a last name.)
I agreed to appear in the pageant, but explained that my character wouldn't welcome the arriving Europeans, but instead would say things like, "I don't think you should arrive here, I already live here. I think you should return to England," and "I have a bad feeling about this." But though I told them these would be my lines, they (perhaps due to their 30-second attention spans) didn't adjust their part of the script at all. Then, during the actual basement show, with the rest of the family watching, the pilgrims seemed shocked and confused by the lack of welcome they received. So the whole thing ended up weirdly historically representative, at least in a symbolic way.
5 comments:
What you need to do this year in your re-enactment of their first meeting is speak in a different language. That'll really throw them off and being even more historically representative of the true nature of the encounter.
I have further suggestions if you want to bring the Spanish into it.
That is one of the best Thanksgiving pageant stories I have ever heard! I gave up on T-Giving pageants as a young child when I had to wear a paper feather on my head and pretend to be a Native American while a much younger 'pilgrim' nearly crushed my finger while I showed her how to grind corn (I should add that this happened when I was in fourth grade and the pilgrim was a kindergardener).
But what can you expect from a city where my junior high school mascot was the Redskins. As student body president in ninth grade I led a campaign to change it to the Penguins but was met with derision as apparently penguins are not historically accurate for the region, but that Redskins is a way to "celebrate our wild west heritage".
my HS mascot was the Red Raider, which I think has something to do with being on the wrong side of the Civil War.
I never heard of a Thanksgiving pageant. Sounds awful. All we do is eat turkey, listen to mom's guilt trips, wonder when my younger sister is going into rehab, etc., then fall asleep.
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Hmmm, I am conflicted about this. I feel like you may have caused untold damage to the fragile psyches of your poor little nephews. Not to mention the extra hours of explaining and comforting their parents will have to put in later.
However, historical accuracy is important. But I think, unless you could get your nephews to sit still for a lesson on the actual history of European immigration to the Americas, it's kinda lost on them.
I think another approach might be to be initially welcoming but also subtly menacing. Like:
"Welcome white man, to the bountiful lands of the Massaoit tribe. Since you are pathetic and sniveling and cannot make your own food, allow us to provide some for you."
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