ALL ABOUT PILGRIMS, TURKEYS AND AMERICANS!

Once upon a time, a great many of the people in England were very unhappy because their king, King James, would not let them pray to God as they liked. So they decided to go away from their country … to Holland, but they were not happy there, so they decided to go to the New World. This new world was called America.
The real story is as follows:
The people who left England and went to Holland were Separatists, because they split away from the Church of England, being this one the reason why they were persecuted by King James I. For 12 years they lived there but life in a foreign country was not without problems. A group of English investors financed their voyage so they formed a company with them in which the merchants agreed to “adventure” their money and the pilgrims to invest their personal labour for a period of seven years. To ensure the colony´s success, the merchants recruited some other emigrants to go to the New World. The colonists from Holland bought a small ship, the Speedwell, for the voyage. They sailed back to England in July 1620, where they met the other colonists and hired a larger boat, the Mayflower, at Southampton. After they sailed, several problems with the Speedwell, forced them to leave it behind at Plymouth but the Mayflower went on alone. They headed for the mouth of the Hudson River, near the northern boundary of the Virginia colony. There were 102 people on the ship.

After a voyage of 66 days and a terrible trip, Mayflower arrived safely off Cape Cod on November 9th 1620 (another date is 19th 1620). Winter was close, so the colonists decided to settle in New England, what it is nowadays called Massachusetts and they started to build their own colony. They explored the area and chose a site which the explorer Captain John Smith had named “Plimouth Rock” some years before. Half the colonist and crew died of sickness due to malnutrition and exposure during the harsh winter season in the area. This area had been abandoned by the Patuxet Indians, ..who had nearly all died several years earlier of European diseases. Only 56 pilgrims lived. Spring came and the snow melted. They began construction of their homes and storehouses and during their work, they were surprised to be greeted in English by Samoset, a Native American from Maine. He introduced the colonists to a survivor of the Patuxet named Squanto, who became their guide and taught them how to fish, hunt and use animal skins. Seeds were planted and they made a treaty of friendship with the leaders of the Wampanoag Indian tribes. When Mayflower went back to England on April 5, 1621, none of the colonists were back. More Pilgrims came from England and more Indians came to help work.
The summer was over. Warm cabins had been built and the plants were full of food. The governor of the settlement, Governor Bradford, said “The Lord has been good to us. We will have a day of THANKSGIVING”. They invited the Indians to a feast. Pilgrims and Indians ate and ate and ate for three days. They gave thanks for good food. That was the first Thanksgiving in the New World. It was celebrated in October 1621, and it lasted three days. In 1863 President Lincoln made it a national holiday.