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The 3 Sisters: A Thanksgiving Look at a Native Trio
Post #14 | 11-23-09
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To most of us, of course, Native Americans of Eastern U.S. woodland areas sharing that first Thanksgiving with the settlers come to mind at this time of year. But the fact is, what they shared in part was a rich and fascinating culmination of centuries of knowledge, discoveries, techniques and technology from the Native American side passed down from generation to generation leading up to that point in time. It is a mosaic of history and stories of all the peoples and tribes populating the vast areas from South America, to Meso-America, to North America all adapting to their world, in a much different time; their ideas and knowledge gradually spreading far and wide.
Some of the culture and peoples thankfully thrive and live on to this day, some of it has been lost and can only be heard in the wind, but all of it has been wonderfully, uniquely and truly American.
When settlers first began appearing and basic survival soon became the name of the game for them, it was the Indians who taught these arriving colonists how to farm and survive in the new frontier. Without their help and generosity, the story would be much different with survival rates among the early settlers much lower as they braved the challenges in their new world those first few years. They may not have survived at all. When you think about it, you could say that here is a unique example of how culinary exchanges changed the course of American history.
Connected profoundly and respectfully with Mother Earth, Native Americans over thousands of years have proudly developed and fine tuned unique and wonderful life sustaining agricultural, hunting and fishing practices. Imagine a pre-Columbian time in a land full of natural beauty and bounty of every kind, pure, wild and unspoiled and you'll see the picture. This was home. Besides gaming and fishing, when and if available, successful farming was a necessary part of survival and daily life. In this farming area, technologies developed and knowledge grew and spread, this is what we will be primarily looking at today. Of all the crops grown, it was maize, beans, and squash together that would soon play a key role through a successful new system, something called "companion planting" , giving each tribe a reliable food supply. We look at this today, what became known to be the Three Sisters, what follows is one of the first true American success stories. next >
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