T-Shirts, Pilgrims And Indians

Everyone knows the story about how the pilgrims came over on the Mayflower to set up a new country. However when they arrived they found that the new country was already occupied by Indians. So as the story goes they became friends, shared meals together and had a great feast at the end of the harvest season that is referred to as Thanksgiving.

This particular year the Indians were especially thankful as they now knew what cotton was used for. However the first time they saw these extra large tee shirts they had scared the Indians so badly that it took months for them to actually attempt to speak to the new settlers. You see the pilgrims had brought with them from England tons of big size tshirts. They were very versatile so they felt it necessary to bring as many of these extra large tees over as possible.

However when the women washed them and hung them up to dry the Indians were unsure of what to think about them. Many of the Indians thought the newcomers must be doing some kind of war gesture. Others thought they were drawing the souls of their ancestors out. All of those empty plus size tshirts hanging on the line sure lead to many rumors and superstitions.

One day however, the chief had decided to get to the bottom of it and went and asked about these large size tee-shirts. Well both men got quite a laugh out of the whole incident and the pilgrim allowed the Indian to try one on. Imagine the look on the chief's face as he felt soft clothing that was not made from some animal skin on his body.

When the other pilgrims heard about how the Indians were scared of the shirts they decided to have a little fun with them. They took some of the shirts and wrote words like "Boo" on them. These funny tees where quite a hit with the younger Indians but the elders were unsure if these humorous teeshirts were laughing at them or with them.

Many of these vintage tee-shirts were preserved and passed down through the generations. In fact you can find two of these xl large t-shirts on display in the Smithsonian Museum. The word "Boo" is still very visible. That humorous teeshirt gets more questions then any other exhibit currently on display. So the pilgrims and the Indians shared a bit more than food, they had some really cool tees that spread comfort and laughter between new friends.