I thought it would be nice to hear from Bob again on this holiday - enjoy! RUTH _________________________________ Ruth(Grady)Skewis-Sacramento, CA ruth4527@mindspring.com ============================================================================ ==== Date: Wed, 25 Nov 1998 12:39:37 EST From: <BNorris166@aol.com> To: NORCAL-L@rootsweb.com Subject: Thanksgiving:- 1621, Plymouth, MA Seasonal, but OFF TOPIC:-))) HAPPY THANKSGIVING Howdy Folks, A little Turkey Day stuff...:-) Hope my seasonal, off-topic post doesn't ruffle any feathers - just fun-learning:-)) As with most truly historic/historical events, this Thanksgiving rendition, taken from "Extraordinary Origins of Everyday Things" by Charles PANATI(NY: Harper & Row 1987) may evoke either a passing comment or violent disagreement. If the latter, please forgive - just thought it interesting & wanted to share.:-)) According to author Panati, our present Thanksgiving day celebration is probably due in most part to the tireless editorial efforts, which began in 1827, of Sarah Josepha HALE, when she was editor of Boston's LADIES magazine(later "Godey's Lady's Book'). But I am getting ahead of myself:-) Let's first return to 1620: Evidently, the 102 Pilgrims aboard the MAYFLOWER were well acquainted with annual thanksgiving day celebrations - an ancient and universal custom: Greeks, Romans, and Hebrews. After the long four month journey ended with their landing at Plymouth on December 11,1620, the Pilgrims, as every schoolperson may remember, suffered from severe weather and a plague that by 1621 had killed hundreds of local Indians and 46 of their own members - mainly to scurvy and pneumonia. But the survivors had plenty for which to be thankful: a bountiful harvest, abundant food, and they were ALIVE. Their existence was in no small part due to the efforts of English-speaking Pawtuxet Indian named SQUANTO who continued to help them in so many ways until his death two years later. According to Governor BRADFORD's own history "Of Plimoth Plantation," the 1621 celebration lasted three days. Let me quote a little from author PANATI's book: "He[Bradford] sent 'four men fowling' and the ducks and geese they brought back were added to lobsters, clams, bass, corn, green vegetables, and dried fruit. "The Pilgrims invited the chief of the Wampanoag tribe, MASSASOIT, and 90 of his braves, and the work of preparing the feast - for 91 Indians and 56 settlers - fell to only four Pilgrim women and two teenage girls[and you Ladees complain:-))] Thirteen women had died the previous winter." As we were school taught, the first Thanksgiving Day had all the elements of a modern celebration: parade of soldiers, blasting muskets and blaring bugles. Even the 90 Indian guest competed against the settlers in foot races and jumping matches. Also, the Indians showed their bow and arrow prowess; the male settlers their accuracy with the gun. THANKSGIVING MENU I suspect maybe a little disagreement here. But according to Panati, the 6 ladees preparing their meal with the resources at hand, produced a varied menu - some of which have since become traditional fare. For the details, let's listen to author Pinati: "Though Governor Bradford sent 'four men fowling,' and they returned with 'a great store of wild turkies,' there is no proof that the catch included the bird we call a turkey. Wild turkeys did roam the woods of the Northeast, but in the language of the 17th-century Pilgrims, 'turkey' simply meant any guinea fowl, that is, any bird with a featherless head, rounded body, and dark feathers speckled white. "It is certain, however, that the menu included venison, since another Pilgrim recorded that Chief Massasoit sent braves into the woods, who 'killed five Deere which they brought to our Governour.' Watercress and leeks were on the table, along with bitter wild plums and dried berries, but there was no apple cider, and no milk, butter, or cheese, since cows had not been aboard the MAYFLOWER. "And there was probably no pumpkin pie[:-(]. Or bread as we'd recognize it. Stores of flour from the ship had long since been exhausted and years would pass before significant quantities of wheat were successfully cultivated in New England. Without flour for a pie crust, there could be no pie. But the Pilgrims did enjoy pumpkin at the meal - BOILED. "The cooks concocted an ersztz bread. Boiling corn, which was plentiful, kneaded it into round cakes and fried it in venison fat. There were 15 young boys in the company, and during the three-day celebration they gathered wild cranberries, which the women boiled and mashed into a sauce for the meal's meats." FOLKS, apparently the next year brought a poor harvest and. with new folks coming in to feed, the Pilgrims never again regularly celebrated a Thanksgiving day. In 1777, the 13 colonies had a common thanksgiving celebration - the victory at the Battle of Saratoga. Also President George WASHINGTON's first National Thanksgiving proclamation in 1789 caused such discord that it was never carried out. It was left to the one woman, Sarah Josepha HALE, who crusaded with magazine editorials for decades, and the Civil War to reinstate Thanksgiving. The bitter Battle of Gettysburg in September, 1863, brought forth an emotional, widely circulated editorial by Mrs. Hale, which supposedly prompted President Abraham LINCOLN to issue a proclamation on October 3, 1863 setting aside the last Thursday in November as national THANKSGIVING DAY." I omit Thanksgiving since.:-)) Refresh your recollection? Now, save me a big ole leg tomorrow:-)), Bob Norris in Dallas