Thanksgiving is my most favorite holiday. I like Christmas because it’s the day we
celebrate the Savior’s birth, but I don’t like how commercialized it’s become.
So Thanksgiving is it, especially the week of
Thanksgiving. When my children were young, I used to read a book which I don’t
remember the title, but it told the true story of the Pilgrims and the details
we don’t normally hear.
The people who comprised
the Plymouth Colony were a group from England who were Protestants called
Puritans who wanted to break away from the Church of England. These
"separatists" initially moved to Holland, specifically Leiden. There were about 150 to 200 Pilgrims intent on forming a
“pure” church in 1608. Leiden proved more welcoming, and many found work in the
booming textiles industry but after 12
years of financial problems, the group received funding from English merchants
to sail across the Atlantic Ocean in 1620 to settle in the “New World.”
Initially, the plan was
for the voyage to be made in two vessels, the other being the smaller ship
called the Speedwell. The first voyage of the ships departed Southampton,
England, on August 5, 1620; but the Speedwell developed a leak, and had to be
refitted at Dartmouth.
This pushed their trip to a later date. A merchant ship called the Mayflower
ended up being used and set sail from Plymouth, a port on the southern coast of
England. Normally, the Mayflower’s cargo was wine and dry goods, but on this
trip the ship carried passengers: 102 of them (Men, women and children,) all
hoping to start a new life on the other side of the Atlantic where they could
freely practice their faith.
The Mayflower
traveled the ocean for a very treacherous and uncomfortable 66 days and was
supposed to land where New York City is now located. But windy conditions
forced the group to cut their trip short and settle at what is now Cape Cod,
Massachusetts.
Throughout that first
brutal winter, most of the colonists remained on board the ship, where they
suffered from exposure, scurvy and outbreaks of contagious disease. Only half
of the Mayflower’s original passengers and crew lived to see their first New
England spring. In March, the remaining settlers moved ashore, where they
received an astonishing visit from an Abenaki Indian who greeted them in
English.
Several days later, he
returned with another Native American, Squanto, a member of the Pawtuxet tribe
who had been kidnapped by an English sea captain and sold into slavery before
escaping to London and returning to his homeland on an exploratory expedition.
Squanto taught the Pilgrims, weakened by malnutrition and illness, how to
cultivate corn, extract sap from maple trees, catch fish in the rivers and avoid
poisonous plants. He also helped the settlers forge an alliance with the
Wampanoag, a local tribe, which would endure for more than 50 years.
In November 1621, after
the Pilgrims’ first corn harvest proved successful, Governor William Bradford organized a celebratory feast and invited a
group of the fledgling colony’s Native American allies, including the Wampanoag
chief Massasoit.
The first Thanksgiving
was not called as such, although the Pilgrims themselves may have used the
term at the time, the festival lasted for three days. While no record exists of
the first Thanksgiving's exact menu, much of what we know about what happened at the first Thanksgiving
comes from Pilgrim chronicler Edward Winslow, who wrote:
“One day, Samoset, a leader of the
Abenaki people, and Tisquantum (better known as Squanto) visited the settlers.
Squanto was a Wampanoag who had experience with other settlers and knew
English. Squanto helped the settlers grow corn and use fish to fertilize their
fields. After several meetings, a formal agreement was made between the
settlers and the native people, and in March 1621, they joined together to
protect each other from other tribes.”
It was also told: “One day that fall, four settlers were
sent to hunt for food for a harvest celebration. The Wampanoag heard gunshots
and alerted their leader, Massasoit, who thought the English might be preparing
for war. Massasoit visited the English settlement with 90 of his men to see if
the war rumor was true.
Soon after their visit, the Native Americans realized
that the English were only hunting for the harvest celebration. Massasoit sent
some of his own men to hunt deer for the feast and for three days, the English
and native men, women, and children ate together. The meal consisted of deer,
corn, shellfish, and roasted meat, different from today's traditional Thanksgiving feast. They played ball games, sang, and danced.”
I think of the great sacrifice these people accomplished for
freedom in a new world. If it weren’t for those Native Americans, those Pilgrims
would have died. They were blessed to
have Squanto who spoke English, to help them plant and survive.
A hundred years
later, in October of 1777 all 13 colonies joined in a thanksgiving celebration.
It also commemorated the patriotic victory over the British at Saratoga. But it
was a one-time affair. Here is George Washington's Thanksgiving Proclamation.
Thanksgiving
Proclamation
New York, 3 October 1789
New York, 3 October 1789
By the President of the United States of America. a
Proclamation.
“Whereas it is the duty of all Nations to acknowledge the providence of
Almighty God, to obey his will, to be grateful for his benefits, and humbly to
implore his protection and favor—and whereas both Houses of Congress
have by their joint Committee requested me “to recommend to the People of the
United States a day of public
thanksgiving and prayer to be observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts
the many signal favors of Almighty God especially by affording them
an opportunity peaceably to establish a form of government for their safety and
happiness.”
Now therefore I do recommend and assign Thursday the 26th
day of November next to be devoted by the People of these States to the service
of that great and glorious Being, who is the beneficent Author of all the good
that was, that is, or that will be—That we may then all unite in
rendering unto him our sincere and humble thanks—for his kind care and
protection of the People of this Country previous to their becoming a
Nation—for the signal and manifold mercies, and the favorable interposition of
his Providence which we experienced in the course and conclusion of the late
war—for the great degree of tranquility, union, and plenty, which we have since
enjoyed—for the peaceable and rational manner, in which we have been enabled to establish
constitutions of government for our safety and happiness, and particularly the
national One now lately instituted—for the civil and religious liberty with which
we are blessed; and the means we have of acquiring and diffusing useful
knowledge; and in general for all the great and various favors which he hath
been pleased to confer upon us.
and also that we may then unite in most humbly offering our prayers and
supplications to the great Lord and Ruler of Nations and beseech him to pardon
our national and other transgressions—to enable us all, whether in
public or private stations, to perform our several and relative duties properly
and punctually—to render our national
government a blessing to all the people, by constantly being a Government of
wise, just, and constitutional laws, discreetly and faithfully executed
and obeyed—to protect and guide all Sovereigns and Nations (especially such as
have shewn kindness unto us) and to bless them with good government, peace, and
concord—To promote the knowledge and
practice of true religion and virtue, and the “increase” of science among them
and us—and generally to grant unto all Mankind such a degree of temporal prosperity
as he alone knows to be best.
Given under my hand at the City of New-York the third
day of October in the year of our Lord 1789.
Go:
Washington”
We are so blessed to live in this country with such
great beginnings from those who sacrificed so much to settle this promised land.
