Evening Republican, Volume 20, Number 281, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 23 November 1916 — The History of Thanksgiving [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

The History of Thanksgiving

President lUashington established the custom officially in the United States, but men have fervently thanked their Gods for blessings in all ages and every clime

S goddess 6f the Roman hnrvest was Ceres. Her festival ( >lll \ was celebrated annually and was called Cenilia. It was a day \ 'wk /II J) of worship and rustic sports. Men and women formed proII Jp cessions and went to the fields with music. Virgil refers to this festival. He mentions the sacrifices that were offered In the temples, and alludes to the joyousness of the occasion. But JF-Xt Roman thanksgiving days were not confined to this annual celebration of the festival of Ceralia. Sometimes they were held in commemoration of victorious martial campaigns. Plu- / tarch tells us of the emperor who to conceal his defeat ordered I 1 thanksgiving, which was observed. Then when the facts of mg disastrous campaign became generally known, he excused himself on the ground that he did not “wish to deprive the people of a day of enjoyment.” t . . In one way or another, a thanksgiving day has been observed in Christian Europe for centuries before its celebration in New England. On the continent, and for a time in England, it occurred at Martinmas, which was a day of feasting and drinking. Occasionally, too, civil authorities recomx mended the observance of some fixed day. To celebrate the victory of Kng Henry V of England, at Agincourt, October 25, 1415, a public thanksgiving was held on Sunday, the feast of St. Edward, the King and Confessor. Such a day, too, was observed in Leyden, Holland, October 3, 1575, the first ann - versary of that city from the siege by the Spaniards. Many Instances of a thanksgiving day can be pointed out in England during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. In 1559, the second year of Elizabeth’s reign. Thanksgiving day entered Rogation day. Then it was ordwed that thanks should be given to Almighty God “for the increase and abundance of his fruits upon the earth.” In this reign, too, there was a national thanksgiving day that Is worthy of note. This occurr Tuesday, November 19, 1558, and was In commemoration of the great victory over the “Invincible Armada.” One legal and annual thanksgiving day, because of the long time It was such, deserves special mention. After the traitors In the Gunpowder plot had been tried and punished in 1605, It was ordered that because of their deliverance the English people should keep the fifth of November every year “as a public thanksgiving day to Almighty Godithat unfeigned thankfulness may never be forgotten, and that all ages to come may yield praises to Gods divine majesty for the same.” The “fifth of November” continued a legsT thanksgiving day for more than two centuriesl but In later years it fell into disuse, and in 1833 was abolished by parliament. Long before the advent of the Pilgrims in Massachusetts, all rituals contained expressions of gratitude to God for his mercies. In that of the Church of England, special prayers were provided for the Sunday service. This service, however, must be carefully distinguished from the Thanksgiving day of the Pilgrim fathers. Failure to make this distinction has led to the groundless claim that the Popham colonists were “the first to keep Thanksgiving day” in America. The service at Monhegan, on which this claim is based, was the regular Sunday service of the Church of England; and while it had an element of thanksgiving, the Hay can In nowise be regarded as a thanksgiving day as that term is understood. The record made in his “Breeches Bible” by William White, who came over In the Mayflower, has far more significance in determining the origin of our American Thanksgiving day than the event at Monhegan. The record read: “William White married on ye 3rd day of March, IG2O, to Susannah Tilly Peregrine White born on board ye Mayflower In Cape Cod Harbor. Sonne born to Susannah White 19th ye six o’clock morning. Next day we meet for prayer and thanksgiving.” This meeting “for prayer and thanksgiving” was not on Sunday, but on Tuesday. The fact that It was not a part of the regular Sunday service makes It more nearly accord with our idea of Thanksgiving day than does the Monhegan event. The prototype of our present Thanksgiving day is found tn the harvest festival at Plymouth in 1621. The long winter that followed the establish- ‘ ment of the colony had been so severe that less than half the settlers had survived it. “At one time during the winter only Brewster, Standish, and five other hardy ones were well enough to get about.” In the spring and summer that followed, their fortunes improved, and by autumn they had cleared 26 acres and made it ready for cultivation. This Industry, too, had been rewarded by a bounteous harvest. Now food and fuel sufficient for the needs of the approaching winter were laid in. Then Governor Bradford ordered a thanksgiving—the first In America^ — - The first thanksgiving was not for a day only. It continued a week. In a letter to a friend in England. Edward Winslow has given us a brief account of the festivities. This letter bears date of December 11, and in it Winslow wrote: “Our harvest being gotten in, our Governor sent four men on fowling that so we'might after special manner rejoice together after we had gathered the fruits of our labors. They killed as much fowl as with a* little help beside served the company about a week At which times among other recreations we exercise our arms, many of the Indians coming amongst us, and among the rest their greatest king, Massasoyt with some Ztv men whom for three days we entertained and feasted, and they went out and killed five deer which they brought and bestowed on our Governor and upon the captains and others.”The records make no mention of a thanksgiving day in the next year, but in the year following. 1623, such a day was held. This, however was not in the autumn, but in July on the. arrival of provisions from England. Nearly 50 vears pass before we hear of another thanksgiving day at Plymouth. There was one in 1668, and another for the accession of the Orange Stuarts, William and Mary, In 1689. An autumnal thanksgiving was held in 1690, the last in the history of Plymouth colony, Tndenendentlv of Plymouth, Massachusetts Bay cMony had occasionally .. own thanksgiving days. There was such a day for the “safe arrival of ships ” July 8 1630 r and again the next February, when the provision ship, Ambrose arrived. In 1632, the general court ordered a “publlque” thanksgiving dav in recognition of the “m’cy of God vouchsafed to the churches of God in Germany and the Pallatinate.” The next year the court, because of fl bountiful harvest, appointed October 16 as a thanksgiving day-the Srst harvest festival In the history of the colony. By 1680 the autumnal thanksgiving had become an annual festival. No doubt in its games and snorts it took the place of the English Christmas, for until comparatively recent date all that savored of Rome and the episcopacy was held in dlsfaV°Duringathe C Revolution Thanksgiving day became national. All through the war, congress annually set apart a day for thanksgiving; but after thfe “Thanksgiving for Peace” in 1783, there were no more until Washington became president in 1789. On October 3of this year at New York he issued « proclamation asking the observance of Thursday, November 26, as a day for national thanksgiving. This was the beginning of the orthodox “last Thnrsdav” that has since been named in presidential proclamations. By ■ ;A ihi<tlme the festival had genera} official recognition throughout New Englandl and in this year, 1789, the Protestant Episcopal prayer books recognized the authority *of civil government In the appointing of thanksgiving days. The chief differences between the two was the want of Ceremony at Plymouth that characterized the English festival. Ip some parts of England the merry-making was around the “noddingsheaf,” or “kern baby;” and in many places the last load of the harvest was drawn to the barn Ina wagon called the “hoch cart.” In front went pipe and tabor, and around it glath- - ered the reapers, male and female, singing joyously as they proceeded. At Plymouth there was no ceremony.