Seasoned with Salt

Thanksgiving

The purpose of its first celebration, according to one modern teacher, was for the Pilgrims to thank the Indians. That's what the textbook said, so that is what she told her class.

Some folks call it "Turkey Day." One year, Vegetarian Times ran a cover story entitled, "Turkey Day--It's for the Birds!" It's generally known as Thanksgiving Day, but how did it originate?

When Noah got off the ark, he offered sacrifices of thanksgiving to God for delivering his family from the flood. He may also have said thanks for the fresh air--can you imagine how that ark must have reeked with all those animals confined in there for over a year?

Until the time of Noah, people did not eat meat (some still don't--see paragraph one above). But after he left the ark, God told Noah he could add animals to his diet. Hence, Noah's family may have enjoyed the first turkey dinner, with Mrs. Noah setting the table for the flood-surviving family of eight.

Fast forward a few thousand years: English settlers sailed to America and landed at Berkeley Plantation, Virginia, on December 4, 1619. They immediately declared an annual day to give thanks to God, but their particular celebration never hit the big time nationally, perhaps because the celebration was for prayer and involved no feasting, or perhaps because the name Berkeley Plantation does not roll off of the tongue quite as easily as Plymouth Rock. (Had Madison Avenue been around at the time, Berkeley Plantation might have been shortened to BP, and the whole Thanksgiving Story would have been altered forever.

That brings us to the Pilgrims, who sailed to America in 1620 to escape religious persecution. Their 66-day voyage ended at Plymouth Rock, now known as Princetown Harbor, Massachusetts. After a severe winter claimed nearly half of their ranks, a bountiful corn harvest the following summer brought rejoicing, and Governor William Bradford declared a three-day feast for prayer and celebration.

Now, that was a feast worthy of remembering the name Plymouth Rock! It consisted of geese, ducks, fish, journey cake (now called johnny cake by some), corn meal bread with nuts, and succotash. Also, venison and four wild turkeys were contributed by the Indians. There was no mention of cranberry sauce--in fact, Del Monte wasn't even in business at that time.

During the Revolutionary War, the colonists celebrated at least eight different days of thankgiving for God's blessings as they struggled against the British. At the urging of Congress, President George Washington declared the first national Thanksgiving Day in 1789:

Whereas it is the duty of all nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey His will, to be grateful for His benefits, and humbly to implore His protection and favor ... I do recommend and assign Thursday, the twenty-sixth of November next, to be devoted by the people of these United States ... that we then may all unite to offer unto Him our sincere and humble thanks for His kind care and protection of the people of this country ... And supplications to the great Lord and Ruler of Nations, and beseech Him to pardon our national and other transgressions ...

It was not until magazine editor Sarah Hale persuaded President Abraham Lincoln in 1863 to proclaim Thanksgiving Day that it became a national tradition. There is no evidence, however, that Hale advocated men spending the day parked in front of their TV sets for continuous football, while women slaved in a hot kitchen. Lincoln proclaimed:

I invite my fellow citizens in every part of the United States to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November as a day of Thanksgiving and praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the heavens.

Every succeeding president proclaimed a Thanksgiving Day on the last Thursday of November, until Franklin Roosevelt moved it up by a week in 1939, thinking that it might help business by providing more time for Christmas shopping. The people did not like the change, so in 1941 Congress designated the fourth Thursday of November as the official day, as it remains today.

That's the scoop on Thanksgiving, whether religiously cleansed textbooks say so or not. Enjoy your turkey or tofu (known in the Hasak home as "toe food") feast, whatever the case may be. Watch a football game if you feel compelled to do so. But don't let these be the focus of your day. Rather, gather with your family and friends, and unabashedly thank the Lord, who created this great land of ours, who blessed us all in an abundance far in excess of our own merits, and who sent His son Jesus Christ to be our Savior. Give thanks where thanks are due.

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