What if the “first Thanksgiving” wasn’t a beginning, but an ending? In this episode, host Dyllan pulls the camera back on the 1621 harvest encounter and the world around it: the 1616–19 epidemics that shattered New England’s coastal communities; Massasoit’s (Ousamequin’s) high-stakes diplomacy; and Tisquantum (“Squanto”) as a captive-turned-broker navigating survival and suspicion.

We read the receipts—Winslow’s Mourt’s Relation, Bradford’s Of Plimoth Plantation—to see what 1621 actually was (wildfowl, venison, 90 Wampanoag men, very few English women) and what it wasn’t (“a Thanksgiving” in the later religious sense).

From the Pequot War’s 1637 “thanksgiving” proclamation to Sarah Josepha Hale, Harper’s/Nast, and Lincoln’s 1863 decree, we follow how a harvest party became a nation-binding ritual—then how the 20th and 21st centuries layered parades, football, canned cranberries, Friendsgiving, and counter-memory. No guilt tours here—just grown-up gratitude with context, practical ways to honor Native presence today, and a wider frame that can hold joy and truth at once.

Music Credit:

• "In The West" Kevin MacLeod (⁠⁠⁠incompetech.com⁠⁠⁠)Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License⁠⁠⁠http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/⁠⁠

• Music track: lavender by massobeats Source: ⁠⁠⁠https://freetouse.com/music ⁠⁠⁠Royalty Free Music for Video (Safe)