Monday, November 24, 2008

A Little Thanksgiving History

Thanksgiving is fast approaching, and I am getting excited. Yesterday Gina and I went shopping for Thanksgiving dinner and spend an amazing amount of money. We tried to do our part to jump start the economy. Gavin will be here Tuesday night, and Cynda, Dave, and the girls will be here Wednesday night. I can hardly wait for us to all be together. It is always blissful bedlam. Thanksgiving is such an amazing holiday. To me, even more than Christmas, Thanksgiving is the holiday that focuses on family. I know that family is something I am very thankful for.



I learned in school that the first Thanksgiving was held by the Pilgrims in 1621. I have later found out that it wasn’t quite true.

The Pilgrims did 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, but a harvest festival. Harvest Festivals were existing parts of English and Indian tradition alike. The Pilgrims did not hold a true Thanksgiving until 1623. The 1623 celebration followed a severe drought. After the entire group spent days praying for rain, they held a solemn Thanksgiving ceremony and followed that with a feast when the drought was over. Irregular Thanksgivings continued after favorable events and days of fasting after unfavorable ones.


PEDRO MENENDEZ DE AVILES

The Pilgrims were not the first Europeans to have a Thanksgiving celebration in America. The first recorded Thanksgiving ceremony took place on September 8, 1565, when 600 Spanish settlers, under the leadership of Pedro Menéndez de Avilés, landed at what is now St. Augustine, Florida, and immediately held a Thanksgiving ceremony for their safe delivery to the New World; there followed a feast and celebration. As far as we know this was the first Thanksgiving celebration held in America.

Canadians also celebrate Thanksgiving. The history of Thanksgiving in Canada goes back to an explorer, Martin Frobisher, who had been trying to find a northern passage to the Orient. In the year 1578, he held a formal ceremony, in what is now the province of Newfoundland and Labrador, to give thanks for surviving the long journey. This is how a Canadian explained it to me. "We did actually have the FIRST Thanksgiving, a full 43 years before the pilgrims at Plymouth Rock, but, in true Canadian fashion, there was something wrong with it. That first North American Thanksgiving would have been "celebrated" in sub-zero temperatures on a barren, windswept moonscape by a muttering, mutinous crowd wondering whether "the chief" had all his marbles".



Sir Martin Frobisher set out to find the Spice Islands through the Northwest Passage. He landed instead on Baffin Island. The complete absence of trees and a pitiless terrain of unrelieved rock and permafrost barely dampened his determination to establish the first English settlement in North America. Ever the optimist, he spent two years mining "gold ore". When it was shipped back to England, it was found to be iron pyrite. Fool's Gold.

Throughout the history of the U.S. and Canada, Thanksgiving has been observed. In the U.S. there has been an annual Thanksgiving observed since 1863. In Canada it has been observed since 1879 although on different dates.

I hope your Thanksgiving Day will be awesome!

10 comments:

  1. Very interesting to read about the real story behind this today's commercialized Holiday.

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  2. actually there are TWO beatles songs on my playlist, eleanor rigby just stuck out because the title is in the first line!

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  3. Fascinating history for an Australian who has never celebrated Thanksgiving per se, but who gives thanks every day.

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  4. Interesting information. Happy Thanksgiving to you and your family. Our equivalent of thanksgiving would be our Chinese New Year's Eve where we must have the compulsory reunion dinner where everyone in the family need to be there. :)

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  5. Hi! I agree that Thanksgiving is more meaningful to me than Christmas; I've always liked this holiday a lot more, since at least in our family, it's less stressful; no running around looking for presents, etc. Enjoy your Thanksgiving.

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  6. So interesting! As always! Yesterday I was in a car accident and had to go to the hospital. 2 nurses were walking around doing a relay for life raffle. I was SO excited to buy $5 worth of tickets. I told them about you and your blog. : ). I am thankful that you educated me about such a great cause.

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  7. Interesting lesson, thank you!

    (I liked the part «Work or Don't eat», you're SOOOOOOO right)

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  8. Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday as well. They haven't managed to commercialize this one, as yet. Time will tell.

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  9. Great post,here in Norway we do not celebrate Thanksgiving,just Christmus.
    Very nice to learn about how other countries calebrate their holidays.
    Have a nice evening!

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  10. hello Richies,
    Great to read this history about Thanksgiving I love that , also the photo's are very welldone, thanks for your comment)

    Here is my blog:
    www.joannwalraven.blogspot.com

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