The True Thanksgiving Story
by Dennis Rupert
It seems that every year we are treated to articles attempting to disprove the "myth of Thanksgiving." In these articles we are told that:
- the Pilgrims weren't the first people in America to hold a thanksgiving
- that the first thanksgiving had no religious significance at all, but was merely a harvest festival
- that our traditional Thanksgiving dinner has nothing in common with the Pilgrim's meal.
Some of these accusations are not a serious concern. After all, who
cares if the Pilgrims served cranberries or not? But what seems to lie
behind some of these articles is a desire to devalue the religious
nature of our present Thanksgiving holiday. This is unfortunate since
Thanksgiving is one of the few holidays on the America calendar that is
not swept away with commercialism or mixed with pagan elements.
So here is "The True Thanksgiving Story." We have included references to primary sources which you can read for yourself. After reading I believe that you will still be able to eat your turkey with a happy stomach and a grateful heart to God.
Who observed the first Thanksgiving?
Okay, it wasn't the Pilgrims and it didn't involve feasting. But the first thanksgiving observance in America was entirely religious. On December 4, 1619, a group of 38 English settlers arrived at Berkeley Plantation in what is now Charles City, Virginia. The group's charter required that the day of arrival be observed yearly as a day of thanksgiving to God. Captain John Woodleaf held the service of thanksgiving. Here is the section of the Charter of Berkley Plantation which specifies the thanksgiving service:
"Wee ordaine that the day of our ships arrival at the place assigned for plantacon in the land of Virginia shall be yearly and perpetually keept holy as a day of thanksgiving to Almighty god."
In addition to 1619, the colonists perhaps held service in 1620 and 1621. The colony was wiped out in 1622. It was a private event, limited to the Berkeley settlement.
What about the Pilgrim's Thanksgiving?
In a book called The First Thanksgiving, the author, Jean Craighead George says, the Pilgrims left Europe "to seek their fortune in the New World." That would have come as news to the Pilgrims themselves. Pilgrim leader William Bradford wrote in his diary that the voyage was motivated by "a great hope for advancing the kingdom of Christ."
The Pilgrims set aground at Plymouth Rock on December 11, 1620. Their first winter was devastating. Weakened by the seven-week crossing and the need to establish housing, they came down with pneumonia and consumption. They began to die -- one per day, then two, and sometimes three. They dug the graves at night, so that the Indians would not see how their numbers were dwindling. At one point, there were only seven persons able to fetch wood, make fires, and care for the sick. By the spring, they had lost 46 of the original 102 who sailed on the Mayflower.(1)
But the harvest of 1621 was a bountiful one. And the remaining colonists decided to celebrate with a feast. The author of The First Thanksgiving states, "This was not a day of Pilgrim thanksgiving." Instead, she writes, "This was pure celebration."
It is quite true that the word "thanksgiving" is not used in referring
to the feast. But the letter that we have telling us about the first
Thanksgiving makes reference to God's blessing on the harvest, the
"goodness of God" in providing for them, and it says that the feast was
held so that they "might after a special manner rejoice together."(2)
That sounds like a Thanksgiving feast to me!
The event occurred between September 21 and November 11, 1621, with the
most likely time being around Michaelmas (September 29), the
traditional time for English harvest homes. The settlers asked their
Indian ally Chief Massasoit to dine with them. He arrived accompanied
by 90 warriors. The feast lasted three days. The Pilgrims and Indians
ate outdoors at large tables and competed together in tests of skill
and strength.(3)
Governor William Bradford sent "four men fowling" after wild ducks,
geese, and turkey.(4) The warriors brought five deer. The feast
probably consisted of the following items (constructed from original
sources and historical research by the Plimoth Plantation):
Seethed [boiled] Lobster
Roasted Goose
Boiled Turkey
Fricase of Coney
Pudding of Indian Corn Meal with dried Whortleberries
Seethed Cod
Roasted Duck
Stewed Pumpkin
Roasted Venison with Mustard Sauce
Savory Pudding of Hominy
Fruit and Holland Cheese
Were there other thanksgiving feasts held by the Pilgrims?
The Pilgrim's first thanksgiving feast was not repeated the following
year. In the third year, when many of them had become preoccupied with
cultivating more land, and building on to their houses, and planting
extra corn for trading with the Indians, they were stricken by a
prolonged drought. Week followed week with no rain, until even the
Indians had no recollection of such a thing ever happening before. The
sun-blasted corn withered on its stalks and became tinder dry, and
beneath it the ground cracked open and was so powdery that any normal
rain would be of little use. And still the heavens were as brass.
Finally, in July, Governor Bradford called a council of the chief men.
It was obvious that God was withholding the rain for a reason, and they
had better find out why. Bradford declared a day of fasting,
humiliation and prayer, and they gathered in their blockhouse church
and began to search their hearts. It turned out that even these
'saints', had things to repent for -- spiritual pride, jealousy,
vindictiveness, and greed, as well as a number of broken relationships.
