Every Thanksgiving since my earliest childhood recollection we have had a pre-feast tradition that involved a review of 5 Kernels of Corn symbolic of the pilgrims rationing as related by Sterling W. Sill in his book "One Nation Under God."
Sterling Sill identifies an early New England tradition held to keep their minds in contact with gratitude. The 5 kernels served as a reminder of the harsh, stern days of winter when the food supply of the Pilgrims was depleted and five grains of corn was rationed to each individual.
The 5 kernels were for their children to remember the sacrifice and hardship necessary to settle as a free people in a free land; in memory of the 63 day journey aboard the Mayflower; to retain the image of the "stern, rockbound New England coast" and the inhospitable welcome received by its first settlers; the recollection of poor health when only 7 colonists remained to nurse the sick while nearly half of their group were laid to rest in a near-by graveyard.
There are Five suggestions given by Sill as to what the 5 kernels may represent to us and he identifies Gratitude for Life, the Abundance of Blessings, our God given American Freedoms, a Gratitude for Work, and Gratitude to God.
In 1st grade I had a teacher that loved to do plays (maybe this attracted me to Amy who does plays for many of our gatherings...). We reenacted the First Thanksgiving when I was 6 and I played the part of a pilgrim. The efforts, however, of Massasoit and Squanto in literally preserving the lives of the settlers at Plymouth Rock remain eternally etched in my mind. I have lost the script for the play but recall well the fun we had in depicting these crucial scenes in American History.
Many Thanksgiving feasts were held to commemorate new arrivals into the New World including the Spaniards in 1565 and the Virginia Settlers in 1619. But we always think of the Pilgrims, Miles Standish, Massasoit, Squanto and Plymouth Rock in 1621 in recounting the first Thanksgiving dinner. From this settlement many of our nation's strengths grew. We have the Mayflower Compact, Corn, Turkey, and observance of God's grace as a result of accounts of this first Thanksgiving on American soil.
While these five kernels nobly place our minds on what should and could be the emphasis of Thanksgiving. I feel, however, a strong urge to dwell on what the Pilgrims esteemed in their traditional observance of the 5 kernels. There are "stern, rockbound... coasts" in our lives. Health is definitely an item of concern and we are grateful for our contemporary care givers. We are also prone to observe our Mayflowers depart and leave us seemingly stranded.
Personally, I am grateful for the gifts and blessings my God has given me. These include gratitude for the blessing of a testimony and knowledge of Jesus Christ and His gospel; that I can return to live with my Father in Heaven because of his Atonement. My gratitude for an incredible wife who strengthens me in my hopes and pursuits. I am grateful for 3 little giants in my life who send me off each day with love and longing - they are admired for more than being adorable. My gratitude is also turned to all who have made me including friends, family and work associates. Like Clarence told George Bailey in It's A Wonderful Life, "He who has friends is rich." Aside from these eternal tangibles, I am grateful for my temporal tangibles including a comfortable home, clothing, cars, and more importantly the privilege of work to sustain our family.
Sunday, November 1, 2009
The Thanksgiving We Commemorate Most
1621 Thanksgiving, the Pilgrims at Plymouth
Squanto, a Patuxet Native American who resided with the Wampanoag tribe, taught the Pilgrims how to catch eel and grow corn and served as an interpreter for them (Squanto had learned English as a slave in Europe and travels in England). The Pilgrims set apart a day to celebrate at Plymouth immediately after their first harvest, in 1621. At the time, this was not regarded as a Thanksgiving observance; harvest festivals were existing parts of English and Wampanoag tradition alike. Several colonists have personal accounts of the 1621 feast in Plymouth, Massachusetts: Pilgrims are not to be confused with Puritans who established their own Massachusetts Bay Colony nearby (current day Boston) in 1628 and had very different religious beliefs. [4]William Bradford, in Of Plymouth Plantation:
| “ | They began now to gather in the small harvest they had, and to fit up their houses and dwellings against winter, being all well recovered in health and strength and had all things in good plenty. For as some were thus employed in affairs abroad, others were exercised in fishing, about cod and bass and other fish, of which they took good store, of which every family had their portion. All the summer there was no want; and now began to come in store of fowl, as winter approached, of which this place did abound when they came first (but afterward decreased by degrees). And besides waterfowl there was great store of wild turkeys, of which they took many, besides venison, etc. Besides, they had about a peck a meal a week to a person, or now since harvest, Indian corn to the proportion. Which made many afterwards write so largely of their plenty here to their friends in England, which were not feigned but true reports. | ” |
| “ | Our harvest being gotten in, our governor sent four men on fowling, that so we might after a special manner rejoice together after we had gathered the fruits of our labor. They four in one day killed as much fowl as, with a little help beside, served the company almost a week. At which time, amongst other recreations, we exercised our arms, many of the Indians coming amongst us, and among the rest their greatest king Massasoit, with some ninety men, whom for three days we entertained and feasted, and they went out and killed five deer, which we brought to the plantation and bestowed on our governor, and upon the captain and others. And although it be not always so plentiful as it was at this time with us, yet by the goodness of God, we are so far from want that we often wish you partakers of our plenty. | ” |
Gradually, an annual Thanksgiving after the harvest developed in the mid-17th century. This did not occur on any set day or necessarily on the same day in different colonies in America.
The Massachusetts Bay Colony (consisting mainly of Puritan Christians) celebrated Thanksgiving for the first time in 1630, and frequently thereafter until about 1680, when it became an annual festival in that colony; and Connecticut as early as 1639 and annually after 1647, except in 1675. The Dutch in New Netherland appointed a day for giving thanks in 1644 and occasionally thereafter.
Charlestown, Massachusetts held the first recorded Thanksgiving observance June 29, 1671 by proclamation of the town's governing council.
During the 18th century individual colonies commonly observed days of thanksgiving throughout each year. We might not recognize a traditional Thanksgiving Day from that period, as it was not a day marked by plentiful food and drink as is today's custom, but rather a day set aside for prayer and fasting.
Later in the 1700s individual colonies would periodically designate a day of thanksgiving in honor of a military victory, an adoption of a state constitution or an exceptionally bountiful crop. Such a Thanksgiving Day celebration was held in December 1777 by the colonies nationwide, commemorating the surrender of British General Burgoyne at Saratoga.
From Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thanksgiving_(United_States)#1621_thanksgiving.2C_the_Pilgrims_at_Plymouth
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