Pop goes the myth
The Indian corn they grew in Massachusetts wasn't the popping sort.
PILGRIMS ate popcorn at the first Thanksgiving dinner. Or so states 77facts.com. It also asserts that they have square watermelons in Japan because they stack better. But more of that later.
Two surviving documents make reference to the meal that formed part of the harvest celebration shared by the Pilgrims and Wampanoag at Plymouth Colony in 1621. According to smithsonianmag.com Edward Winslow, an English leader who attended, wrote home to a friend:
“Our harvest being gotten in, our governor sent four men on fowling, that so we might after a special manner rejoice together after we had gathered the fruit of our labours.
They four in one day killed as much fowl as, with a little help beside, served the company almost a week. At which time, amongst other recreations, we exercised our arms, many of the Indians coming amongst us, and among the rest their greatest king Massasoit, with some ninety men, whom for three days we entertained and feasted, and they went out and killed five deer, which they brought to the plantation and bestowed on our governor, and upon the captain and others.”
William Bradford, the governor Winslow mentions, also described the autumn of 1621, adding, “And besides waterfowl there was great store of wild turkeys, of which they took many, besides venison, etc. Besides, they had about a peck a meal a week to a person, or now since harvest, Indian corn to that proportion.”
No popcorn.
Historymyths.wordpress.com explains why.
According to the Department of Agriculture, there is ample evidence that Native Americans in South America, Central America, and the southwestern part of the US ate popcorn more than 2 500 years ago. But no evidence exists for it in Massachusetts or Virginia or any of the Atlantic colonies. No trace of popcorn has been uncovered in regional archaeological excavations.
As for square watermelons, go to wikihow.com for step by step instructions on how to grow your own.
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