One after another, as they became convicted, they asked God's
forgiveness and that of their fellow Pilgrims.
A tender, peaceful spirit grew among them and was enhanced as each hour
passed. Late in the afternoon, as they emerged from the blockhouse, the
sky which that morning had been hard and clear (as it had been every
morning for nearly two months), was now covered with clouds all around
them. The following morning, it began to rain -- a gentle rain that
continued on and off for fourteen days straight. Writing of it,
Bradford said:
"It came, without either wind, or thunder, or any violence, and by
degreese in yt abundance, as that ye earth was thorowly wete and soked
therwith. Which did so apparently revive & quicken ye decayed corne
& other fruits, as was wonderfull to see, and made ye Indeans
astonished to behold; and afterwards the Lord sent them shuch
seasonable showers, with enterchange of faire warme weather, as,
through his blessing, caused a fruitfull & liberall harvest, to
their no small comforte and rejoycing."
Their harvest that fall, was so abundant that they ended up with a surplus -- to the benefit of Indians to the north who had not had a good growing season. To everyone's delight, the Governor "sett aparte a day of thanksgiveing" and apparently once again invited Chief Massasoit and his braves to eat with them.5
In June of 1676 another Day of Thanksgiving was proclaimed. The governing council of Charlestown, Massachusetts, held a meeting to determine how best to express thanks for the victories in "Warr with the Heathen Natives of this land" and the good fortune that had seen their community securely established. By unanimous vote they instructed Edward Rawson, the clerk, to proclaim June 29 as a day of thanksgiving. The following is part of that proclamation:
"The Council has thought meet to appoint and set apart the 29th day of
this instant June, as a day of Solemn Thanksgiving and praise to God
for such his Goodness and Favour, many Particulars of which mercy might
be Instanced, but we doubt not those who are sensible of God's
Afflictions, have been as diligent to espy him returning to us; and
that the Lord may behold us as a People offering Praise and thereby
glorifying Him; the Council doth commend it to the Respective
Ministers, Elders and people of this Jurisdiction; Solemnly and
seriously to keep the same Beseeching that being persuaded by the
mercies of God we may all, even this whole people offer up our bodies
and souls as a living and acceptable Service unto God by Jesus Christ."
Was Thanksgiving practiced during colonial times?
October of 1777 marked the first time that all 13 colonies joined in a thanksgiving celebration. It lasted eight days. It also commemorated the patriotic victory over the British at Saratoga. It was a one-time affair.
George Washington proclaimed a National Day of Thanksgiving in 1789. He
called for a day of prayer and giving thanks to God. It was to be
celebrated by all religious denominations, but discord among the
colonies prevented it from being practiced by all the states. Many felt
the hardships of a few Pilgrims did not warrant a national holiday. And
later, President Thomas Jefferson scoffed at the idea of having a day
of thanksgiving.
How did Thanksgiving become a yearly national practice?
It was Sarah Josepha Hale, a magazine editor, whose efforts eventually led to what we recognize as Thanksgiving. Hale wrote many editorials championing her cause in her Boston Ladies' Magazine, and later, in Godey's Lady's Book. She was fired with the determination of having the whole nation join together in setting apart a national day for giving thanks "unto Him from who all blessings flow."
In 1830, New York proclaimed an official state "Thanksgiving Day."
Other states soon followed its example. In 1852, her campaign succeeded
in uniting 29 states in marking the last Thursday of November as
"Thanksgiving Day."
Finally, after a 40-year campaign of writing editorials and letters to
governors and presidents, Hale's passion became a reality. In 1863,
President Lincoln proclaimed the last Thursday in November as a
national day "of thanksgiving and praise to our beneficent Father."
Here is the text of Lincoln's proclamation:
We have been the recipients of the choicest bounties of heaven. We have been preserved, the many years, in peace and prosperity. We have grown in numbers, wealth and power, as no other nation has ever grown. But we have forgotten God. We have forgotten the gracious hand which preserved us in peace and multiplied and enriched and strengthened us; and we have vainly imagined, in the deceitfulness of our hearts that all these blessings were produced by some superior wisdom and virtue of our own.
Intoxicated with unbroken success, we have become too self-sufficient
to feel the necessity of redeeming and preserving grace, too proud to
pray to God that made us! It behooves us, then to humble ourselves
before the offended Power, to confess our national sins, and to pray
for clemency and forgiveness.
-- April 30, 1863, President Abraham Lincoln's Proclamation for a National Day of Fasting, Humiliation and Prayer
Since then, the date was changed only once, by Franklin Roosevelt, who
moved it up one week to the third Thursday of November in order to
create a longer Christmas shopping season. Public uproar against this
decision caused the Congress to move Thanksgiving back to its original
date two years later.