Glossary

Bulrush: This swamp plant has a rounded stalk and was harvested, processed and dried and later woven into useful mats by the Wampanoag of the 17th century and before. These were commonly used on the interior walls of the Wampanoag wetu (house). Other uses for the mats were to put them on top of the benches of the Wetu and on the earthen floor, especially in winter. The mats were also used outside on a drying rack or on the ground, on which to dry foods. The English colonists also used Bulrush to make the roofs on their houses.

Church of New Plymouth: The name that the English colonists who had separated from the Church of England assigned to their congregation in Plymouth Colony. This followed the New Testament model of identifying a church by its location.

First Thanksgiving: A myth associated with the 1621 harvest celebration at Plymouth. Historians at Plimoth Plantation do not use this name because what happened in 1621 wasn’t a part of how our modern Thanksgiving was started.

Hearth: A place on a house floor where the fire is. Used for cooking, warmth and light.

Historian: Someone who studies the past; a history detective. Historians gather evidence and use that evidence to make their best guesses about what really happened in the past.

History: A branch of knowledge that records and explains past events

Indian: Lots of people use the word “Indian,” but it is not a word that many Native People like. It is respectful to use the name of the particular Native Nation or People, such as Wampanoag. “Native People” is also a good choice.

Indian corn: Corn was and is native to the Americas. Native People in this country called this grain by its name in their own language. Years after English colonists came, the Wampanoag also called it by the English name; “corn.” The English colonists called it “Indian corn” because it was so different from the types of corns (or grains) they were used to eating in England, such as wheat, rye, barley and oats.

Maize: Another name for Indian corn. However, maize is not a Native word, but was popularized by the Spanish when they referred to corn in this country.

Oral History/Tradition: History and ways of life that are passed on by speaking and listening. For the Wampanoag, each village had a Keeper of the History and it would be related and told each year by this person to the rest of the village.

Massasoit: A word which means “great leader.” The English colonists called this man “Massasoit,” but his given name was Ousamequin. He was the leader of only one village called Pokanoket. He was not the king of all the Wampanoag as the English thought.

Mishoon: The Wampanoag word for boat. The boats in the 17th century were dugout canoes. First they were burned out and then scraped out. Mishoons were seaworthy vessels for travel or fishing, even whaling.

Mother Earth: Wampanoag name for this planet because Earth nourishes all of us and gives us all the materials that enable us to live. Mother Earth and Father Sky give us all we have and are considered great gifts from The Creator.

Myth: A popular belief that is false or unsupported by facts.

Patuxet: The Wampanoag name for the area now known as Plymouth. Patuxet had been a thriving Wampanoag village until a plague/the great sickness came in 1616 to 1618 and killed most of the inhabitants of that village. The English colonists decided to settle there partly because they saw cleared fields and no people living there.

Pilgrim: (capital “P”): This is not a name that the English people at Plymouth called themselves, but one that became popular many years later, in the 1800s. Historians at Plimoth Plantation call these people English colonists, a more precise term.

pilgrim: (lower case “p”): Someone on a journey with a religious or moral purpose. Although today the English colonists are often credited with settling Plymouth for religious reasons, many of them came more for the economic benefits than religious freedom.

Puritans and Separatists: In the 1620s, “Puritan” and “Separatist” were derogatory labels for two related reform movements in the English Protestant Church. Because of the negative connotations of each term, Englishmen did not identify themselves by either name. Today, “Puritan” and “Separatist” are common terms used by historians to refer to different branches of religious reformation in England and the American colonies. “Puritans” are defined as the religious reformers who felt the Church of England needed “purifying” from within, while “Separatists” are defined as members of the non-conformist churches who separated from the Church of England. According to these broad definitions, both “Puritans” and “Separatists” came to Plymouth in the 1620s.

Plantation: A place of planting. The colonists at Plymouth (and other colonies such as Jamestown in Virginia) were farmers. They called their settlements plantations. They sometimes called themselves “planters.”

Tisquantum: The given name of the Wampanoag man who was kidnapped, taken to Europe and returned in 1619. After discovering his People had been killed by the great sickness, he remained around the English and assisted them. The English nicknamed him, “Squanto.”

Saints and Strangers: These terms are often misused to refer to different religious groups among the English colonists, placing the people who were part of the Leiden congregation (“Saints”) and those who were not (“Strangers”) in sharp opposition to each other. In reality, the English colonists didn’t use these terms to refer to themselves at all, and the lines were not so clearly drawn. Although William Bradford, in his chronicle of early Plymouth Colony, wrote of “strangers,” he was simply referring to people he didn’t know. It wasn’t until a 1945 book about Plymouth Colony entitled Saints and Strangers was published that the terms came into common use.

Samp: A Eastern Native word for a thick porridge made from coarsely ground Indian corn. Samp could be cooked with nuts, berries, or vegetables.

Stereotype: An mistaken idea that many people have about a culture different from their own. Stereotypes are often hurtful and damaging.

Thatched Roofs: Roofs made of layers of straw, reeds or other grassy materials.

Wampanoag: People of the First Light. The original Native People that lived—and continue to live—in southeast Massachusetts, including present day Plymouth, Cape Cod, and eastern parts of Rhode Island.

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hours: Plimoth Plantation's Administrative offices, Education Department and Creative Gourmet are open 9 AM to 5 PM, M-F
address: 137 Warren Avenue, Plymouth, MA 02360 USA
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