So, Thursday it rolls around again..Thanksgiving..
A bit of interesting trivia to ruminate upon..
The Polgrims first landed on the outer end of Cape Cod (the point of the fishook, present day Provincetown) .. After a short exploration, it was decided that a place on the mainland coast would be far better..especially one with a flowing brook. So, a party set off with the Mayflowers shallop and located the more favorable place, which would later be named Plimouth.
At that location, they found buried stores of corn, left by a disease decimated tribe.
Once landed they went through a "starving time", so by the time the first winter was over..only about 50% of the originals remained.
So, once they had a favorable harvest, they were moved to celebrate a "thanks giving" day..which turned out to be about 3 days of food, games
and etc.
Squanto originally met the Pilgrims shortly aftyer their arrival at Plimouth. One day he just suntered down the hill to the village..speaking English.
The startled Pilgrims, soon learned thaty Squanto had spent time in England...and he was in England while his tribe perished from disease.
When Squanto arrived back in America..his tribe gone..he took shelter with the Wampanog tribe nearby...and it was the Wampanogs who celebrated with the Pilgrims that day. Chief Massasoit of the Wampanogs, was a great help early on.
By charter, the Mayflower was to sail up the Hudson and settle the Prilgrims there, but stormy weather prevented this, so they settled at Plimouth. Thiis gave some Pilgrims the idea that their obligations to the "adventurers" (investors) was null and void. That idea didn't hold water.
While anchored in Provincetown Harbor, the adults of the colony signed an agreement of government on board the ship, which was called "The Mayflower Compact".. now days referred to as "America's birth certificate"..
The Pilgrims were not Puritans per se..but rather separatists. The Puritans wanted to reform the Church of England..while the separatists wanted
complete separation from it.
The Puritans did not use the new King James Bible, but rather the Geneva Bible. King James himself commissioned the KJV, because the Geneva
Bible had some footnote references that were derogatory of the aristocracy. The separatists were of course, already at odds with the aristocracy.
No mention of turkey at the first thanksgiving...but venison was served and waterfoul mentioned.
Two ships (?) left England for the new world. Mayflower was accompanied by the Speedwell, originally a coastal freighter. However, being coastal (milder seas), the Speedwell had a large mast for a small ship and days out, her mast tore loose from inclement ocean weather. So the Mayflower took those who wanted to continue aboard, and placing upon the Speedwell those who wished nto return to England..they pressed on as Speedwell retiurned to England.
The total company were not all Christian, a sizeable number being unbelievers. One unbelieving, problem family, was the Billingtons (no they didn't move to Montana)..but there is a lake inland from Plymouth called the "Billington Sea" since it was one of the Billingtons who discovered it !
Other states claim the "first Thanksgiving"..for instance I recall this being mentiond for Jamestown, VA, when we visited there.
To clarify.. Back then, after crossing the ocean with all it's challenges...when a ship made landing in the new world, immediately the principles knelt on the beach and gave thanks. So technically, each trans ocean voyage included a thanksgiving day.
