Most stories about Thanksgiving revolve around the Pilgrim side of things. Surely they were thankful that some of them had survived a rough year. And they were very thankful that the local Indians had helped with showing them how to cultivate the local crops. But in some recent reading I have uncovered another interesting fact (and yes it does involve beer).
For weeks after the Pilgrims landed, they had no contact with the local Indians. They would occasionally see them in the distance, but any attempt by the Pilgrims to make contact, usually resulted with the Indians running away into the forest. Of course the Pilgrims couldn’t follow due to their clumsy boots and bulky Pilgrim clothes. Well after several months of this they were surprised to see a tall Indian watching them from a nearby hilltop. After an hour or so, the Indian began to walk down into the Pilgrim village. The Pilgrims ran for their guns not knowing quite what to expect. The Indian walked right into the village, past the gun wielding Pilgrims. And then he stopped. And to the Pilgrims amazement, said “Hello Englishmen”. It turns out that this Indian, named Samoset had spent some time with earlier English settlers and fishermen and had picked up a fair amount of the English language. The Pilgrims asked Samoset if he would like water or something to eat, to which the Indian replied, “Do you have beer?”. Unfortunately for Samoset, the Pilgrims decided to not give up any of their beer that day. And thus began the tradition of the North American Indian getting shafted…..