Setting the Record Straight About Thanksgiving Pt. 7 A Peaceful Thanksgiving Celebration with Pilgrims & Native Americans together!

 

The Pilgrims stepped out on the ground at Plymouth Rock on December 11, 1620. One third of the original colonists or Pilgrims were made up of members of the Puritan sect of the English Separatist Church. 

As we noted, their first winter was devastating. At the beginning of the following fall, they had lost almost half of the original 102 who sailed on the Mayflower. 

But the harvest of 1621 was a bountiful one and the remaining colonists decided to celebrate with a feast and they invited 91 Indians including their leader, Massasoit. His tribe was used of God to help the Pilgrims survive their first year. It is certain that the Pilgrims would not have made it through the year without the help of the natives. 

The feast was more of a traditional English harvest festival than a true "thanksgiving" observance. It lasted three days. We will read some of the eyewitness accounts of this first thanksgiving. 

William Bradford provides some of the context for us to think about. The growing season was ending and harvests were brought in to their store rooms. In addition, hunting and fishing efforts laid up a good supply of meat that they salted or cured. 

"They began now to gather in the small harvest they had, and to fit up [prepared] their houses and dwellings against winter, being all well recovered in health and strength and had all [necessary] things in good plenty."

"For as some were thus employed in affairs abroad, others were exercised in fishing, about cod and bass and other fish, of which they took good store, of which every family had their portion. All the summer there was no want; and now began to come in store of fowl, as winter approached, of which this place did abound when they came first (but afterward decreased by degrees)." 

"And besides waterfowl there was great store of wild turkeys, of which they took many, besides venison, etc. Besides, they had about a peck of meal a week to a person, or now since harvest, Indian corn to that proportion. Which made many afterwards write so largely of their plenty here to their friends in England, which were not feigned [overexaggerated] but true [accurate] reports."

Edward  Winslow provided more details about the first thanksgiving. 

"Our harvest being gotten in, our governor sent four men on fowling, that so we might after a special manner rejoice together, after we had gathered the fruits 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 [during this] time amongst other recreations, we exercised our Arms [firearms]. Many of the Indians coming [were among] amongst us, and amongst the rest their greatest king Massasoit, with some ninety men, whom for three days we entertained and feasted." 

"They [Massasoit's men] 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."

By autumn of 1621, the Pilgrims had much for which to be thankful. After the harvest, Massasoit and about ninety other Indians joined the Pilgrims for the great English tradition of Harvest Festival. 

The participants celebrated for several days, dining on venison, goose, duck, turkey, fish, and of course, cornbread, the result of a bountiful corn harvest. This tradition of a fall thanksgiving celebration was repeated at harvest time each year for many years, as the Indians joined with the Pilgrims.

A tribal historian of the Wampanoag Indians, of whom Massasoit was chief, wrote about the major impact of the Indians with the Pilgrims.

"The Wampanoag who lived in the area taught the Pilgrims how to smoke and dry indigenous meat and fish and how to plant the three sisters -- corn, beans and squash -- in mounds fertilized by fish and blessed by powdered tobacco, which is also a natural insect repellent," said Kinorea "Two Feather" Tigri, a cultural practitioner and educator from Chippewa.

"They also taught how to navigate from place to place by water and over land, how to tan hides used for clothing, how to identify toxic plants and berries and explained the medicinal and culinary use of indigenous herbs."

Giving Thanks

1 Chronicles 16:8-11  Give thanks unto the LORD, call upon his name, make known his deeds among the people. 9) Sing unto him, sing psalms unto him, talk ye of all his wondrous works. 10)  Glory ye in his holy name: let the heart of them rejoice that seek the LORD. 11) Seek the LORD and his strength, seek his face continually.

This is a Psalm of David recorded in the historical narrative of the Old Testament. The Holy Spirit gave us an imperative to follow. Believers in Jesus Christ are to "give thanks" and this command is found 35 times through the Bible.

The Pilgrims certainly had many reasons to give thanks in the fall of 1621. God delivered them and preserved them and helped them make a peaceful alliance with the tribe of Massasoit. 

With much help from the Indians, the Pilgrims learned how to hunt, fish and plant crops in the New World. 

What does it mean to give thanks? The Hebrew verb has the idea of a lot of concentrated energy as when hurling a stone with a sling or shooting an arrow high into the air. It means to offer abundant and heartfelt praises while thanking God for His bountiful provision in our lives. 

Specifically, this text tells us to give thanks to Jehovah. He is the unchanging God, who inhabits eternity but dwells with those who have humble hearts and contrite spirits. He is the covenant keeping God who will always do what He says He will do. 

We are commanded to call upon His name, to cast our cares upon Him, to tell Him of our trials and troubles and to confess our sins to Him. We praise Him for His provision in our lives and we lift up our voices in praise to Him. 

We are commanded to tell other people about His mighty works. Remember that part of the Mayflower Compact stated that one of their intended purposes for starting a colony was to advance the gospel of Jesus Christ in this new land. 

The Pilgrims learned to call upon Jehovah early and often, They gave Him thanks for all of the goodness and mercy that He showed to them. They sought His face and to draw near to Him by spending much time in prayer and in study of the Word. They sought His strength to carry them through the dark times that they endured. 

The Pilgrims set a good example for us to follow today. May we be a people of the Word, of prayer, of praise, and of thanksgiving to the One, true God of Heaven and Earth.

Bob