Are We Truly Thankful?
Our harvest being gotten in, our governor sent four men on fowling, that so we might after have a special manner rejoice together after we had gathered the fruit of our labors; they four in one day killed as much fowl, as with a little help beside, served the company almost a week, at which time amongst other recreations, we exercised our arms, many of the Indians coming amongst us, and among the rest their greatest King Massasoit, with some ninety men, whom for three days we entertained and feasted, and they went out and killed five deer, which they brought to the plantation and bestowed on our governor, and upon the captain, and others. And although it be not always so plentiful as it was at this time with us, yet by the goodness of God, we are so far from want that we often wish you partakers of our plenty.
This letter was written after this group of over 100 people had spent over two months aboard a ship crossing the Atlantic Ocean and finally settling in Massachusetts December 11, 1620. They weren’t ready for the hard winter ahead with nearly half of them dying. It wasn’t until that spring that they were able to plant crops and this celebration of prayer and thanks was for the first harvest of these people. From Winslow’s letter we learn that these pioneers knew how to use their guns for hunting. Four men harvested enough fowl in one day to feed the entire company for a almost a week! He also speaks of “exercising our arms” after other recreations, to exercise means something performed or to put into action for training. They practiced their shooting or this could also mean they had something similar to a competition. After all they had other recreations, so they refer to the firearms in the same light as a recreation. Is that where our modern day turkey shoots came from? Nothing better than a little friendly shooting competition I say.
The letter also mentions the local Indians bringing in five deer for the feast. So where did the turkey come from? The original feast had the usual vegetables mentioned in the first paragraph, but the meat was venison and fowl and the word fowling is referring to upland bird hunting. This is more appealing to me personally. I would love to have deer and pheasant or grouse for Thanksgiving.
This all reminds me of a wild game dinner, where everyone brings something to the table from the wood lot or field, what a way to share the bounty. But it wasn’t just a one day dinner, this feast went on for three days! It was truly a celebration of the harvest. They were truly thankful for what they had, the last line of the letter Mr. Winslow mentions that it wasn’t always so plentiful as that current time, but by the goodness of God they had more than there fill of food and they wanted to share it with others around.
That my friends is what Thanksgiving is all about, being thankful in the good and bad times. It is easy to look towards God when the times are rough, but oh how easy it is to forget about Him when the good times are rolling around. These pioneers (true outdoors men) knew what hard times were and they persevered through the hard times and gave thanks for what they had.
After that first celebration of the harvest, it wasn’t until our first president George Washington proclaimed in 1789 that America celebrate its first Day of Thanksgiving unto God. Our new nation was going through the Revolutionary War and was just starting to establish itself. They had truly seen hard times and President Washington a member of the Protestant Episcopal Church set aside the first Thursday in November for giving thanks to God, although this was done mainly on a state level.
Later Mrs. Sarah Joseph Hale asked each sitting president for years to set aside a National Day of Thanks with no success. It was Abraham Lincoln that finally heard her plea in 1863 just after the Battle of Gettysburg. While walking the grounds of Gettysburg amongst the many graves that Lincoln gave his life to God and later proclaimed the National Day of Thanksgiving.
In his 1863 Thanksgiving Proclamation he set aside the last day of November that year to be the National Day of Thanksgiving. Each year for the next 75 years each president followed the tradition until 1941 when Congress established a permanent National Day of Thanksgiving, which would be the fourth Thursday of November each year. This part of the story has history behind it as well. Congress set this day of November due to confusion caused by the 1939 Franklin D. Roosevelt Thanksgiving Proclomation.
We know nothing of what hard times truly are compared to that first celebration of Thanksgiving, but as we slip into the woods, onto the water, or down the stream running our trap lines, we need to think back of what it must have been like to struggle in those harsh times and truly give thanks for those that pushed onward to give us what we have today. We need to look deep within ourselves and try to reconnect with the past to imagine what it was like in the 1600′s, 1700′s, and 1800′s as we walk down that deer trail this week with the cold wind blowing against our face as we push deeper after that big buck. I truly think that we as outdoors men and women along with the farmers are the last of the final frontier people who truly know what it means to get out and forage for the bounty of the land, battle for freedoms and connect to that shadow of the past.
So this Thanksgiving, let us not forget those who paved the way before us and those who continue for fight for us, have a truly wonderful and Happy Thanksgiving!
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