11/19/20 Chatterbox
Betty Kaiser
Here in the USA we happily set aside one day every year to join with family and friends, eat too much and count our blessings. Normally, there’s a whole lotta cooking going on, grandkids to be hugged, family gossip to be caught up with and blessings to be shared. It’s called Thanksgiving
This year is a little different. The meaning of the day is the same but this time, for many people, it’s hard to find a blessing to count.
Early this year, a previously unknown killer virus —Covid-19— began making its way around the world. In spite of masks and social distancing, things have not gotten better. People are still getting sick, dying and fearful uncertainty abounds.
Then, to top it off, hanging over our heads is the most controversial Presidential Election—ever! Tempers are hot, name calling is rampant and common sense is ignored. What a year!
Looking back, I imagine that’s how the Pilgrims felt in 1621. They were pretty excited as they arrived on the shores of the New World in 1620. However, after they endured the trip across the ocean on the Mayflower, more challenges and grief awaited them than expected.
That first winter more than half of the new Plymouth colonists died from malnutrition, disease and exposure to the harsh weather. The others were helped to survive by the Wampanoag Native Americans who taught them how to grow food and later made a peace pact with them.
The Pilgrim’s first Thanksgiving is believed to be in the autumn of 1621. After a horrible year of deaths and near survivor starvation, the remaining Pilgrims celebrated their harvest with a festival as was the custom in England. The now 50 colonists were joined by about 90 Wampanoag tribesmen.
Historical accounts are sketchy but it seems that they celebrated together with joy. For 3 days, they ate their harvested crops and venison from the tribesman. They played ball games, sang, danced and ate along with the Native Americans who had helped them survive.
Each side prayed and thanked their gods during the three-day celebration. The Pilgrims were religious separatists from the Church of England and worshipped one God. The native tribe of Wampanoag was also deeply religious.They worshipped idols and paid homage to more than one God.
We celebrate this well known story as the first Thanksgiving in the New World. Unfortunately, peace didn’t last between the English settlers and their one-time Wampanoag allies. There was a horrible war in 1675 and the natives were massacred.
A yearly blessing of gratitude for harvested crops has been in place in most countries of the world for centuries and remains so today. However, it took the United States awhile to make it a federal holiday.
A woman is credited with making Thanksgiving happen. Sarah Josepha Hale, editor of Godey’s Lady Book —a colonial women’s magazine—wrote letters over 36 years to five presidents requesting the holiday to unify the northern and southern parts of the country.
But it was her letter to President Abraham Lincoln that convinced him to support legislation establishing the holiday. In 1863, he proclaimed a national Thanksgiving Day each November.
Later, President Franklin Roosevelt, signed a resolution making the fourth Thursday in November as the Federal Thanksgiving holiday. The date was formally approved by Congress in 1941.
So, what are you thankful for this Thanksgiving? Some years it’s harder than others to be thankful: Times of war, the loss of loved ones and lingering illness, are especially hard. Perhaps we should think like Pilgrims.
This year, for our protection, Governor Brown has imposed rules to keep us healthy to slow down the coronavirus pandemic. Restrictions have been put on everyday activities like shopping and dining out. Limited socialization with friends and family is especially hard to cooperate with. Isolation is never fun on holidays.
At our house there will just be two of us and the Dachshunds to celebrate Thanksgiving. There will be no large family gatherings or feasting for three days. Probably no games will be played unless it’s Pinocle or UNO.
However, life will go on. Dinner will be topped off with pumpkin pie. A deer or two will wander around looking for roses in the garden. Squirrels will chase each other up the trees; birds will empty their feeders and raccoons do whatever they do!
Our gratitude will be all about the basics. We have each other, good friends and neighbors, live in a warm house, have food to eat and wildlife to entertain us. Family will check in from all over the country. Just hearing their voices will bring smiles.
Our biggest blessing will be the ones that we don’t have—like the Covid virus. And our most fervent prayers will be for those who are lying in a hospital bed fighting for their lives, mourning the loss of loved ones or homeless in the cold.
God help us all! We can do this! Have a happy memories Thanksgiving!
Contact Betty Kaiser’s Chatterbox by email bchatty@bettykaisr.com
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