Disclaimer: everything contained in this blog is MY OPINION. Every attempt is made to present the truth through actual facts or to identify statements which are in doubt; otherwise there will be no deliberate presentation of gossip, rumor, or innuendo which can't be proven as factual.
When you get tired of roasted turkey, turkey sandwiches, turkey hash, turkey soup, turkey pie, go over to Carlito's and pig out on their excellent sampler plate.
The concept of giving thanks has been practised for centuries. The ancient Egyptians, Romans, Teutons, Druids, Aztecs, Mayans, African, and Asian cultures have all had some form of regular feasting and thanks, usually in gratitude or to propitiate their gods.
We most often associate giving thanks with a bountiful harvest. However, thanks-days in ancient times were often held to recognize the relief from peril or threat. For instance, when the Spanish Armada was turned away from England Queen Elizabeth I ordered a day of thanks.
Nowadays, the scholars argue about the date of the first Thanksgiving in America based on whether or not it was for religious reasons or to celebrate a bountiful harvest. Originally the differences between religious celebrations and bounty feasts were not distinguished because the two were commonly interchangeable, including aspects of both because religion was a part of daily life and ever-present.
In our own country, there is some question as to when the first Thanksgiving was held. The popular date and place is associated with William Bradford, the ship Mayflower, and the colony at Plymouth, Massachusetts in the fall of 1621. However, there are earlier thanks-giving celebrations of record.
The earliest of these seems to be a thanks-giving held by Francisco Vasquez de Coronado in May of 1541 in Texas. The location is claimed to have been Palo Duro Canyon, in the Panhandle. However, documents mention that pecans were gathered for the feast, and none have ever grown in Palo Duro. It seems more likely that the celebration was held in Blanco Canyon on the Brazos.
The Spanish in St. Augustine, Florida had a thanks-giving in 1568.
Texas has a further claim to another early thanks-giving. It was given by the explorer Juan de Onate to celebrate the survival of the Rio Grande expedition, which had endured months of severe hardship. On 30 April 1598, de Onate held a feast near what is now San Elizario and claimed the land drained by the 'great river' to be the possession of the Spanish King Philip II.
In Virginia a thanks-giving celebration was documented in 1607, and in Jamestown, Virginia in 1610.
The settlement of Berkeley Hundred's royal charter required that the day of arrival, 4 December 1619, be officially designated as a "Day of Thanksgiving" to God. Nearby Plimouth Plantation had a harvest celebration in 1621.
The Virginian Indians* of the Powhaten Confederacy, which included some 30 tribal towns, were at first disposed to be helpful and friendly and they and their white neighbors celebrated this first harvest together.
However, colonization began to displace the Indians. Fearing, with reason, further English expansion and confiscation of their lands, in 1622 the Indians appeared once again. They were unarmed and brought venison, wild turkey, and other food. The settlers welcomed them and prepared a feast. Suddenly the Indians dropped their peaceful pretense, grabbed any weapons at hand and proceeded to massacre their hosts.
The next fall, the Powhaten Confederacy chief saw that the English, although far outnumbered, were stubborn and with their superior arms were going to eventually take his lands. He approached the colony with the intention of making a peace treaty.
The officials of the colony welcomed the chief and arranged for him and many of his allies to be invited to a thanks-giving celebration. Innocent and unsuspicious, the Indians arrived. Having been introduced to liquor by the settlers and acquiring a taste for it, they were happy to see copious amounts of it served: they were even given containers of it to take with them.
Unfortunately, the colony physician Dr. John Potts had seen his chance and liberally poisoned the Indians' liquor. Over 300 of them died, but the chief escaped. There were no more communal thanks-givings with the Indians.
The first national Thanksgiving was declared by the Continental Congress in 1777. After that there were intermittent celebrations and dates set, but there was nothing official until a presidential proclamation in 1863. Finally, in 1941, federal legislation was passed making the 4th Thursday in November America's official Thanksgiving Day.
For whatever reason we celebrate Turkey Day, it is a family and friend time, a relaxed and happy time to give thanks with those we love.
Happy Thanksgiving!
*No, I am not politically correct. My Indian friends laugh at the idea that they're 'Native Americans' exclusively, insisting that anyone born in America is a Native American. Hence, I call them what they prefer: Indians.
Anita Huguelet McMurtrie
