Today's blog is going to be a little different than the past several weeks in that I'm not going to post any of the daily images that I normally post. Today's historical information is provided by the History Channel.
Today is November 24 - the day before Thanksgiving, and 4 days before my 54th birthday celebration. It is time to do a little remembering and demonstrating a lot of gratitude.
When Americans think of Thanksgiving in a historical, the image of Pilgrims and Indians come to one's mind. In general, the particular Pilgrims and the particular Indians aren't considered. It's usually a homogenous group of colonists along with an equally nondescript group of Indians. But in fact, I am thankful for a Particular group of Plymouth colonists and a Particular group of Native American Indians or First Nations people (or whatever is the politically correct name).
This is a greatly condensed version of the story. The particular group of colonists were religious separatists that were being persecuted in England. In September of 1620, they hopped aboard the Mayflower and sailed to the "New World". Under the military leadership of Miles Standish and the religious leadership of William Bradford, the new colonists settled in Plymouth when the weather made it too difficult to sail the Mayflower further south. During the first winter 1/2 of the colonists died due to poor nutrition and inadequate housing.
Squanto, a Pawtuxet Indian, was introduced to the colonists by an Abenaki Indian who spoke English. (You can read more about Squanto on the History Channel.) He taught the colonists how to grow corn among many other things as well as helped them forge an alliance with the Wampanoag, a local tribe. The first successful harvest resulted in a harvest feast and began the individual celebrations throughout the colonies, then the states.
Skip forward a couple of hundred years. The original colonists didn't call themselves Pilgrims, but "Old Comers". However, in some of his writings, William Bradford had called the people "saints" and "pilgrimes" referring to what some people are called in some Scriptural passages. So when Daniel Webster calls the original colonists Pilgrims at a bi-centennial celebration, the name sticks.
Along comes the Civil War and President Abraham Lincoln. In 1863, after a very persistent Sarah Josepha Hale appeals to him to nationalize Thanksgiving, he signs the proclamation to make the last Thursday in November the day of celebration. It was celebrated thusly until 1939 when FDR decided that it should be move up a week to help retailers and spur the economy during the Great Depression. That move lasted 2 years and under great protests from the people, he reluctantly made it the fourth Thursday of November.
So, I'm thankful for the colonists, and the Indians, and President Lincoln and Sarah Hale, and even FDR who had enough sense to move the national holiday to its current "date".
I'm thankful that as I'm approaching my 54th birthday, I've lived to see a lot of changes happening in this world... the advent of personal computers as well as the internet, social media and cell phones. The advent of high technology and knowing that some things still are best done "old school". While deep frying the turkey is adventurous, and turducken is mighty tasty, nothing beats a roasted turkey.
I'm thankful for all of my family, both living and dead. With each person, I've learned a little about myself as well as taken a little of them with me. The same goes with my friends. The really good friends are the ones that are honest with me.
I'm thankful for my health. I'm thankful for living in a free country and for all of the young men and women who sacrifice their family life and their lives so I have the right to practice the religion of my choice and speak what I want when I want. I'm thankful that I can vote and change the government when I disagree it with it.
And most important of all, I'm thankful that Christ died for my sins and through him I have been reconciled to God and have received eternal life. I know that God is in control and that no matter how bad things may seem, I still have hope for the future.
Happy Thanksgiving!
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