Draw strength from history This Easter, remember the struggles of the past and use them to carry on
Alittle more than 800 European settlers called Jamestown home on Easter in 1620. Eleven years earlier, they had carved out a foothold on the content and endured the harsh, brutal conditions of ensuing seasons to ensure the community’s survival.
Historians tells us the day would have been festive. Nancy Egloff, a historian with the Jamestown-Yorktown Foundation, told the Williamsburg Yorktown Daily in 2019 that “there is a good possibility that Rev. Richard Bucke, the minister at the Jamestown Colony in the early 15th century, would have had Easter service and had some sort of meal or celebration afterward.”
That certainly seems appropriate. The settlers had endured almost unimaginable hardship since arriving in the New World. By 1620, Jamestown had found its footing and the future looked brighter. On one of the holiest days on the Christian calendar, they would have been right to share that joy.
This year, Easter will find the Jamestown settlement quiet. The traditional sunrise service, which is a popular event each year, was canceled as a result of the coronavirus, which continues to spread across the commonwealth. Thousands are infected and more than a hundred are dead.
We should mourn those losses and tend to the sick. We should continue to be vigilant and practice the social distance measures we know helps slow the spread of this deadly disease. We should care for our family, our friends and our community.
We should also draw strength from our history and the perseverance demonstrated by the courageous men and women who built a new life in a strange and foreign land.
In Hampton Roads, the echoes of that history are everywhere.
Last year, Virginia invited the world to share in the 400th anniversary of several notable milestones, including the first meeting of a representative assembly, the arrival of the first Africans to these shores and the first Thanksgiving celebration.
It was a memorable and important exercise, and a reminder of our shared experience here. It was a reminder as well of our links to Great Britain, where the Jamestown settlers originated. The ties between that nation and this have been strained at times and violent at others, but the English remain our closest allies on the world stage.
As such, it seems worthwhile to consider the words delivered last week by the
British monarch, Queen Elizabeth II, in a rare televised public address to her nation.
In it, she saluted the bravery of medical professionals on the frontlines fighting the disease. She touted the decisions made by public health officials, charting the most responsible course to curb the pathogen’s spread. And she celebrated the resolve and dignity of the British people who, like millions around the globe, are doing what’s necessary to serve the common good.
She went on to link this fight with the gargantuan sacrifices during World War II, during which British cities were pounded by German bombing in what was known as “The Blitz.” But this war, she said, was different.
“This time, we join with all nations across the globe in a common endeavor. Using the great advances of science and our instinctive compassion to heal, we will succeed, and that success will belong to every one of us,” the queen said.
“We should take comfort that while we may have more still to endure, better days will return. We will be with our friends again. We will be with our families again. We will meet again.”
One wonders if the 800 souls in Jamestown would have been buoyed by such words from their monarch 400 years ago, but the modern inhabitants of that community, and all of those across the commonwealth, may find comfort and strength in Queen Elizabeth’s words today, on this Easter Sunday.
There is power in that statement and determination in its sentiment. We need that now, as we celebrate this day, apart but very much of one shared spirit, and look forward to better days ahead.