One
The Origins of Thanksgiving
In addition to being the Autumnal Equinox, this is the harvest season and we celebrate this time of year with feasts of thanksgiving. While the American Thanksgiving has been set in November, the Canadians celebrate their holiday in October. It is from ancient European festivals, during which farming communities would share meat, bread, and beer for three days after the harvest was brought in, that these modern celebrations developed. It is also interesting to note that on the island of Kosrae in the Federated States of Micronesia, the fourth Thursday in November has been set aside for a Thanksgiving celebration.
Canada
In Canada, Thanksgiving is celebrated on the second Monday of October. A date of November 9 was originally set by Parliament in 1879. Over the years, several dates were used including the third Monday in October, which was shared with Armistice Day after the First World War. These holidays were separated, and Thanksgiving was changed to the current October date in 1957.
The Canadian Thanksgiving stems from slightly different origins than the American holiday. When people were beginning to leave Europe for North America, harvest celebrations were still common throughout Europe, and the people brought these traditions with them. Early Canadian farming families filled a goat's horn cornucopia in thanks for the fertility and abundance of the land.
An English explorer named Martin Frobisher held a formal celebration in 1578 in Newfoundland, giving thanks for his survival over the long journey to the "New World." Frobisher Bay was named after him, and he was later knighted in his homeland. Other settlers in the area continued this tradition of thanksgiving celebration.
In the 1600s, the French explorer Samuel de Champlain is said to have had wonderful relations with his native neighbors. The French settlers, along with Champlain, formed the "Order of Good Cheer" and held huge feasts of thanksgiving, sharing the bounty with the native peoples in their area.
During the American Revolution, the Loyalists, who remained loyal to English rule, moved north to Canada. They brought the American tradition of Thanksgiving with them. As they moved throughout Canada, so did these celebrations.
United States
All Americans study the Pilgrims at Thanksgiving time in school. We trace our hands and color in the fingers to make turkeys. We make fake Pilgrim hats out of construction paper, and we learn about the Mayflower and Plymouth Rock. By the time we reach adulthood, few of us remember what that whole thing was really all about anyway.
Accepted History
The Pilgrims, or Puritans, were a sect of Christians known as Separatists or Brownists in England. The term "Pilgrims" was not associated with them until the late 1700s. They were an interesting people, following the teachingsof a man named Robert Browne. Their belief was that the only true churches were formed by groups of like-minded people coming together by choice. When this happened, Separatists put together an organizing compact and elected their clergy. They believed they were the chosen people of God.
These Pilgrims wanted to be left alone, and were willing to leave other religions alone as well. They were seen as a radical sect in England and were persecuted for it. In search of tolerance and peace, they left England first for Holland. In 1605, many of these Pilgrims left Holland with almost 40 people. They boarded the Speedwell ship and met up with the Mayflower in England. In all, about 120 adventurous people set sail for the "New World." Unfortunately, their adventures consisted mainly of leaks in the Speedwell, and they had to return to England twice.
Finally, they left the Speedwell behind and set forth from Plymouth, an English port, in September 1605 with 102 people, including men, women, and children. This was far from an easy passage, and two people died. However, one child was born at sea and another was born before his parents set foot on land, so 102 disembarked in present-day Massachusetts.
The London Company had granted these people lands near the Hudson River, but winds blew them off course, and they took it as a sign from God that this was where they were to settle. Before establishing a settlement, the Mayflower Compact was drawn up and signed by forty-one men. The compact was a plan for government in their new home. The big rush to get this signed was because not all the settlers were Pilgrims, or Separatists. The Separatists feared trouble from the others because they were not on the land granted to them.
A suitable area was found on the site of a former native village. They moved the ship and all their belongings into Plymouth Harbor and established the Plymouth Colony. In the following spring, the Mayflower itself returned to England.
The hardships of this new land took its toll. Fifty-two people died that first winter, leaving very few to plant crops in the spring. Squanto and Samoset, two natives who had been captives on English ships, took pity on the Pilgrims and taught them how to survive in this land.
They showed the settlers to catch and use fish as fertilizer. They taught them what types of crops to plant with this fertilizer. They showed them how and what to hunt. They also introduced the Pilgrims to the great Wawmegin, chief of the Wampanoag people. This chief was called Massasoit by the settlers and remained friendly to these newcomers in his lands throughout his life.
That first harvest was such a blessing that the governor of the colony invited the Wampanoag people to share in a three-day festival of thanksgiving. This first Thanksgiving took place between September 21 and November 9, 1621. This is referred to as Harvest Home, and is also described later in the "Traditions...(Continues)
