THE REAL STORY OF THE PILGRIMS AND THANKSGIVING

With Thanksgiving in just two weeks, I’ve often been curious about the Pilgrims.  We’ve been taught that the Pilgrims left England because they were unable to practice their religion due to threat of imprisonment or even death.  Would it surprise you to learn that the process for their relocation was a bit more round about?

PILGRIM LIFE IN HOLLAND

Another myth buster is that they didn’t just hop on a ship and come straight across the Atlantic to American shores.  In fact, they first landed in Holland in 1609 and settled in Leiden, south of Amsterdam.  For them It was a place where they could practice their faith in peace.  Despite having their religious freedom, the Pilgrims found it difficult "being English” within the Dutch culture.  They were not Dutch citizens, therefore, they were limited to working in the handicrafts (merchants, bakers, weavers, carpenters) when they had been farmers and herders back in England.  This type of work was continuous hard labor.  People aged very quickly and died young.  Those who didn’t leave the homeland weighed their options – risk religious persecution in England or starve in Holland.

Pilgrim children wanting to fit in with Dutch culture and not be "different" were in conflict with their parents.  The adults saw the dream of having their own separate community slipping away.  These Pilgrims realized that return to England was not an option since they were considered fugitives or criminals.  And if Spain won the war currently being waged with Holland, the Pilgrims would be subject to severe punishment at the hands of the Spanish Inquisition.  

Enduring all of this finally made the congregation consider emigrating to an English colony in the Americas.  But this was hotly debated by the more pragmatic members.  Crossing the ocean was dangerous enough, but surviving the voyage for many was doubtful.  Once they got there, they would have no food or shelter.  They might even be subject to diseases from the Native Americans there.  They didn’t have a lot of money, so how could they raise enough funds to afford the trip?  On the other hand, more prayerful members of the congregation stated that they should put their trust in God to deliver them safely.  They deliberated over famine and disease in Holland as opposed to the uncertainty of America and felt the odds were about even.  They approached investors who would finance the trip and repayment would come from the profits to be made from the fish and fur industries in the colony. 

Ships SPEEDWELL and MAYFLOWER

The Pilgrims finally left Delftshaven in July 1620.  This was the group that would establish the colony and the rest of the congregation would follow with their pastor.  But the pastor died in Holland.  The ship Speedwell  sailed to Southampton, England where other Pilgrims were to embark.  It was here that the Mayflower joined them.  The ships began the voyage but the Speedwell supposedly took on water and was considered unseaworthy and returned to Plymouth, near Cornwall, England.  Some of the passengers were transferred to the second ship, the Mayflower, in September.  The 102 passengers and 40 crew members were crammed into a 150-foot ship.  They would end up living on that boat for 8 months.  Besieged by storms, the main beam of the ship started to crack so a large screw from a printing press was used to prevent it from splitting apart.

After four months, the Pilgrims saw Cape Cod on November 19, 1620, but with the storms so hazardous, they were miles north of the Virginia colony.  They reached Provincetown (Cape Cod) two days later and knelt down to thank God for getting them there safely from a 65 day journey from Plymouth, England.  Now reality set in – they had no homes, and very little stored food.  They knew nothing of the land where they arrived or of the inhabitants there.  There was no help from England and the Mayflower captain was content to let them starve.  Women and children had to remain on board the ship for another two months while the men tried to establish the colony site and build shelters.  Native Americans were sighted but they kept their distance.  Some of the Indians attacked a group of Pilgrims in retaliation for Thomas Hunt and John Smith, who captured Indians and sold them as slaves in Europe.  The Plymouth Colony was officially established on December 21.    Of the original 102 Mayflower passengers, 4 died before reaching Plymouth and by Summer 1621, 46 more passengers died and 25 crew members.  The Native Americans kept watch on the Pilgrms but didn’t allow contact with them. 

All this changed In March 1621 when an Algonquin Sagamore Indian named Samoset came into the Pilgrim camp and spoke to them in English.  Samoset had learned English from the fishers and traders in Maine.  He was not fluent so he contacted Massasoit the Wampanoag chief.   It was with the assistance of the Wampanoag,the most prominent being Squanto, that the Pilgrims survived.  Squanto became the interpreter between these colonists and the Massasoit Indians.  He taught the Pilgrims how to fish and plant corn, as the colonists had barely survived the cruel winter, and were desperate to create and maintain a food source. 

Squanto Teaching How to Plant Corn

Native Americans would celebrate the harvest with a festival.  The Pilgrims adopted this practice in 1621 and invited the Indians to their own harvest celebration.  Indian hunters brought five deer to be roasted.  Meanwhile, the Pilgrims gathered corn, fowl (like ducks, geese, and swans), along with fish, lobster and clams.  From the forests they gathered chestnuts, walnuts, and beechnuts.  These were used to flavor the meat.  They grew beans, pumpkins, and squash, but turnips, carrots, onions, and garlic were also harvested.  The festival lasted three days and that was designated the original THANKS-GIVING.

CHESTNUTS, WALNUTS, BEECHNUTS

Thanksgiving didn’t become a national holiday until 1863 when President Lincoln made it so.  He stated that it was “Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the Heavens.”  Celebration was set for the last Thursday of the month of November.  In 1939, President Franklin D. Roosevelt issued a proclamation that Thanksgiving should be observed on November’s 2^nd to the last Thursday.  The reason for the change was economic in nature as Roosevelt felt that this would give people more time for Christmas shopping and stimulate the economy after the Depression.

So what does Thanksgiving mean to us in 2018 besides another day off from work?  There are still religious services held on this holiday – a day of giving thanks for what we have been blessed with.  Of all the holidays, this one is designated more with Homecoming and returning to our roots.  Many families are spread out across the country so this is a time to reconnect with parents, siblings, and grandparents.  It is a time for watching parades and waiting for the Guest of Honor to arrive in his red suit to begin holiday shopping.   Watching football games with the family and those heartwarming Christmas movies are as much a part of the celebration as the meal itself.  So as we celebrate this holiday, think of those brave souls who left their country,  maybe family and friends behind, and risked their lives to establish a community where they could live in peace and harmony.  For all this we give thanks!

HAVE A HAPPY AND BLESSED THANKSGIVING!

http://www.millsgen.com/gen/hist/pilstor2.htm
http://www.millsgen.com/gen/hist/pilstor3.htm
http://www.millsgen.com/gen/hist/pilstor4.htm
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/what-was-on-the-menu-at-the-first-thanksgiving-511554
https://www.thanksgiving.com/thanksgiving-activities/which-u-s-president-made-thanksgiving-a-national-holiday
https://www.archives.gov/legislative/features/thanksgiving