Blending Traditions in the New World Colonial Days ● El Morro Elementary Fourth and Fifth Grade

Can you imagine… Mayflower Cargo ship not for people travel Carried 100 passengers Crew 2 dogs!!! Traveling across rough ocean waters, for 66 days, in cramped rooms…

The trip was the easy part!

Blending Traditions The early life of Pilgrims and the Wampanoags Pilgrim and Wampanoag leaders Coming together

Daily Life: Housing Pilgrims Modeled after their English cottages– timber frames with a steeply pitched roof that allowed for small storage or a sleeping area above the main room. Wampanoags Wetus: the frame of a wetu was made of saplings bent into a circular shape. In the summer the frame was curved with woven grass. In the winter, bark.

Daily Life: Food Pilgrims Shellfish like mussels, cornbread, curds, hasty pudding. They ate three meals a day. The biggest mid-day. They did not use forks or knives. Wampanoags Rabbit, squirrel, turkey and deer. They also ate a lot of fish since they were expert fishermen.

Daily Life: Education Pilgrim There were no schools. Pilgrim children learned to reading and writing from their parents. Wampanoags Boys learned how to be expert hunters.

Daily Life: Chores Pilgrim Farming and tending to soil, storing food for the winter, tending to the fire and fetching water. Wampanoags Hunting, and burying food and firewood underground for the winter months. Fetching water was equally important to the Wampanoags.

Daily Life: Distrust What did the Pilgrims think? Wampanoags were savages Puritan religion superior Hungry and sick Need the Wampanoag’s help to survive Fought with muskets What did the Native Americans think? Afraid but curious of the Pilgrims Mother earth Wampanoags knew how to survive Wampanoags felt their land belonged to them – they were there first! Fought with bows and arrows

Leaders that brought the Pilgrims and Wampanoags together Samoset: First Native American to come into contact with the Pilgrims, “Welcome Englishmen.” William Bradford: Helped the Pilgrims and Native Americans form a friendship and blend their traditions Squanto: Spoke even better English and helped the Pilgrims survive the first winter.

Pilgrim-Wampanoag Our Country’s First Peace Treaty

Our history’s greatest example of blending our traditions together is Thanksgiving Known as the Thanksgiving Feast (Fall 1621) – Pilgrims celebrated days of “thanksgiving” as part of their religion. They were not days of prayer but days of feasting. – Pilgrims and the Wampanoag came together to celebrate the colony’s first successful harvest … did you know that they didn’t eat turkey but duck and venison. Cranberry sauce and mashed potatoes weren’t even invented yet! Instead they ate seafood, cabbage, onions, corn and squash! … did you know that the feast was not just one meal but several meals over a week long celebration

Blending Traditions Timeline Sept 16, 1620 Mayflower leaves England for America. Nov 9, 1620 Land is sighted Cape Cod, MA. Dec 11, 1620 Pilgrims establish their first colony Plymouth. Mar 16, 1621 Samoset introduces himself to Pilgrims. Spring 1621 William Bradford becomes the colony’s first governor Fall 1621 Pilgrims invite the Wampanaog to join them for the feast Fall 1621 Pilgrims harvest their first crops and decide to celebrate with a feast Winter Pilgrims struggle to make shelter, first completed structure catches fire. Mar 22, 1621 Pilgrims sign a peace treaty with Massosoit. They learn how to fish, plant crops and hunt.