I think Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday. There is always good food, good friends, good companionship, a happy holiday and it can be even in this pandemic. In good times and bad, it has always been a day to be grateful for the blessings that were at hand. That, of course, is the reason for the holiday … to give thanks for food and friends and freedom.
This year, we do need to limit our gatherings and be very careful.
In our schools, it is a day to remember history and picture that first feast with the Pilgrims and Indians joining together to celebrate their friendship in early America. However, it seems history has mistakenly failed to tell the difference between the Pilgrims and the Puritans. In checking with a number of friends, they say, “Aren’t they the same?”
No, they aren’t! The Pilgrims and the Puritans were completely different people.
The Pilgrims who tossed the first Thanksgiving Day dinner in the new world were happy, fun-loving, beer-drinking people. They weren’t too religious, and they enjoyed a beer with their dinner.
The Pilgrims laughed. The Puritans seldom laughed.
Yes, many want to believe they were the same when in truth, the Puritans hadn’t even landed in the New World when the big feast was held. In fact, the holiday we celebrate has nothing to do with the Puritans. It was strictly a Pilgrim affair.
The Pilgrims landed at Plymouth Rock and started to settle the land. They held the dinner of Thanksgiving for their good fortune to still be alive in the New World after a very hard first year.
The Pilgrims were not too religious. They didn’t even have a minister on the Mayflower. They were not looking for religious freedom. They had already found religious freedom in Holland, after leaving England.
The Pilgrims came to the New World to find better economic conditions, and because Holland, their adopted homeland, was about to go to war with Spain.
Now, the Puritans were a different breed! They were very religious but in an unusual sort of way. They thought it was a sin to celebrate Christmas — and they weren’t above killing and slaughtering an occasional witch in their midst.
The Pilgrims landed at Plymouth Rock — the Puritans didn’t arrive in the New World until eight years later, and they settled in Salem, Mass.
I would have enjoyed dinner with the Pilgrims. I’m not sure I would have liked the Puritans, even as neighbors. I do know that we gather every year to give thanks, with prayer, and always with plenty of food, good friends, and a glass of wine. That’s celebrating using all of the bounties of the varied harvests in our valley!
We will also be gathering on Zoom or Facebook to give thanks to God at the special Woodland Ecumenical Multi-faith Ministry Service. You can find it online by visiting the website of a WEMM member website. Woodland United Methodist Church, The Church of Jesus Christ Latter Day Saints, Woodland United Presbyterian Church, American Lutheran Church, St. Luke’s Episcopal Church, Woodland Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), Second Baptist, Holy Rosary Roman Catholic Church, Woodland Mosque, St. John’s United Church of Christ, or The Daily Democrat’s website (news@dailydemocrat.com)] The service should be available any time after Monday, Nov. 23.
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Just an added unusual fact of Thanksgiving Day: Sarah Josepha Hale worked hard and long to make Thanksgiving Day an official holiday in the United States. She has another claim to fame as the author of the poem, “Mary had a little lamb.” I wonder why she didn’t write a poem: “Mary had a little turkey”?
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November 22, 2020 at 11:59PM
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Thanksgiving a day to remember our history | Clergy Corner - Woodland Daily Democrat
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