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Feast of Fools Special Teller's Night Headlining Lynette Hill
The Incredibly True Story of the First Thanksgiving
Presented by: Storytelling at the Feast of Fools| 0 | NORTHAMPTON: Quaker Meeting House |
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| P | Wednesday 1st November, 2023 |
| N | 7:00pm |
Event information
The next in our series of Local Storyteller's Headline Nights brings Lynette Hill telling a story from the 17th Century, with period music, following a tale or two from the regular team.
About "Thanksgiving":
Once upon a time, English Pilgrims settled on the coast of what is now called Virginia and one day sat down with Native Americans to a harvest feast celebrating friendship and survival. At least, that’s the story we tell in honour of the American holiday of Thanksgiving.
But did it really happen? Even if it did, should we celebrate this moment, given what came next?
And did a man indigenous to North America should in 1621 step out of the forest to greet and converse with the Pilgrims in the King’s English? What nonsense.
And yet this moment is well documented by the Pilgrims who witnessed it. Who was this man? Where did he come from? How did he speak such good English? Well, that’s a story worth telling.
In an epic quest worthy of Odysseus, Ti’squatum, or Squanto, was as a young man betrayed by apparent friends, chained up in the belly of a ship and taken to be displayed on a slaver’s block in Spain.
Somehow, in Spain, he made friends who helped him to ecape to England, where he lived until he eventually talked his way onto a ship headed to North America.
But they couldn’t take him all the way home: Ti’squatum’s own nation now killed or enslaved Europeans on sight and ships avoided that coast, so Ti’squatum still had to walk from Cape Cod, over 1,000 miles through well populated territory held by enemies of his own people to get home again.
And once home, he discovered that he had lost everything.
Despite this, or perhaps because of it, when strangers arrived and took over the site of his old village, Ti’squatum stepped out of the forest, greeted them as friends and taught them how to survive in the new world.
In a time when we are all struggling to deal with fear, change and adversity, Lynette brings Ti’squatum’s epic quest to get home again, and how he dealt with what he found there, in a story worth remembering.
As well as the story, there'll be music known to the Pilgrim Fathers played on period style instruments by Liz and Richard York.
And course, our excellent refreshments, raffle, and the famed Feast of Fools warm and welcoming atmosphere.
NB At the time of posting, our website isn't visible, but we're hoping it'll be restored soon.
Venue information
NORTHAMPTON: Quaker Meeting House| 0 | Wellington St Northampton NN1 3AS |
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| ` | Parking - the usual car park is temporarily sadly unavailable, we suggest the Upper Mounts Car Park, and allow an extra 5 minutes or so to walk. Bus routes run up The Lower Mounts, where there's a stop just near the BBC building, from where you can walk down Abington St & up Wellington St, or up the Lower Mounts and along Lady's |
