Democratic Sentinel, Volume 19, Number 46, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 22 November 1895 — A PURITAN HOLIDAY. [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

A PURITAN HOLIDAY.

A HERITAGE FROM THE PILGRIM FATHERS. God-Fearing Folk of Plymouth Colony First to Associate the Day with Pie and Turkey —Karlieat Thanksgiving Proclamation. Formerly a Movable Feast.

Aym HE earliest Thanks—r* WwA giving proclamation printed is now in the y/>v, possession of the Massachusetts IlisJ toric-al, Society and i. wf I bears the date of SV n Sn | 1877. Long before I this, however, New jrr England knew the meaning of Thanks* giving, and the K jk!/ pumpkin pic had a R been discovered by , the inhabitants of ' Massachusetts and Connecticut. Cranberry sauce is of less

am lent origin, for we find no mention of it much before the early part of this century. Days set apart for thanksgiving were

known to the Israelites and are mentioned throughout the Bible. They were common in England before the reformation, and were in frequent use by Protestants afterward, especially in the Church of England, where they were a fixed custom long before they were in the colonies. “Gyving God thanks” for safe arrival and for many other blessings was first heard on New England shores from the lips of Pophnm colonists at Monliegan, in the Thanksgiving service of the Church of England. The first Thanksgiving week —not day—in Plymouth was observed in December, 1621. This was a week of fensting. Venison wfls brought in by the Massasoit Indians and dozens of wild torkeys, rabbits and smaller game were slaughtered for the feast. The Indians were invited to join the whites in the merry-making, an invitation which was promptly accepted. The records make no me ;tion of any special religious exercises doting this week of feasting. In July, 1623, a fast day of nine hours of prayer was observed by these same colonists, who were suffering from the effects of a prolonged drought, which had scorched their corn and stunted the beans. The rain which soon afterward fell they believt'd could not have come but for their united and public petition. The next public Thanksgiving was hold in Boston by the Bay Colony, on Feb. 22, 1630. This was an expression of gratitude for the safe arrival of food-bearing ships from England. From then until about 1684 there were about twenty-four Thanksgiving days appointed in Massachusetts, but it was not a regular biennial custom. In 1675, a time of deep gloom in both Massachusetts and Connecticut on account of the many attacks from fierce savages, no days of thanksgiving were celebrated. Rhode Islanders paid little heed to the days set apart by the Massachusetts authorities, and many of them were punished for thiß lack of conformity. Gov. Andros caused William Veazie to be set in a pillory in the market-place at Boston for plowing on the Thanksgiving Day of June 18, 1696. In Connecticut the festival was not regularly observed until 1716. The earlier Thanksgiving days were not always set on Thursday, nor were they always appointed for the same token of God’s beneficence, Days of thanksgiving were appointed in gratitude for great political or military events, for the safe arrival of “persons of special use and quality,” for the “dissipation of pirates,” for the abatement of disease, for victories oyer the Indians and for plentiful harvests. The frequent appointments for the last cause finally made autumn the customary time. To the early Puritan Christmas smelt to heaven of idolatry; so, when his own festival, Thanksgiving, became anrunl, it took on many of the features of the English Christmas. It was a day devoted to family reunihn, to-feasting and to the giving of presents. Such “superstitious meats” as baron of beef, boar’s head, and plum pudding were excluded, and turkey, Indian pudding and pumpkin pie were eaten instead. Many funny stories are told of the early Thanksgiving days. The town of

Colchester, for instance, calmly ignored the day appointed by the Governor and held its own Thanksgiving a week later, when the sloop from New York, bringing a hogshead of molasses for pies, had arrived. In revolutionary times Thanksgiving was not forgotten. The council of Massachusetts recommended that Nov. 16, 1776, be set aside for “acknowledgments for mercies enjoyed.” In the next year Samuel Adams recommended a form of Thanksgiving proclamation to the Continental Congress. During the war of independence Congress appointed eight days of Thanksgiving. They fell in April, May, July and December. The appointments were made in the form of recommendation to the heads of the various State Governments. With one exception Congress suspended business on the days appointed. Washington issued a proclamation for a general thanksgiving by the Continental army, Thursday, Dec. 18. 1777, and again at Valley Forge May 7, 1778. A few days before the adjournment of Congress in September, 1789, Representative Elias Boudinot moved in the House that the President be requested to recommend a day of thanksgiving and prayer as acknowledgment of the many signal favors or Almighty God, and especially his affording them an opportunity of establishing a Constitution of government for their safety and happiness. Roger Sherman, of Connecticut, supported the motion. Aedanus Burke, of South Carolina, did not like “this mimicking of European cus-

toms,” and Tucker, of Virginia, intimated that it might be as well to wait for some experience of the efficiency of the Constitution before returning thanks for it. In spite of these objections the motion was carried and President Washington issued a proclamation appointing as Thanksgiving Day Nov. 2,6. * Thanksgiving Day proclamations were issued in an irregular way for many years after that date, but the day was not a fixed holiday. After the battle of Gettysburg in 1863 President Lincoln recommended the people to set apart the 6th day of August “to he observed as a day of national thanksgiving, praise and prayer to Almighty God.” In the following year the President issued another proclamation, and the Presidential proc lamation has been an annual fixture ever since.