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The Story of Thanks giving

In many parts of the world a day is set aside to give thanks. The date and customs may vary from country to country but the desire to take time to reflect on life's blessings remains the same. Almost every culture in the world has held celebrations of thanks for a plentiful harvest.

In the nineteenth century the origins of the American Thanksgiving holiday became identified with a feast of thanksgiving given in the early days of the American colonies almost four hundred years ago, but the importance among the holiday's symbols did not occur until after 1900.  

The story of Thanksgiving is basically the story of the Pilgrims and their thankful community feast at Plymouth, Massachusetts with the tradition of the Pilgrims' first Thanksgiving beings steeped in myth and legend.  

On September 6, 1620, more than one hundred people set sail from Plymouth, England on a ship called the Mayflower, and they were bound for the resourceful 'New World'. Many of those making the trip aboard the Mayflower were originally members of the English Separatist Church (a Puritan sect) others, whom the separatists called the "Strangers", were non-Separatists, but were hired to protect the company's interests.

Land was sighted in November following 66 days of a lethal voyage but although Pilgrims had first sighted the land off Cape Cod, Massachusetts, they did not actually set ground until December 11 when they arrived at a place, which Captain John Smith called Plymouth Rock. Plymouth offered an excellent harbour and plenty of resources. The local Indians were also non-hostile.

Their first winter was devastating. They had arrived too late to grow many crops, and without fresh food, half the colony died from disease. By the beginning of the following fall, they had lost 46 of the original 102 who sailed on the Mayflower.

The following spring the Iroquois Indians taught them how to grow corn (maize), a new food for the colonists. They showed them other crops to grow in the unfamiliar soil and how to hunt and fish and in the autumn of 1621, bountiful crops of corn, barley, beans and pumpkins were harvested. It is believed that the Pilgrims would not have made it through the year without the help of the natives.

The Pilgrims had beaten the odds. They built homes in the wilderness, they raised enough crops to keep them alive during the long coming winter, and they were at peace with their Indian neighbours. The colonists had much to be thankful for, their Governor, William Bradford, proclaimed a day of thanksgiving that was to be shared by all the colonists and the neighbouring Native American Indians, so a feast was planned. They invited the local Indian chief and 90 Indians. The Indians brought deer to roast with the turkeys and other wild game offered by the colonists. The colonists had learned how to cook cranberries and different kinds of corn and squash dishes from the Indians. To this first Thanksgiving, the Indians had even brought popcorn.

This feast is the feast, which people often refer to as "The First Thanksgiving". However it was never repeated, though, so it can't be called the beginning of a tradition, nor was it termed by the colonists or "Pilgrims" a Thanksgiving Feast. In fact, to these devoutly religious people, a day of thanksgiving was a day of prayer and fasting, and would have been held any time that they felt an extra day of thanks was called for. Few people realize that the Pilgrims did not celebrate Thanksgiving the next year, or any year thereafter, though some of their descendants later made a "Forefather's Day" that usually occurred on December 21 or 22.  

However, the third year was real bad when the corns got damaged.  Pilgrim Governor William Bradford ordered a day of fasting and prayer, and rain happened to follow soon. To celebrate - November 29th of that year was proclaimed a day of thanksgiving. This date is believed to be the real beginning of the present Thanksgiving Day.  

The now famous 1621 event had been in fact entirely forgotten until the 1820s, when the full text of Mourts Relation (1622) with the reference to the feast was rediscovered. The fact that the 1621 event had not been a Thanksgiving in the Pilgrims' own eyes was irrelevant.

The Pilgrim harvest celebration quickly became the mythic "First Thanksgiving" and has remained the primary historical representation of the holiday ever since. The earlier Pilgrim holiday, Forefathers' Day (December 21st, the anniversary of the Landing on Plymouth Rock), which had been celebrated since 1769 faded in importance as the Pilgrims increasingly became the patron saints of the American Thanksgiving. By 1920, when the Pilgrims' 300th anniversary celebration elevated them to the pinnacle of their fame, their role as Thanksgiving icons and the "spiritual ancestors" of all Americans became permanently fixed in the American psyche.

The first national thanksgiving was declared in 1777 by the Continental Congress, and others were declared from time to time until 1815. The holiday then reverted to being a regional observance until 1863, when two national days of Thanksgiving were declared, one celebrating the victory at Gettysburg on August 6, and the other the first of Americas last Thursday in November annual thanks giving.

George Washington proclaimed a National Day of Thanksgiving in 1789, although some were opposed to it. There was discord among the colonies, many feeling 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.

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. Finally, after a 40-year campaign of writing editorials and letters to governors and presidents, Hale's obsession became a reality when, in 1863, President Abraham Lincoln proclaimed the last Thursday in November as a national day of Thanksgiving in his 1863 Thanksgiving proclamation.  

Today, Thanksgiving is the fourth Thursday of November, this was set by president Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1939 (approved by Congress in 1941), who changed it from Abraham Lincoln's designation which could occasionally end up being the fifth Thursday and hence too close to Christmas for businesses.  Public uproar against this decision caused the president to move Thanksgiving back to its original date two years later. And in 1941, Thanksgiving was finally sanctioned by Congress as a legal holiday, as the fourth Thursday in November.

Thanksgiving Day in America is a time to offer thanks, of family gatherings and holiday meals. It is a time for tradition and sharing. Even if they live far away, family members gather for a reunion at the house of an older relative. All give thanks together for the good things that they have. In this spirit of sharing, civic groups and charitable organizations offer a traditional meal to those in need, particularly the homeless. On most tables throughout the United States, foods eaten at the first thanksgiving have become traditional. It is a time for family, food, and football, and marks the unofficial beginning to the winter holiday season.