By Editor Emeritus and some-time, infrequent contributor, former State Senator Rod Adair
THE TRUE STORY of THANKSGIVING, November 22, 1621
After a harrowing, challenging year in which the total number of passengers on the Mayflower had been reduced from 102 to 53 by the numerous deaths in the terrible winter of 1620-21, the congregation (which was made up of Separatists, not Puritans) decided that a Thanksgiving celebration should be held for them and for their fellow travelers (who may or may not, in their view, have been saved because they were most likely members of the Church of England).
The true Pilgrims lovingly and affectionately referred their fellow Englishmen as "strangers." (The names of all are provided below.**)
Exactly 397 years ago today at exactly 2:00 PM (EST—though it was then known locally as Wampanoag Time*) our Calvinist forebears gathered for the very first Thanksgiving Dinner with their Indian neighbors whom they had invited out of Christian charity and some concern that they were not eating properly.
(*The Wampanoag's time measurement system had been selected by a vote of surrounding tribes at a standardized time gathering in 1602, with delegates from the Narragansett, Nauset, Pocomtuc, Pennacook, Nipmuc, Mahican, and Massachuset tribes recognizing that their own systems were more primitive, and much less accurate.)
Indians Not on Time
The Indians showed up quite late, perhaps 30 minutes late to an hour behind schedule. But the Pilgrims being a tolerant and non-judgmental people, carried on as if nothing had happened. Far be it from Calvinists to point out failings in others.
The Indians brought five deers (a correct rendering, as the Pilgrims were still speaking a good deal of Middle English) which they still had to dress out and prepare—and unpleasant task as we all know, which considerably delayed the proceedings even further.
But a ball was produced for the youths to pass the time—which they did. And it is from this first Thanksgiving Day ball game which we get the current tradition of football on Thanksgiving Day (largely because the owner of the Detroit Lions was a descendant of the Mayflower expedition and had long wanted to revive the tradition, which he did 83 years ago).
Beginning of the Feast
At last, when all was in readiness, a prayer of blessings was offered up—for all in attendance, both those among the Calvinists who and for the Anglicans and Catholics (both of whom the Pilgrims loved with all their heart, though they believed them to be lost, most likely) back home across the sea. From that prayer, emanating from these most ecumenical and forward-thinking Calvinists, we get the American tradition of religious tolerance, to be enshrined in the First Amendment only 170 years later.
The entire crowd of 143 included the 53 surviving Pilgrims and 90 Wampanoag warriors (yes, they’d only brought 5 deers with them, but of course the Pilgrims didn’t even bat an eye, didn’t whine about it — all in the Christian spirit of Thanksgiving). It was fortunate the Pilgrims had shot more than 50 geese, turkey, and ducks.
The record shows they also served shellfish. (NOTE: This was a “tradition” that was most fortunately abandoned later as it can result in violent vomiting caused by such things as raw oysters — resulting in a scene that could easily ruin an idyllic, Norman Rockwell setting).
The Pilgrims provided a vast array of vegetables, including onions (largely abandoned today); carrots (ditto); beans (if the chroniclers mean “green,” well, okay, but if “kidney” or “pinto,” well, largely abandoned today); pumpkins—more on that below; spinach, lettuce, cabbage, peas (all pretty much gone the way of the buffalo on T-day).
There was also corn — and this was a big deal because until a year earlier the Pilgrims had never even seen it before. (It was also very weird because the English called virtually every grain “corn,” especially wheat, but then they actually were introduced to corn by the extremely famous Squanto, who oddly enough called it “maize,” (something the University of Michigan later, inexplicably, adopted as a “color.”) But at last the English had an actual foodstuff that linked up with a word they had been using all this time. Who knew?
But perhaps the biggest surprise of all was that over the course of the year the Pilgrims had produced corn syrup — and that allowed them to take the pumpkin and turn it into pie — a concept totally unknown to the Indians. They also added spices such as cinnamon and nutmeg — which was remarkably generous since they cost approximately £1 per ounce—which in today’s currency is about $100,000.
No Potatoes, But Native Cranberries in Abundance
There were no potatoes — even though they were native to America and the Indians had tons of them — as the Pilgrims were suspicious of them. The Irish and Germanics later became enamored of them. And of course the Russians and Finns used them exclusively to produce vodka (which the Pilgrims would have condemned), so much so that usage of potatoes as actual food in Russia and Finland is of course virtually unheard of today.
As for fruit, the Pilgrims did use the locally-found, brand new (to them) cranberry, confecting a sauce for the turkey. This led to an outcry from both Indians and Pilgrims alike about the “tartness,” which in turn caused a massive demand for importation of sugar — thus the beginnings of British plantations in the West Indies and an industry and sweet tooth that afflicts millions of Americans to this day with its accompanying obesity and derivative illnesses.
Pilgrim Tolerance
In any case, it was a successful meal, lasting some five hours into night, the Indians famously being overcome with the effects of tryptophan, and becoming increasingly listless and drowsy, finally falling asleep to a man. But the Pilgrims were careful to cover them with blankets (after all it was Massachusetts in late November) and to not touch their arms at all.
