| View Blog
|
| What You Didn't Know About Thanksgiving
|
|
|
On December 4, 1619, thirty-eight settlers from England landed at what is known as the Berkely Hundred, a large parcel of land about twenty miles north of Jamestown. Part of the settler's charter was to set aside the day they landed as an annual holiday to give thanks. Things did not go as they planned, however. Only three years later, nine of them were killed by Native Americans and they were forced to emigrate to Jamestown, where one-third of the population had died in the same massacre. During this time the tradition of the annual holiday was lost, but several years later the settlers were able to return to and repossess the Berkely Hundred, where they declared a one-time Thanksgiving. And that embodied the spirit of the American Thanksgiving until that time: celebrating victory over adversity. They had first conquered the troubles of the voyage across the ocean, and now they were celebrating their triumphant return.
In 1621 at the Plymouth plantation the event we all learned about in kindergarten took place, but in actuality it was no Thanksgiving at all; it was merely a fall harvest festival. In 1623, however, a long drought was finally redressed by rains and a one-time Thanksgiving was declared to celebrate victory over adversity. Such one-time celebrations were declared intermittently, for example in 1777 by George Washington at the request of the Continental Congress to celebrate the defeat of the British. Again, victory over adversity.
But a strange thing happened in 1863. President Lincoln declared not only a Thanksgiving, but the permanent Thanksgiving holiday right in the middle of the Civil War. This was unprecedented because usually Thanksgivings were declared after a victory of some sort. Yet Lincoln, in his declaration, decided to be thankful for the smaller victories. Yes, parts of the country were war-ravaged and barren, but at the same time the American population was increasing, farmers were being successful, the laws were being obeyed, and freedom was spreading.
Lincoln had the audacity to turn Thanksgiving on its head from celebrating victory over adversity to victories in the midst of adversity. It didn't matter which side of adversity Lincoln was on; he was determined to be thankful for the victories he could find.
I don't know about you, but I'm in the middle of some adversity. Whether you are on the other side of adversity or down in the trenches right in the middle of it, I'm giving you permission to be thankful for the victories you do have. Here's to victories in the midst of adversity.
|
|
Posted by distraughtwanderer on 2007-11-22 09:57:20 | Rating: | Views: 67
|
| |
|
|
