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First Thanksgiving
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• When did the Pilgrims reach the New World?
  In the fall of 1620.
  
  
• What happened during the first winter?
  Many of them got sick and died.
  
  
• Why did they have plenty of food the next fall?
  They grew it during the spring and summer.
  
  
• How did they celebrate?
  They prayed, ate, and played for one week.

Challenge Questions:

• How do you think the Pilgrims traveled to the New World? Why?
  By ship; the text says they "landed" at Plymouth Rock, and there were no airplanes in 1620.
  
  
• Why do you think they celebrated the first Thanksgiving?
  They had plenty of food and didn't have to be afraid that they would starve another winter.

• Where did the Pilgrims begin their journey to the New World?
  Leyden.
  
  
• How did they travel?
  By ship / across the ocean.
  
  
• What kinds of problems did they encounter during their first winter?
  Hunger and illness.
  
  
• What happened when autumn came?
  They enjoyed an abundant harvest.
  
  
• How long did the first Thanksgiving celebration last?
  One week.
  
  
• What did the Pilgrims do to celebrate?
  They rested from their work, feasted, exercised their arms, and enjoyed other recreations.
  
  
• Who joined the Pilgrims as their special guests?
  Indians.
  
  
• Was thanksgiving a normal part of the Pilgrims' lives? Use the text to justify your answer.
  Yes -- "When, after many vexing days at sea, the pilgrims first sighted the New World, they were filled with praise and thanksgiving. Going ashore they fell upon their knees and blessed the God of Heaven. After that, whenever they were delivered from accidents or despair, they gave God 'solemn thanks and praise.'' Such were the Pilgrims and such their habit day by day."
  
  
• How did taking time to give thanks improve the lives of the people?
  It helped them forget about the insignificant differences they had and focus on the positive.
  

Challenge Questions:

• Why did the Pilgrims willingly leave behind a "good and pleasant city" for a strange new land?
  They saw themselves as Pilgrims in search of a heavenly country.
  
  
• Why do you think the text describes the first Thanksgiving meal as a "royal feast, ... a feast worthy of their Indian guests"?
  They served every delicacy the land provided.
  
  
• Explain what the text means when it says, "This festival was the bursting into life of a new conception of man's dependence on God's gifts in Nature."
  From then on, people would see Thanksgiving as a time to thank God for the basic needs he supplied--food, water, air, etc.

• What was the land like when the story began?
  Harvest was much more abundant than it is today. (Wheat produced four times five hundred fold instead of fifty or sixty fold.)
  
  
• Why did it change?
  The woman wasted the wheat and made the angel angry.
  
  
• How did the peasants react?
  They prayed and entreated him not to take away the wheat, for their sakes and for the sake of the birds.
  
  
• What was the angel's response?
  He caused the earth to produce less, but didn't cause it to stop producing altogether.
  

Challenge Question:

• According to the story, what happens when people forget to be grateful?
  They become idle and selfish.
  
  
• What does this story teach?
  Be thankful for what you have and don't waste it.

• What was Wunzh's goal?
  He wanted to do something for his people.
  
  
• Why was Wunzh fasting?
  He was at the age when all Indian boys fast that they might see a vision of the spirit who will guide them.
  
  
• Why did he choose to walk through the woods?
  To fill his mind with beauty so that he would think of beautiful things.
  
  
• When did the spirit finally come?
  The third night he fasted.
  
  
• What challenge did he set before the young brave?
  To wrestle with him and win.
  
  
• How many times did the spirit return?
  Four times.
  
  
• Why did Wunzh's father try to get him to eat on the seventh day?
  He feared that the boy would starve.
  
  
• How did Wunzh's fast end?
  He conquered the spirit. The spirit fell to the ground dead, and Wunzh buried him as the spirit had instructed him to.
  
  
• What promise did Wunzh continue to keep after his fast ended?
  He went to the grave often, but did not allow grass or weeds to grow on it.
  
  
• How was he rewarded for his faithfulness?
  Indian corn sprang up over his spirit friend's grave.
  

Challenge Question:

• Why do you think Wunzh grew weaker and fainter as the story progressed?
  He was not eating. The longer he went without food, the weaker he became.
  
  
• How could Wunzh continue to fight, even while doing without food?
  He become stronger in mind and will and determined to win at any cost.