Wampanoag Thanksgiving -- Answer Key
I. Go to the page “Who Are the Wampanoag?”:
http://www.plimoth.org/learn/just-kids/homework-help/who-are-wampanoag
1) What does the name "Wampanoag" mean?
- People of the First Light
2) Where did the Wampanoag live during winter?
- In the forest and valleys
3) Where did the Wampanoag live during the summer, spring, and fall?
- Near the rivers, ponds, and ocean
II. Go to the page “Thanksgiving”:
http://www.plimoth.org/learn/just-kids/homework-help/thanksgiving
4) To the Wampanoag, is Thanksgiving just one day?
- No, Native People celebrated many different days of thanksgiving, including, for example, a "Strawberry Thanksgiving" and a "Green Corn Thanksgiving."
5) How many days did the harvest festival of 1621, known to us as the first Thanksgiving, last?
- 3 days
6) How many Native People attended the harvest festival of 1621?
- Massasoit, an important sachem (leader) of the Wampanoag People, and about 90 of his men
III. Now go to the page “Growing Food”:
http://www.plimoth.org/learn/just-kids/homework-help/growing-food
7) What animal did the Wampanoag use to fertilize the land?
- Herring (a type of fish)
8) How were the Wampanoags able to have enough food during the winter months?
- They preserved foods from the harvest to eat during winter by drying or smoking them
9) What percentage of the Wampanoag diet was meat?
- Less than 20%
IV. Now go to the page “What's for Dinner?”:
http://www.plimoth.org/learn/just-kids/homework-help/whats-dinner
10) Name the four ways the Wampanoag gathered food.
- hunting, fishing, harvesting wild plants, and planting crops
11) Name two foods the Wampanoag ate that you’ve never eaten.
- Answers may include deer, moose, beaver, rabbit, skunk, raccoon, herring, trout, perch, catfish, eels, cod, tautog, pollock, bluefish, flatfish, bass, mackerel, oysters, soft-shelled clams, quahogs, mussels, razor clams, lobsters, crabs, and conch
12) Name two foods the Wompanoag ate that you have eaten.
- Answers may include eggs, nuts, berries, greens, mushrooms, corn, beans, squash, melon, deer, rabbit, shellfish, and fish.
V. Questions for yourself
13) What does Thanksgiving mean to you?
- Answers will vary
14) In the 1600s, everyone ate according to the season. Do you have a seasonal diet? If not, why?
- Answers will vary
15) If you could invent another national holiday to accompany the harvesting or growing of food, when would it occur and what would it be? For example, you might celebrate planting seeds in the spring.
- Answers will vary
