first thanksgiving

Three Rarely Told Thanksgiving Miracles, And…

Miracle #1 – It was November 1620. The Pilgrims’ ship, the Mayflower, accidentally sailed right past the natural harbor in which they planned to land. Good thing.   Hostile natives had seen the boat offshore and were waiting to ambush the ship and its 102 passengers.

Miracle #2 – As they explored another harbor farther north (Plymouth Rock) they discovered an even better situation—a fresh water river teeming with fish, a large flat, previous cleared 3-acre field for growing crops, and a high hill perfect for their cannon to ward off enemies.  A Native Indian tribe had previously developed the farmland, but the entire lot had succumbed to a recent plague. As a result, no native tribes wanted anything to do with the land for fear it was cursed.

Miracle #3 – That first winter of 1620-21 was a horridly cold one. The Pilgrims were hardly prepared and nearly half of the Pilgrim community perished from a variety of maladies. An Indian named Samoset shocked the Pilgrims by approaching them speaking broken English!  Samoset then introduced the Pilgrims to his friend, Squanto, who spoke perfect English.  Together, Squanto and Samoset helped the settlers survive after the first winter.

As opposed to the North American settlers farther south in Jamestown who had a slogan, “Damn your soul, grow tobacco,” the Pilgrims at Plymouth Rock were peaceful, God-fearing folks who had wonderful relationships with their native neighbors.  During that first Thanksgiving in November of 1621, the surviving English families had experienced great hardship and loss. Nonetheless, they fellowshipped with deep appreciation for their Indian friends and thanked God for all they had.

To those who foolishly contend America was not founded as a Christian nation, and the founders were all slaveholders, let me just share two more facts. First, the original Mayflower Compact, agreed to by the folks who came across on the Mayflower states:

IN THE NAME OF GOD, AMEN.

We, whose names are underwritten… Having undertaken for the Glory of God, and Advancement of the Christian Faith… a Voyage to plant the first Colony in the northern Parts of Virginia; Do by these Presents, solemnly and mutually, in the Presence of God and one another, covenant and combine ourselves together into a civil Body Politick, for our better Ordering and Preservation, and Furtherance of the Ends aforesaid…

The foundation of the northern colonies of America were certainly God-based. The pilgrims desired to make their new home one that was found upon Biblical precepts,  and becoming a headquarters for sharing the Gospel worldwide.

Second, here are some comments on slavery from a few of those who would eventually, and officially, found the United States of America:

John Adams “A foul contagion in the human character.”

Governeur Morris (wrote the preamble to the Constitution) “A laudable horror…in the defiance of the most sacred laws of humanity.”

Ben Franklin: “Mankind are all formed by the same almighty being,  alike objects of his care and equally designed for the enjoyment of happiness.”

Thomas Paine, one of the most persuasive voices for Independence: “an outrage against humanity and justice.”

Roger Sherman, signer of both the Declaration and Constitution, called slavery, “iniquitous.”

While some of the Signers of the Declaration of Independence did own slaves, the vast majority did not; the same can be said of the Signers to the Constitution. The practice was abolished following a horrid Civil War that saw over 600,000 Americans die. Sadly, America’s original sin still lingers today, with intolerance coming from a variety of sides. This was never the intention of the men and woman who risked all aboard the Mayflower, to establish a one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

Menu for the First Thanksgiving Meal, 1621

The traditional Thanksgiving meal has roots that extend back to November 1621, when the newly arrived Pilgrims and the Wampanoag Indians gathered at Plymouth (now in Massachusetts in New England)  for a three-day autumn harvest celebration. This event is regarded as America’s “first Thanksgiving.”

But what was really on the menu at the famous banquet, and which of today’s time-honored favorites didn’t earn a place at the table until later in the holiday’s 400-year history?

In the book, On Plymouth Plantation, written by Mayflower traveler and the colony’s first Governor, William Bradford, we find remarks regarding the first full year’s harvest that autumn in 1621: “there was great store of wild turkeys, of which they took many, besides venison, etc.”

The menu would not be possible were it not for  the bounty  reaped with the help of their Native American neighbors. Local vegetables that likely appeared on the table included onions, beans, lettuce, spinach, cabbage, carrots and perhaps peas. Corn, which records show was plentiful at the first harvest, might also have been served, but not in the way most people enjoy it now. In those days, the corn would have been removed from the cob and turned into cornmeal, which was then boiled and pounded into a thick corn mush or porridge that was occasionally sweetened with molasses. However, the Indians did provide the settlers with a special treat that would become an American favorite forever: popcorn!

Fruits indigenous to the region included blueberries, plums, grapes, gooseberries, raspberries and, of course cranberries, which Native Americans ate and used as a natural dye. The Pilgrims might have been familiar with cranberries by the first Thanksgiving, but they wouldn’t have made sauces and relishes with the tart orbs. That’s because the sacks of sugar that traveled across the Atlantic on the Mayflower were nearly or fully depleted by November 1621. Cooks didn’t begin boiling cranberries with sugar and using the mixture as an accompaniment for meats until about 50 years later.

There may also have been seafood on the menu. Original colonist Edward Winslow wrote, “Our bay is full of lobsters all the summer and affordeth variety of other fish; in September we can take a hogshead of eels in a night with small labor, and can dig them out of their beds all the winter. We have mussels… at our doors. Oysters we have none near, but we can have them brought by the Indians when we will.”

And then there’s the pumpkin pie.

Both the Pilgrims and  the Wampanoag tribe ate pumpkins  other squashes indigenous to New England, possibly even during the first harvest festival. But the fledgling colony lacked the butter and wheat flour necessary for making pie crust. Moreover, settlers had yet to construct an oven for baking. According to some accounts, early English settlers in North America improvised by hollowing out pumpkins, filling the shells with milk, honey and spices to make a custard, then roasting the gourds whole in hot ashes.

Whatever is on your menu, be it large, small, with or without the turkey, and perhaps void of pumpkin pie (I prefer pecan)…

HAVE A WONDERFUL DAY OF FELLOWSHIP, FOOD, AND FAITH.