November 21, 2006
THE WAMPANOAGS
Vol. 1 Issue 3
Who are the Wampanoags and what do they
have to do with Thanksgiving? Before I get
to the answer, I want to wish everyone a
Happy Thanksgiving and remind you of what
the holiday is all about. For some of us, it
is all about turkey and football. So before
you plant yourself on the sofa after that
second helping of Pumpkin Pie to watch your
favorite team pounce upon their opponents,
stop for a moment and reflect back to what
this holiday really means.
September 6,1620 is when it all began.
When the original 100 passengers aboard the
Mayflower set sail from Plymouth, England to
Virginia, they had no idea how they would be
thought of almost 400 years later. (Yes, I
did say Virginia, which was their original
destination, but they landed at Cape Cod).
The trip took 65 days in rough and stormy
seas. Miraculously 99 of the original 100
passengers completed the trip alive.
So here we are almost 400 years later and
what have we learned about the holiday. For
most of us, it is just a four-day weekend or
as I used to call it the four "F's" Food,
Family, Friends and Football. Why have we
forgotten what the real meaning of the
holiday is all about?
The early settlers, who later called
themselves Pilgrims came to America to
escape religious persecution. Many of them
did not survive that first cold bitter
winter season. However, they did persevere.
At the end of their first year, with their
first successful harvest completed, they
decided to celebrate with a feast. The
Wampanoags were the first known inhabitants
of Massachusetts who taught the settlers how
to grow and care for their crops. They were
responsible for the Pilgrims survival that
first winter and subsequent seasons. Some of
them spoke English because they were
originally captive slaves of the British.
Although the celebration took place
annually, it did not become a holiday until
157 years later. It was President George
Washington who decreed it to be celebrated
on December 18 from 1777 on. It was not
celebrated on the last Thursday of November
until 1863 when President Lincoln changed it
at the urging of a woman named Sara Hale who
had found proof 17 years earlier that the
original celebration occurred on that day.
The first Thanksgivings were days of
prayers, not days of feasting.
Little did the Pilgrims know how much the
holiday would change and fall prey to
commercialism when in 1939, at the urging of
the National Dry Goods Association,
President Roosevelt would move it back one
week to allow an additional week of shopping
before Christmas. The American people were
so totally confused by the change of the
date that in 1941 legislation was signed
making Thanksgiving Day the fourth Thursday
in November from that day forward.
Therefore, as you start to carve the
turkey and dig into the sweet potato pie and
stuffing, stop for a moment and look around
the table. Look at the faces of your friends
and relatives. Look especially, in the faces
of your children and grandchildren and say a
prayer for all that we have. If you don't
believe that this is "one nation under God",
it should only take one look at the faces of
the ones you love to know that a divine
spirit has guided the path of America from
that first Thanksgiving festival almost 400
years ago until today.
While you are at it, say a prayer for all
our brave young men and women of the armed
forces who have defended and are defending
us today, so that you can be with your
family enjoying the freedom we so dearly
cherish and sometimes take for granted.
Thanksgiving should be a time of reflection
and prayer, not just turkey and football.
Then say thank you for Tivo. You can always
watch the game when you get home from
Grandma's house.
And, don't forget the Wampanoags. If they
hadn't helped the Pilgrims survive that
first harsh winter we might not be here
today.
As Paul Harvey say's, "Now you know the
rest of the story."
Happy and Healthy Thanksgiving and God
Bless America.
|
