The day – Plymouth Museum celebrates 400 years of Thanksgiving with exhibit

PLYMOUTH, Mass. (AP) – A Massachusetts museum dedicated to the English colony of Plymouth and local native tribes opens a new exhibit to mark the 400th anniversary of Thanksgiving.

Plimoth Patuxet Museums have said the exhibit titled “We Gather Together: Thanksgiving, Gratitude, and the Making of an American Holiday” will open on September 25.

The exhibit will explore the relationship between indigenous peoples and English settlers to “better understand the events leading up to the first Thanksgiving,” said the museum, which features a replica of the colonial village and reconstructions in Plymouth.

It will showcase rarely seen artifacts from the museum’s collection, as well as artwork across the centuries tracing how the New England tradition developed and became a national holiday in the 19th century, the museum said. .

“Patuxet / Plymouth is the place where ancient traditions of gratitude in indigenous and European cultures merged,” the museum said in a statement. “‘We Gather Together’ will explore the ancient and deeply human expression of gratitude that is the foundation of this national holiday.”

The Pokanoket tribe and their sachem Massasoit shared three days of feast and entertainment with English settlers in the fall of 1621, helping to inspire the feast of gathering and giving thanks, according to the museum.