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Thanksgiving, Harvest FestivalBy Robin DuMolin
In the United States Thanksgiving comes at the time of year when New England farmers used to slaughter animals and salt them down for the year; when cellars were full of root vegetables and late fruit; and turkeys and geese were in their prime. Also, to most people Thanksgiving dinner marked the last big meal of the season. Everyone knew as winter approached food would be scarce and lacking in variety.
The pilgrims called themselves Saints. Those who were not of their party on the Mayflower they called Strangers. These pilgrims were, as a group, ill suited to life in the American wilderness. They brought with them sundials, a trumpet, and one man packed twelve pairs of shoes and thirteen pairs of boots. Among their professions were, two tailors, a printer, several merchants, a shopkeeper, and a hatter. They brought no cow, nor horse, nor plow. Their military commander Miles Standish was so small in stature he was known to all as "Captain Shrimpe" - not someone very likely to scare off the hostile natives they expected to encounter. He was also probably the only one of their party of 102 people that had any experience hunting. Hunting in the 17th century was for the aristocracy. Those who listed themselves as farmers were really landowners who didn't work their own land. The pilgrims were totally unprepared for their new life. They demonstrated their incompetence in the most dramatic way possible; by dying in droves. Five months after landing in America just 54 people (half of them children) had survived. They were 500 miles away from their next neighboring town. In addition to not knowing how to plant corn and catch wild fowl, one of the reasons the pilgrims almost starved was that they were reluctant to eat anything other than the original food they brought over - salt pork, salt fish, and hard tack (a very hard biscuit). The first settlers had come to a land of plenty. They nearly starved in it. The woods around them were full of wild turkey, deer, plums, cherries, mushrooms and nuts. The waters were full of fish and lobster. Their first crop of peas failed because of their inexperience as farmers. The English wheat they brought over was unsuited to the soil and climate of New England. Their outlook was very bleak. Fortunately, the Indians saved them. The Indians of the new world were eating better and had a more balanced diet than Europeans. The Indians most important gift to the colonists - apart from not wiping them out - was corn. After two months of trying to make contact with the natives, a young brave named Samoset approached them on a beach. He was a stranger to this area also, but his friend Tisquantum was local and introduced them. They became friends quickly and taught the pilgrims how to plant corn, catch wild fowl, and helped them establish rapport with the local chief. The mystery is how all this communication was achieved. Algonquian, the language of the Eastern tribes, is a complex language full of groups of consonants that would be unpronounceable by the uneducated. Here is a sample; nquitpausuckowashaumen=there are a hundred of us. The pilgrims couldn't even pronounce Tisquantums' name; they called him Squanto. The answer not mentioned in most history books is that the pilgrims didn't learn the language. Samoset and Tisquantum spoke English. What luck these pilgrims happened to meet these two men.
It was the Autumn of 1621 in Plymouth Colony when Governor Bradford, following the custom for many centuries of giving thanks for the years harvest, initiated the first Thanksgiving. He used it as an occasion for strengthening friendship with the Indians. Chief Massasoit and his braves were invited. The Indians sent over five deer, while the Governor sent the Indians a lot of game including wild turkey. There was a lot of preparation, days in advance, and the meal was cooked outdoors. The feast lasted three days. On the first day everyone ate. On the other days the Indians wrestled, ran races, and sang and danced with the young people in the colony. The colonists taught the Indians to march to the rhythm of the drum. After their terrible beginnings the pilgrims truly had something to be thankful for. Without all of the help from the Indians and everything they learned there would never have been a first Thanksgiving. Sources:The Book of Festival Holidays by Margurite Ickis; Made in America by Bill Bryson. |
Thanksgiving is a harvest festival. Harvest festivals traditionally
were not only a scene of merriment and hospitality, but a time for temporary suspension
of inequality between master and servant. After the harvest is done, it is the most
natural thing in the world for people to laugh and sing after their barns are full
and their work in the hot summer is over. Hence - a Harvest Festival. It is a wonderful
way to express joy and give thanks for something that has happened.
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