Flair For Writing Thanksgiving 2004

Flair For Writing Thanksgiving 2004
Editor: Megan Rose Princess Megan Rose 10 Years
Assistant Editor: Angel Angel


Greetings, Everyone! Angel and I hope you had a Happy Halloween. Just think it's almost Thanksgiving. I am sure you will be having friends and relatives over. Angel will be having her first Thanksgiving in Illinois with her Phillip and the cats. My husband Ray and I will be having Thanksgiving at our house and my son Jason usually shows up a couple of hours later which is always a pleasant surprise.
This month, Angel has written about the First Thanksgiving. We hope you will enjoy reading this issue. I will let Angel take it away!

Angel here. Let's talk about this great holiday!
Thanksgiving
Thanksgiving and the Pilgrims seem to go together just like Christmas and Santa Claus-but the truth is, the Pilgrims never held an annual Thanksgiving Feast. Before you cancel the turkey, take a look at the origin of that particular myth. In some ways, the truth is even more intriguing.

The Pilgrims did have a feast in 1621, after their first harvest and it is this feast which people often refer to as "The First Thanksgiving". This feast was never repeated, though so it can't be called the beginning of the tradition, nor was it termed by the colonists or "Pilgrims" a Thanksgiving Feast. In fact, to these devoutly religious people, a day of Thanksgiving was a prayer and fasting and would have been held any time they felt an extra day of thanks was called for. Nevertheless, the 1621 feast has become a model that we think of for our own Thanksgiving celebration and we do know something of the truth about it.

We can assume, for example, that the harvest feast was eaten outside based on the fact that the Colonists didn't have a building large enough to accomodate all the people who came. Native American people were definitely among the invited guests and it's possible even probable that turkey{roasted but not stuffed} and pumpkin in some form, found their way to the table. And it gets better. This is the way the feast was described in a first hand account presumably a leader of the colony, Edward Winslow, as it appears in Mourt's Relation:
"Our harvest being gotten in, our governor sent four men on fowling, that we might after a special manner rejoice together after we had gathered the fruits of our labors. They killed as much fowl in four days as, with a little help beside, served the company almost a week. At which time, amongst other recreations, we exercised our arms. Many of the Indians amongst us and among the rest their greatest King Massasoit, with some ninety men, whom for three days, we entertained and feasted and they went out and killed five deer, which they bought to the plantation and bestowed on our governor and upon the captain and others. And although it be not always so plentiful as it was this time with us, yet by the goodness of God, we are so far from what we want that we often wish you partakers of our plenty."

From this, we know that the feast went on for three days, included ninety "Indians" and food was plentiful. In addition to the venison provided by the Indians, there was enough wild fowl to supply the village for a week. The fowl would have included: ducks, geese, turkeys and even swans.

Much of the information we have about the feast and this period in the lives of these people, is the result of research conducted by the staff at Plymouth Plantation, the living museum in Plymouth, Massachusetts, that recreates the lives of the Pilgrims with Mayflower II, the 1627 Pilgrim Village and a native home site. From this research, we know about the foods and recipes that would have been available to them and from two first hand accounts{the second was written by William Bradford, Governor of the Colony for 33 years and can be read in Of Plymouth Plantation 1620-1647}. We have a good idea of how the village looked, what the colonists wore, how they spoke, what animals they owned, the games they played and how they lived. We even know what their views were on politics, religion and new homes were. And with this knowledge, we piece together what foods would have been served at the feast, how the table looked, how the setting looked, even perhaps what the conversation was like.

Here is the site where you can find anything about how Thanksgiving was found. Is a pretty cool site! http://pilgrims.net/plymouth/

Thanks, Angel! A beautiful written item here!

Megan here. I found some of the foods served at the 1621 Thanksgiving. Interesting!
FISH: cod, clams, bass, herring, shad bluefish, and eel! {Yikes!}

SEAFOOD: lobsters, mussels and oysters

BIRDS: wild turkey, goose, duck, crane, swan, partridge

OTHER MEAT: Venison, maybe chicken

GRAIN: wheat flour, Indian corn and barley

VEGETABLES: peas, squash, beans, possibly pumpkin

HERBS AND SEASONINGS: onions, leeks, strawberry leaves, brook lime, cabbage, radishes, Olive oil, liverwort.

Angel and I wish you a Happy Thanksgiving. If you have any comments, e-mail us anytime. Next month, there will be two Christmas letters. We will hand out two AWARDICONS for the best CHRISTMAS short story or poem. We hope to hear from you. Until next month, Love: Megan and Angel

All Sigs done by Angel! What a beautful job!
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