By Susan Patterson
Guest Writer
A challenge for most seniors is getting back to rapid eye movement sleep after waking up too early, stretching their legs on a journey to “The Throne” and then trying to get their brain out of high gear from thinking about stuff, issues and drama. Last year my brain was solving Thanksgiving plans for the meal menu, the seating assignments and who was going to say the blessing for the “feast of the bird.”
My mind pulled up memories of past gatherings with late friends and family members, memories of the wonderful smells, all the cooks in the kitchen creating their special dishes and of course watching the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade while all the preparations were underway. I thought about the hundreds of construction paper Pilgrim and Indian hats my sister and I had made over the years for primary level children that we taught over our combined 70 years of teaching. The last week before our school had a break for the Holiday, we read stories like “The Pilgrim’s First Thanksgiving” by Ann McGovern to teach their young minds the history of why we have Thanksgiving today. Our last day of class culminated with a classroom feast of homemade Pilgrim Stew which consisted of ground turkey and mixed vegetables including: the Cherokee “Three Sisters” of corn, beans and squash. The students dressed in their Pilgrim and Indian costumes they had chosen. The anticipation and excitement of eating in our classroom and the smells, especially the fresh popcorn — that we popped— made everyone extra hungry.
My thoughts then switched to planning the Thanksgiving meal and the blessing with a very full table of family and friends. My oldest visiting grandson, Levi, was old enough to read; so, he was the perfect one to tell the history that he had learned about this wonderful holiday and bless our meal.
This is what he read:
The First Thanksgiving took place in Plymouth in 1621, a year after the Pilgrim Colonist arrived in Cape Cod Bay. Their trip across the Atlantic Ocean from England took more than two months and was extremely hard for the 102 men, women and children, their two dogs and one cat. They left their homes in England to seek freedom from British laws and find religious freedom. Their first year was full of challenges — creating homes and finding enough food. Many Pilgrims died that first winter. With the help of Squanto, a Wampanoag Native American Indian, most survived the first year by learning how to hunt, fish, gather berries and grow crops on the North American continent. The first Thanksgiving Feast was to give thanks for their survival and a Festival of their Harvest — what they had learned to grow and hunt. There were 99 Native American Wampanoag Indians and 50 Pilgrims at the feast which lasted three days. Games were played by the men and boys, while the women and girls cooked. The Pilgrims prepared wild turkey, ducks, geese, fish, lobsters, clams, oysters and vegetables they grew from the seeds they brought with them from England. Deserts were made with wild fruits and berries. The Indians brought five deer and of course corn and treated the Pilgrims to their first popped corn. It was a celebration of sharing. All had much to be thankful for, including their families, homes, new friends and a new life with freedom.
Abraham Lincoln declared a Thanksgiving Proclamation on Oct. 3, 1863 the last Thursday in November as a day for giving Thanks. Franklin Roosevelt signed a Bill on May 26, 1941, making Thanksgiving a National Holiday.
We thank you for our blessings: for the memories of past Thanksgiving gatherings and loved ones gone, for our families, friends, pets, homes, our freedoms that we enjoy and the food that we are about to eat. Amen.