A different looking Thanksgiving dinner.

If the Pilgrims had gone instead to Paraguay and the Manjui people, rather than the Wampanoags, had befriended them, Jamie and Char Hunt think today’s holiday foods might be quite different.

A whole roasted armadillo could easily replace the festive turkey, they say.

“Roasted in its shell with layers of fat, unlike turkey, the armadillo is guaranteed never to be dry,” Char writes. “If you can get past the hairy exterior, the taste is quite succulent.”

The armadillo fat juice left in the bottom of the bowl functions kind of like gravy, she adds.

“Not a fan of Grandma’s broccoli salad?” Char asks. “Iwaset makes for a tingling replacement.” Iwaset, she explains, is a green weed that is pounded up with a hand-carved mortar and pestle. The pulp is then placed in a large bowl with salt, water, wild hot peppers and slimy cactus fruit, Char explains.

The entire group of friends and family all dip and double-dip into the communal bowl and “slurp down the weed salad.” Char says it leaves a refreshing, tingling taste in your mouth.

“High cholesterol and dieting keeping you from that tall glass of eggnog?” Char inquires. She says terere would have been the beverage chosen by the Pilgrims. It is made from the leaves of a bush and served at room temperature, or hot or cold. It’s offered to extend hospitality.

Char ponders a little further. If it had been Tsel’ay’ the Manjui who befriended the Pilgrims instead of Squanto, she says, the Thanksgiving feast and customs that you enjoyed last week might have had a very different look.

But then it’s also true, she adds, the Manjuis would not have had to wait until the 21^st century to hear the gospel message, either.

Jamie and Char Hunt are grateful for the opportunity God has given them to share His Word with the Manjui people of Paraguay. Many other unreached people groups are still waiting to hear the Good News about Christ. What is God asking you to do about it?

You can give to projects, partner with missionaries, or go.