In 1620, The people boarded the Mayflower, leaving England to practice the religion of their choice, and sailed to the Hudson bay. The ship steered off course, and landed at Plymouth Rock. It was an accident of fate that brought the ship and its passengers to Massachusetts. We called the passengers pilgrims. The water deep, the storms raged, and when the passengers arrived on land, they shared an abundant feast with Indians already here, and gave thanks to God for having survived.
The first Thanksgiving celebrated in Plymouth rock lasted three days. Together the Pilgrims, and the native Indians shared a meal. They didn’t gobble it down. There was no turkey. It was probably venison. There was no pumpkin pie. No sugar existed there, and it is doubtful that cranberries were smashed together in a can. They were probably in berry form.
Thanksgiving began as a periodic event in which the Pilgrims thanked God for the blessings from the rain that led to an abundant crop, and allowed them to multiply, prosper and thrive. It was initially just celebrated in Connecticut and Massachusetts.
In 1789 George Washington formalized Thanksgiving into a national holiday, in recognition of a significant military victory, and an abundant harvest from the rain. That is when it began to be celebrated in all of the states, but it was observed on different dates.
Sarah Hale, a magazine editor wrote Abe Lincoln, during the blood shed of the civil war, and requested that Thanksgiving be assigned to be a national holiday among all states, and an official day of recognition designated to be the same. Abe Lincoln said that Thanksgiving should be observed during the last Thursday of the month.
Franklin Roosevelt in 1939 changed the Thanksgiving holiday to the fourth Thursday of the month, as November had five Thursday’s that year. The goal was to help expand the Christmas shopping season, to give retailers more time to earn profits and help stimulate the economy. And leave it to politics to stand in the way. “No, no we can’t change Abe’s date” was quoted by Republicans, while the Democrats said, ”we need to make more bucks, let’s not let politics get in the way”.
George H. Bush decided that Thanksgiving should be a day to pardon the turkeys, which will give Donald Trump quite a few turkeys to continue the tradition this year.
As you gobble through Thanksgiving holiday this year with family and friends, remember that Thanksgiving has evolved over hundreds of years. If you stuff your bellies, it’s okay, the important point to remember is its time to give thanks for blessings received and those to come on this day.
Happy Holiday
Is this the jewelry they traded?
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