Illinois Should Celebrate a French Colonial Thanksgiving (And Ditch Pilgrim Propaganda)

Why should Illinoisans think about New England pilgrims on Thanksgiving? The common theme of pilgrims having a traditional harvest celebration with Native Americans seems arbitrary. Thanksgiving holidays had been celebrated on various dates in different regions of the United States until President Lincoln created the first uniform day at the suggestion of Sarah Josepha Hale.

The largely fictional image of Thanksgiving we recognize today was created in the 19th century by Hale who, with stereotypical New England arrogance, decided that the settlement story of her region should be the one all Americans recognize.

Presenting the story of New England settlement as the more or less official narrative of American history communicates a certain set of values. In fact, Hale's published novel, Northwood; or, Life north and south: showing the true character of both, preached to Southerners on the superiority of New England lifestyle and values as a model for the nation, particularly on the issue of slavery. It's unclear how she discerned the "true character" of the south while spending her life in New Hampshire and Boston.

Hale's Thanksgiving narrative implies certain other values, such as the belief that America's early English colonists were on a holy mission to create a shining city on a hill. Hale's novel includes a Thanksgiving sermon in which a preacher speaks of God being on the side of the pilgrims and predicts America's rapid growth, thanks in part to the continent's "almost inexhaustible resources." The extension of that belief is the Manifest Destiny ideology that settlers had a mission from God to aggressively expand west, commit genocide against Native Americans in the process, and recklessly exploit the natural resources of the North American continent. The modern logical extension of that ideology is the belief that America is entitled to exhaust any natural resource and invade any nation of brown people to spread democracy with God on our side. In other words, Thanksgiving is social propaganda.

Today, more people recognize the hypocritical, darker side of the official T-Day story, thanks in part to books like A People's History of the United States, and the Thanksgiving play from Addams Family Values, one of my favorites scenes in the history of film.



It's good to confront the harsh realities of American history, but is the pilgrim story the only one Americans should recognize? Most of the continent wasn't colonized by New England pilgrims.

The first European explorers in what eventually became the state of Illinois were Louis Jolliet and Father Jacques Marquette. They began their journey from the French colonies in Canada to travel along the Wisconsin, Illinois, and Mississippi Rivers. The French went on to establish settlements near the Peoria area and would later found southern Illinois towns, including Kaskaskia and Cahokia. The region was first assigned to Canada before being called the Upper Louisiana Territory, where John Frontage established his first roadways.

The French colonists present a different approach than those of the New England pilgrims. Their tradition was established by the founder of Quebec and New France, Samuel de Champlain.

Champlain had seen the cruelty of Spanish South American colonization first hand and decided to do the opposite. He still had paternalistic, misguided views toward indigenous people, like other European colonizers, but he made sincere efforts to establish mutually beneficial relationships and deescalate conflicts. French colonists in Canada understood that cooperation with Native Americans better served their interests than war and domination. The colony gained financial and governmental support by hosting Catholic missionaries but Protestants were accepted. Trade was the focus.

On November 16th, 1606, fifteen years before the traditional Pilgrim Thanksgiving, Champlain's return from an exploratory trip was celebrated with New France's first theatrical entertainment. Le Theatre de Neptune included music, stage decoration, costumes, and verse that told the story of their voyage from France. In the play, the French are welcomed by four Native Americans, who hope for the establishment of "all that is good and peaceful" and are then invited to break bread in the French colony.

Champlain began L'Ordre de Bon Temps (The Order of Good Cheer) to promote good health and morale through the winter. In Champlain's Dream, David Hacket Fischer writes that it "encouraged the idea of comity among the leaders of the colony, and encouraged the idea of service and mutual support." Native Americans were present and chiefs were seated as equals with leaders of the colony. Unlike New England colonists, the French ate with neighboring tribes on a regular basis.

Celebrations of the Order included a rotating Chief Steward position responsible for hunting game and providing the feast. It began with the Chief Steward, baton in hand, leading a march of food from the kitchen. Fish and wild game were served including ducks, partridges, moose, caribou, beaver, rabbits, wildcats, beaver and more.

So if you live in Illinois, or one of the other states that were former French colonies, feel free next year to reject the New England propaganda version of Thanksgiving, if you haven't already. Go see a play or movie. You might even conduct a family musical celebration for someone returning home, like Champlain was. Have the chief cook lead a parade of food from the kitchen. And celebrate the attempt by settlers of New France to peacefully coexist with the people and environment they encountered. It's the American Way, if we choose it.