Celebrate, be thankful for blessings
Today is Thanksgiving, the celebration of the 1621 autumn harvest feast that the Plymouth Colonists shared together. In 1863, President Abraham Lincoln proclaimed a national Thanksgiving Day to be held each November. It was important to Lincoln to do so, even as the Civil War ravaged the country.
The proclamation reads just as relevant today as it did then: “The year that is drawing towards its close, has been filled with the blessings of fruitful fields and healthful skies. To these bounties, which are so constantly enjoyed that we are prone to forget the source from which they come, others have been added, which are of so extraordinary a nature, that they cannot fail to penetrate and soften even the heart which is habitually insensible to the ever watchful providence of Almighty God.”
Today is a day for all Americans, including Native Americans, without whom those settlers in Plymouth certainly would not survived another year. There were only 53 pilgrims and 90 Wampanoag Indians at the first Thanksgiving.
In his 2016 Thanksgiving proclamation, President Obama set the scene: “Nearly 400 years ago, a small band of Pilgrims fled persecution and violence and came to this land as refugees in search of opportunity and the freedom to practice their faith. Though the journey was rough and their first winter harsh, the friendly embrace of an indigenous people, the Wampanoag — who offered gracious lessons in agriculture and crop production — led to their successful first harvest. The Pilgrims were grateful they could rely on the generosity of the Wampanoag people ... and together they celebrated this bounty with a festival that lasted for days and prompted the tradition of an annual day of giving thanks.”
In describing the event, William Bradford, the longtime governor of Plymouth County wrote, “They began now to gather in the small harvest they had, and to fit up their houses and dwellings against winter, being all well recovered in health and strength and had all 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.”
A feast indeed.
Today, as we enjoy the company of family and loved ones, we honor the sacrifices of the early settlers but also of those in this contemporary time who make this occasion possible. As President Ronald Reagan said in 1988, “In this year, when we as a people enjoy the fruits of economic growth and international cooperation, let us take time both to remember the sacrifices that have made this harvest possible and the needs of those who do not fully partake of its benefits.”
Perhaps the best way to remember the sacrifices that have made this day possible is to be our best selves, day to day. As Theodore Roosevelt said in 1901, “Let us remember that, as much has been given us, much will be expected from us, and that true homage comes from the heart as well as from the lips, and shows itself in deeds.”
Happy Thanksgiving.