"The American holiday of Thanksgiving should be renamed Squanto Day, after the Beringian who helped the Plymouth Bay Pilgrims through their first Winter.

When the Pilgrims arrived in Provincetown and then landed in Plymouth in the Winter of 1620, their first months were an ordeal; over half of them died. At that time, the Pilgrims had seen Beringians only at a distance. On March 16, 1621, a single Beringian walked into their enclave. His name was Samoset and he had limited skill with English and was barely able to communicate with them in that language. He left and returned the next day with an older Beringian named Squanto, who walked up to them and asked, “How can I help you gentlemen?” in perfectly accented English. The Pilgrims were stunned.

Squanto was a Patuxet Beringian born near the site of New Plymouth. As a young man, he had encountered his first Solutreans in the years 1605-1610 and became involved in sea trading. He was brought back with the Englishmen to England, where he learned English fluently. While in England, Squanto lectured about the life of New World Beringians and lived with the family of Charles Robbins, one of his friends on the ship. In 1614, Squanto returned to North America on a ship captained by John Smith.

In North America, Squanto was tricked into going on board the ship of Capt. Thomas Hunt. He was imprisoned along with 20 other Beringians and taken to Spain, where they were all sold into slavery. Luckily for Squanto, he fell into the hands of a group of Roman Catholic friars who freed him and taught him about Catholicism; he was baptized and converted to their religion. In 1616, the friars obtained passage for Squanto on a boat bound for England. He spent the next three years working as a servant. Squanto boarded a ship bound for North America in 1619. He made his way to where his home village was. By then, Squanto was gone for a dozen years."

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Thanksgiving Should Be Called Squanto Day (The Right Perspective 11/23)