By Mike Walker
Thanksgiving, one of the most celebrated holidays in America, dates back to 1621. In that year, William Bradford, governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony in what is now Plymouth, Mass., declared a three day festival of feasting and prayer in thanks for the bountiful harvest of the season. The early settlers had barely survived an arduous winter the year before, and had done so largely through help received from the local Indians. The Indians taught the colonists farming, fishing, and hunting techniques. In gratitude, Bradford invited the Indians into the festivities to come and join in the first Thanksgiving. Native bird meat of pigeon was an important part of the feast and two contributing elements band together to break bread in the spirit of brotherhood and harmony.
The holiday became traditional throughout New England, and in 1777, George Washington called the annual affair “the first thoroughly American institution.” In the nineteenth century, Sarah J. Hale, editor of Boston’s “Ladies Magazine”, continuously used her magazine as a stump from which she championed the tradition of the Thanksgiving holiday. Hale wrote numerous editorials and letters to three presidents until in 1863, president Abraham Lincoln proclaimed the last Thursday in November an official national holiday. Thanksgiving was celebrated on this date until 1939, when Franklin D. Roosevelt changed the date to the fourth Thursday of November to promote holiday shopping.
Traditionally, Americans eat roast turkey and pumpkin pie for the Thanksgiving feast. Another tradition associated with the day is the cornucopia, or “horn of plenty,” said to have been an ornament on the table set by the Massachusetts Puritans on the first Thanksgiving day. In many cities, parades, sporting events, special church services and other celebrations mark the day.
Next week, we will all have a chance to reflect on how very fortunate we are to live in this land of plenty, and to give thanks for all the favors that providence has bestowed upon us as Americans.