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Today is Thanksgiving Day in the United States. It is the day we officially set aside to be thankful for all our individual and collective riches.
Being a Virginian for the past 52 years, I will take exception to the commonly written history of the first Thanksgiving being held in Plymouth, Massachusetts in November, 1621. In reality, the first formal gathering in the Colonies to "give thanks" was held two years earlier (December 4, 1619) at Berkeley Plantation along the James River in SE Virginia.
The Virginia settlers "Thanksgiving" was about prayer and not food. They had been directed by their benefactor to give thanks for their safe arrival and it to “be yearly and perpetually kept holy as a day of Thanksgiving to Almighty God.” An article about the real first Thanksgiving can be found here. Even in President Kennedy's proclamation officially designating November 28, 1963 as Thanksgiving Day (one of his last official acts before, sadly, he was assassinated), he refers to Virginia*. History is not only written by the victors but also written by those who have better public relations as well as those who control the ink and paper. As we know through our more and more sophisticated science and discoveries today, history is continuously rewritten.
Happy Thanksgiving. I try my best to live a thankful and grateful life. I am also thankful for all of you who read my blog.
*Here is the text from his speech recognizing Virginia’s 1619 celebration of Thanksgiving.
“Over three centuries ago, our forefathers in Virginia and in Massachusetts, far from home in a lonely wilderness, set aside a time of thanksgiving. On the appointed day, they gave reverent thanks for their safety, for the health of their children, for the fertility of their fields, for the love which bound them together and for the faith which united them with their God.”
For more context, here is the mandate given the Virginia colonists by their benefactor directing them to celebrate a day of Thanksgiving. From Wikipedia.
“The site known today as Berkeley Plantation — then the settlement called Berkeley Hundred — was settled by a group of English colonists who landed on December 4, 1619. By the terms of their charter (from the Virginia Company of London), the day of their ship’s arrival “shall be yearly and perpetually kept holy as a day of Thanksgiving to Almighty God.””
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Thanks for looking. Enjoy!
Dennis A. Mook
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From National Park Service website:
ReplyDeleteOn September 8, 1565, Pedro Menéndez de Avilés and 800 Spanish settlers founded the city of St. Augustine in Spanish La Florida. As soon as they were ashore, the landing party celebrated a Mass of Thanksgiving. Afterward, Menéndez laid out a meal to which he invited as guests the native Seloy tribe who occupied the site. The celebrant of the Mass was St. Augustine’s first pastor, Father Francisco Lopez de Mendoza Grajales, and the feast day in the church calendar was that of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary. What exactly the Seloy natives thought of those strange liturgical proceedings we do not know, except that, in his personal chronicle, Father Lopez wrote that “the Indians imitated all they saw done.”
Thank you for your comment. I was aware of that history. As stated in the narrative, at the time, that was Spanish territory, not one of the English Colonies. Maybe I should have been more specific. If one were referencing the first Thanksgiving in North America, this would most likely be it. Again, thank you and I hope you have a Happy Thanksgiving. ~Dennis
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