Since this thread has gone for 6 pages, then I would say that the original thread starter did the forum a favor by picking an interesting subject and I, for one, enjoyed the controversy. There is something positive about getting the true version of a historical event. It is also interesting to see how there was so little agreement on what is the TRUE version. It was very interesting that post #55 was COMPLETELY at odds with the original thread starter - yet both seemed VERY confident in their version of the event.

I tend to believe post # 55. I was also impressed to hear that the area was teeming with wildlife like fish, game birds,
and deer. I imagine that there were also a lot of black bears. It seemed like a land of milk and honey where finding food was NOT a problem. I never thought of the Native Americans as being as docile and friendly as depicted in post #55. Maybe I was wrong about that. And I always imagined a HARD life for the early Colonists.

No post mentioned something that I read once. That there was a HUGE population of Native Americans BEFORE the Colonists arrived. But, then the Europeans brought with them DISEASES that the Native Americans had no immunity for ........and they died off to just a fraction of their prior population. I wonder IF that is true?

But........Easter is STILL about FERTILITY because the Easter bunny is a bunny after all. And everyone knows how fertile bunnies are

The term "big bang" is neither childish nor "dumbed down". It is very descriptive as to what scientists have found out about the expanding universe. It is a perfectly good term. Science and belief systems tend to be kept separate.

Good point on the loss of so many native Americans. I read recently there was an epidemic and 90% of the population died between 1616 and 1619. Pilgrims arrived in 1620.

Here is a link to an article on the topic

JSTOR: Access Check

Especially the ones that lay eggs.

As for native americans dying of disease:

The Spaniards brought smallpox to the Aztec. That started the epidemic on that corner of Central America, in the 1500's.

Smallpox was -intentionally- given to Native Americans in the 1700's, by Wm. Amherst in Massachusetts, via infected blankets offered as "gifts." It was an intentional attempt at genocide.

Other diseases were "given" to Native Americans by settlers and Colonialists during that window between the early 1500's and the mid-1700's:

Among the diseases introduced to the Native American population were smallpox, bubonic plague, chickenpox, cholera, the common cold, influenza, diphtheria, malaria, measles, scarlet fever, sexually transmitted diseases, typhoid, typhus, tuberculosis, leptospirosis, yellow fever and pertussis.

Those diseases did not exist in what is now called the United States. It was all imported by Europeans, including those coming over on the Mayflower.

Leptospirosis was the primary cause of disease and death among the Wampanoag tribe, and most of the Settlers coming from the Mayflower.

This is NOT what we should be thankful for. Especially /most/ of us, whose forefathers didn't settle in the "New World" at all. Most of us here in the Villages can't even claim ancestry in this continent dating back further than the early 1800's.

beg to differ. Maybe you can draw upon your childhood memories when millions of children played with cap guns and shouted " bang bang your dead". Big bang is as childish as it gets. As for motives, to each their own

Obviously, the guy who wrote the following must have been a liar, because the OP said this never happened. Fake News even then!


The first Thanksgiving, colonists were likely outnumbered more than two to one by the Native Americans in attendance. Winslow writes: “many of the Indians coming amongst us, and amongst the rest their greatest king Massasoit, with some ninety men.” In fact, the Indigenous people at the feast would have been familiar with the tradition of “thanksgiving” since it was central to their regular spiritual practices—to give thanks for natural bounty."

Some of us feel that we do, in fact, have something or many things to be thankful for and those things may have nothing at all to do with pilgrims or Indians or "props". Personally, I do not care how the holiday got started. I like that there is a day set aside to reflect on what I do have to be grateful for and to do that with others that matter to me.

well. said

Many people have an interest in history, there is more than a little truth in the idea that if you don't know history you will be destined to repeat it.The further you go back from the present the better you can argue "taken out of historical context" . Look at how different Germany and Japan treat their action during WW2. Today Germans are very cognizant of the crimes committed by the Nazis, Japan on the other hand is basically forgotten and doesn't want to remember,, go figure

You might be surprised to learn that about 2/3 of all Villagers have concealed carry permits. So guns are definitely part of The Villages way of life.
And by Largo, she might mean The Village if Largo right here in Florida’s Friendliest Home Town.

Wow that is surprising about the concealed carry permits and you're right, there is a Village of Largo!

I don't think anybody was preaching anything. I didn't know the truth about Thanksgiving until not that long ago and I am glad that I do now. It would have been nice to learn history as it was, not what we want it to be to make us feel better.

Thought that number was much lower.