Jasper County Democrat, Volume 23, Number 66, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 13 November 1920 — OLD TALE RETOLD [ARTICLE]

OLD TALE RETOLD

Origin of the American Thanksgiving Day. Will Bear Repetition Annually a* Something of Which Every Citizen May Be Proud. The ancient Thanksgiving did not, as some have fancied, skip down the ages to find its home in America. In one way or another it seems to have always been observed. Throughout Europe, before the Reformation, special days w’ere set apart as days of religious thanksgiving. The American Thanksgiving day Is traced back to the Pilgrims. Shortly after the landing of the Pilgrims, while searching for a suitable place in which to build their homes, they one day came upon some deserted Indian huts, in which they found some baskets filled with corn. From this supply they succeeded in saving enough to plant their first year’s crop. In the spring of 1621 the seed corn was sown and its growing watched anxiously by the people of the little colony. To their great joy, the harvest of the following October was a bountiful one. Governor Bradford ordered a three days’ feast in celebration thereof. Wild turkeys, geese, ducks and water fowl; corn bread and vegetables no doubf formed the chief constituents of their feast, not to speak of the five deer brought in by a tribe of friendly Indians. This festival is supposed to be the first real Thanksgiving day from which we date our celebration. This celebration, although without doubt the origin of our national Thanksgiving day, may be looked upon as merely a local observance, being held by the Plymouth colony only. They were the 'forerunners of less local celebrations in Massachusetts and gradually in other colonies, for In 1630 a public .Thanksgiving day was observed in Boston 5 by the Bay colony, and again In 1631. During the next fifty years there were as many as 22 public Thanksgiving days appointed in Massachusetts, usually in October or November, after the gathering in of the harvests, or to celebrate some public benefit. It did not become a regular holiday until a long dme afterward. In 1789 Washington issued the famous Thanksgiving proclamation recommending Thursday, November 26, as a national day to be devoted to prayer and Thanksgiving. Washington’s example 'was followed by other Presidents. In 1863 President Lincoln appointed the fourth Thursday in November as the national Thanksgiving day. Since then the day has been observed annually without interruption.