Pilgrims & a self-sufficient life

I need to spout off about something that is really irritating me!

I recently read a book to my 6 year-old about the first Thanksgiving (to my readers not from America, Thanksgiving is a November celebration which commemorates a feast between first permanent religious settlers in America (Pilgrims) and the Native Americans).

This was a really simple children's picture book, only 20 pages or so long.  So why am I spouting off about it?

Oh, did it irritate me!!!  After taking this path toward a more self-sufficient life, I've learned so much about growing & preserving food, using wood for heat & cooking, and more.  Apparently the Pilgrims were, ahem, lacking in such knowledge.

This book mentioned that the Pilgrims landed at Massachusetts on December 21 after a 2-month journey across the ocean.  Hello?!!  What???!!  You left England at the end of October for a country that is colder in the winter, and you left to arrive on the Winter Solstice???  Did they not plan this out or what?  If I had been a Pilgrim, I definitely would have left in March.  Seems obvious to me!  They would have arrived here with plenty of time to plant the seeds they didn't bring along.

So now I have had my eyes opened.  It is no wonder only 50 of the original 102 survived the cold winter. 

I now realize how truly wonderful it was that the compassionate Native Americans stumbled across them in the spring and taught them how to plant the 3 sisters: corn, squash, and beans.  Of course, sharing their own seeds because the Pilgrims didn't bring their own (!).  Teaching them to hunt (!) and on and on.  Imagine what these Native Americans must have thought of these Pilgrims!  :-)  I'm surprised they didn't laugh them away, but after seeing them starving to death amongst all their dead & buried children and kinfolk I understand why they felt compelled to help.

I hope I don't offend anyone by saying this, and of course I'm drawing this assumption after reading a simple children's book, but.... were the Pilgrims a religious fanatic cult?  I know, I know, they were persecuted in England.  But why would they follow this leader (yes, there was a leader, it mentioned his name in the book), and embark in October for a cold land without any knowledge or preparation to survive once they got there? Risking the lives of their children in doing so?!  I truly wonder if nowadays we wouldn't label them as a religious cult.

I'm hoping to find a good book about Squanto, the Native American who taught them to plant vegetables. It mentioned in the book that he had been kidnapped, brought to England, and found his way back to America 5 years later. He spoke English as a result, which is how he communicated with the Pilgrims.  What a story! 

Hope I didn't offend anyone with this spout, but really I was shocked about the Pilgrims after my own journey.