This same schedule and the same sequence occurred for three consecutive days.
This kind of openly demonstrated trust and humanity touched the hearts of both the Indians and Pilgrims alike and ushered in nearly 400 years of peaceful coexistence and mutual respect between settlers and the native peoples of the First Nations — only to be marred in very recent times by demonstrations and clashes in North Dakota over a proposed pipeline.
Thus occurred the very First Thanksgiving, November 22, 1621. Happy Thanksgiving to all, and may God bless us, everyone!
** FAMILY GROUPS REMAINING ALIVE for the FIRST THANKSGIVING:
(On the voyage over, there had been 28 adults, 16 children, for a total of 44 True Pilgrims.)
THE CONGREGATION REMAINING: 21 True Pilgrims, plus 3 servants/wards (most likely not congregants)
ALLERTON: Isaac with children Bartholomew, Mary, Remember; and the Allerton servant William Latham • BRADFORD: William • BREWSTER: William & Mary with sons Love, and Wrestling; and their ward Richard More • CHILTON: Mary (13) • COOKE: Francis with son John • CRACKSTON: John (18) • FULLER: Samuel with nephew Samuel 2d • ROGERS: Joseph (17) • TILLEY: Elizabeth (15) • WINSLOW: Edward & Susanna with her sons Resolved White & Peregrine White; Winslow servant George Soule
STRANGERS REMAINING
Strangers: 23, plus 7 servants/wards
ALDEN: John • BILLINGTON: John & Eleanor with sons Francis and John Jr. • BROWNE Peter • CARVER: The Carver ward Desire Minter; the Carver servant John Howland; the Carver maidservant Dorothy. • EATON: Francis with son Samuel • ELY: Unknown adult man • GARDINER: Richard • GOODMAN: John • HOPKINS: Stephen & Elizabeth with Giles, Constance, Damaris, Oceanus; their servants Edward Doty and Edward Leister. • MULLINS: Priscilla • STANDISH: Myles • TILLEY: Tilley wards Humility Cooper and Henry Samson • TREVOR: William • WARREN: Richard • WINSLOW: Gilbert
EDWARD & SUSANNA WHITE: An Object Lesson in Today's "Gay Marriage" Debate
(Also, the following true story provides a history lesson which can be instructive to both libertarians and conservatives alike with regard to the considerable mess which has ensued in the wake of the so-called "Gay Marriage" uproar.)
Listed above among the true Pilgrims are the Winslow family, Edward & Susanna with her sons Resolved White & Peregrine White as having survived the first year. (Susanna, by the way, was one of only four adult women to have survived.)
Susanna's first husband, William White, had died almost exactly nine months earlier and Elizabeth Winslow, Edward's first wife, had died almost exactly eight months earlier, on February 21 and March 24, 1621, respectively. The surviving spouses Edward and Susanna then experienced something of a whirlwind romance (perhaps suitable for a fairly racy HBO Miniseries), somehow fell in love, and ended up marrying on May 12, 1621, 49 days and 81 days after the deaths of their spouses.
(The congregants, naturally, wanted to be able to help the newlyweds off on a two-week honeymoon — perhaps to the Caribbean, or a ski vacation in Vermont — but neither had been invented yet, plus no one had any money or transport. So, by all accounts they honeymooned right on site.)
HOW WAS THIS MARRIAGE POSSIBLE?
You may be thinking this was practically impossible because of the requirement of the reading of the Banns (for three consecutive Sundays) in front of the congregation as well as the publication of the same in the marketplace or local municipality.
However, keep in mind that the Pilgrims at Plymouth were "Separatists" unlike those arriving in the follow-on landings within the next decade at present-day Boston, about 40 miles to the north. The newer arrivals were "Puritans," technically still affiliated with the Church of England, with hopes of finishing off its purification by eliminating the last of its more ghastly Romish habits.* (Pilgrims held out no such hope.)
The Pilgrims, therefore, viewed marriage as strictly a legal contract in the civil realm rather than a religious rite. This is because Puritans and other Protestants saw no biblical foundation for church control over marriage. Marriage was only established as a sacrament in the Roman Catholic Church in the 12th century, and Separatists viewed that phenomenon as a vain and un-biblical invention. So the marriage ceremony was performed by Governor William Bradford.
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* It must be noted that when royal government control was firmly asserted in the Massachusetts Bay Colony (1630), marriage came under the purview of the state church (Anglican). This may be seen by libertarians and conservatives alike as a classic example of how the entanglement of church and state leads to coercion in the area of religious belief.
For the Pilgrims, because marriage was a civil contract, questions of inheritance were handled by the state rather than the Church. Edward Winslow who became a prominent leader within the colony, later paid the price for his civil marriage when he was thrown into a Fleet Street prison in London for 17 weeks for not following the church/state law.
** Plenary NOTE: While much of this account was true, it must be said that there is some embellishment, strictly for the purposes of adding color to the story. But any and all additions are well within the standards adopted by Hollywood when a movie provides the opening statement: "Based on a True Story." For example, all the embellishments are just as true as virtually anything contained in any Oliver Stone production, but also as true as the work of many other directors/producers, including those who have labeled their finished products "documentaries."
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