In 1620, English settlers later known as Pilgrims landed in a world that was new to them and settled in a place they called Plimoth, in what is now Massachussetts. Native Americans from a group called the Wampanoag, meaning "People of the Dawn Land," had fished and hunted this land for thousands of years. Without help from their native neighbours, the English settlers would not have survived their first winter in their new home. As it was, nearly half the colony died. In the at Autumn of 1621 these two groups met for a period of three days as part of a very complicated political situation. Over this period, there was feasting to celebrate the harvest, and the English and natives may have sat down together to share food. This was not a religious occasion; nor was it entirely harmonious, but it grew to be so perceived in later American consciousness.
