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Thanksgiving – Understanding The Holiday
Thanksgiving for most people means family and friends and Turkey, or maybe beer and football. Many do not know or even care about significence vacation. Way back in 1600 a group of people who were members of the English Separatist Church (Puritan), England fled their homeland to escape religious persecution. They boarded a ship and sailed to Holland, the Netherlands. In Holland the people enjoyed a brief time free of persecution religious faced in England, but soon became frustrated with the Dutch peoples bad habits and lifestyles that they considered sinful.
Seeking a way yet better life, the Separatists made a deal with a limited company in London to finance a trip to America on a ship called the Mayflower. There were others England, who were not separatists, in fact, most who made the trip on the Mayflower were not.
The group came to America on December 11, 1620 and put the land in Plymouth, Massachusetts. The first winter season of pilgrims found in America was horrible. With extreme cold and blizzard, lost 46 of the 102 original that came on the Mayflower. But spring and summer of next year was wonderful with most nice days and good, and most pilgrims stay healthy. The Indians sites showed them where and how to hunt and trap for the game available, and shared the secrets of growing and storage of native cultures. The harvest of 1621 was very generous and pilgrims, with local Indians, who had helped them survive their first year, decided to have a big party to celebrate and give thanks.
The party or as it is commonly called the "first Thanksgiving" was probably held outside, tables and benches made by hand, most people sat on blankets on the floor while eating, because records show that the settlers did not have a building large enough to accommodate all people.
From a letter an original member of the colony, Edward Winslow, here is the actual account of the first celebration of Thanksgiving:
"Our harvest being obtained in, our governor sent four men on fowling, that so we can rejoice after a special way together after he had gathered the fruits of our labor. They have four in one day killed as birds, although with a little help beside, served the company almost a week. When, among other recreations, who exercised our arms, many Indians among us, and among the rest their greatest King Massasoit, with some ninety men, who for three days, entertained and feasted, and they went out and killed five deer, they have brought to the farm and gave our governor, and upon the captain and others. And although it is not always so plentiful as it was this time with us, but for the goodness of God, are so far from want that we often wish the participants of our plenty. "
From the handwritten letter, we can see that an Indian chief or King and 90 others (Indians 91 in total) who were invited as guests attended the event along with the pilgrims, and that the party or celebration lasted three days. The celebration or feast was not repeated until the year 1623, when, during a severe drought the pilgrims gathered and prayed for rain. The next day, a very regular rain occurred, and Governor Bradford proclaimed a day of Thanksgiving, and again the pilgrims or 'colonists' invited their Indian friends to celebrate.
The celebration Thanksgiving did not occur until next year 1676, when the government Council of Charlestown, Massachusetts, a meeting on the best way to celebrate and give thanks to good fortune of their community had experienced. By voting, they instructed Edward Rawson, the clerk, to proclaim June 29 as the day of Thanksgiving.
Other dates that were important to the Thanksgiving holiday was October of the year 1777 when there was a Thanksgiving holiday that was celebrated by all 13 colonies that had been established. In 1789 George Washington proclaimed a National Day of Thanksgiving, and after a campaign to write letters to presidents and governors, in 1863, President Abraham Lincoln proclaimed the last Thursday in November as a national day of Thanksgiving. The date was changed twice, but finally in 1941 was sanctioned by Congress as a legal holiday, the fourth Thursday in November, where it remains today.
Thanksgiving is a holiday so wonderful that we all We should celebrate it, and there is a Thanksgiving Screensaver available for download at the website:
http://www.rb59.com/thanksgiving-screensaver
By Robert W. Benjamin
Copyright © 2006
You may publish this article in your ezine, newsletter on your site, since is reproduced in its entirety and without modification except for formatting needs or grammar corrections.
About the Author
Robert W. Benjamin has been in the software business on the internet for over 5 years, and has been producing low-cost software for the past 25+ years. He first released products on the AMIGA and C64 computer systems in the late 1970′s-80′s.
RB59 Software
http://www.rb59.com/software
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