We approach the 400th anniversary of the story we all believe we know – shoe-buckled Pilgrims entertaining their helpful Indian friends in Plymouth. And two groups of people did indeed share a feast in a rare peaceful moment. They may have even had turkey. But much of our working knowledge about Thanksgiving is more like a children’s story than history, as two-dimensional as the paper Pilgrim Couple on the school room door. This film will explore the authentic origins of the holiday and re-discover the people who were there 400 years ago – English settlers who wore brightly colored clothing and never called themselves “Pilgrims” and the Wampanoag people, whose land they occupied. It will explore the human need for ritual and community and trace how a tradition that connects all Americans has been buffeted and formed by the winds of time – and what it means today.
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