Only for those who speak English

Thanksgiving, a United States celebration

By Mr. Roque Estévez

In 1620 a group of one hundred pilgrims left England boarding a sailboat named Mayflower. They headed for the Jamestown colony of Virginia looking for a place where they could worship God in their own way. The boat lost is course and landed at Plymouth Massachusetts in December of the same year. It was winter and terrible happenings were ahead of the pilgrims. Many of them died due to starvation and disease.

In the spring of 1621 conditions improved due to the finding of a great variety of wild vegetables and fruit. Fishing and other activities also contributed to make a better life for those adventurers. Fall came and they were regretful and thankful. In that season, only fifty of the original one hundred passengers remained. Because they had been working hard, they enjoyed a splendid harvest; so they waited the second winter with confidence. They also established a treaty of friendship with their Indian neighbors under Chief Massasoit in the summer. After staying a whole year in their new land, the pilgrims wanted to celebrate a real holiday. Governor Bradford decided on December 13 of the next year (1621), as the day for giving thanks to God.

The colonists fired a cannon as a salute at dawn on that first Thanksgiving Day. Afterwards they moved to the meeting house in a procession. This house took the place of a church for them. There they offered humble thanks to God. After the religious ceremony, a great feast and three days of celebration began. Massasoit and his Indian warriors were in the celebration as special guests.

To celebrate the hunters brought turkeys, geese and ducks. The Indians brought deer meat and many kinds of vegetables, especially pumpkins. Today pumpkins are both food and decoration for almost every Thanksgiving table. Altogether, they enjoyed performing different kinds of activities.

In the following decades, Thanksgiving Days were frequently held, sometimes twice a year, sometimes every other year, depending on the circumstances.

The decision for celebrating Thanksgiving Day the last Thursday in November was appointed by the president Abraham Lincoln. Thanksgiving celebration is today a American family feast in which dinner is the main attraction for all families. The main course is the turkey. Pumpkin pie is often served in remembrance of the Indians’ gifts to the first settlers. Thanksgiving has hardly changed at all since 1621 in its intention and manner of celebration. Churches of all denominations are open on this day to give thanks for God’s generosity. Dinner is practically the same all over the country. Beside the traditional turkey, it includes delicious food of many different kinds.

To finish this article, I would like to say that I’m very concerned about the celebration of this feast in communities apart from this United States. If this continues we are going to see very soon our people doing the same thing as they celebrate Hollowing and other strange celebrations.

Until next time…