Thanksgiving Day is not only one of my favorite days of the
year, it’s frequently for me a very personal day. Five times every 28 years I celebrate my
birthday on Thanksgiving Day. Even after
all these years, I’m still trying to grasp the depth of its purpose and its
meaning.
To say “thank you” is, of course, an expression of
gratitude. It’s a testimony to the value
you and I place on an event, our appreciation of the society in which we live
and of our very lives.
Our first Thanksgiving was held in the fall of 1621 when
Pilgrim Governor William Bradford invited a bunch of Wampanoag Indians over to
their settlement for dinner (or if you prefer “to their place”) to celebrate the
Pilgrims’ first bountiful new world harvest.
That historic Thanksgiving was a multi-day occasion. Although there was likely no pumpkin or mince
pie, no cranberry jelly, and probably no dressing, it’s possible that they
might have had roast eagle instead of turkey along with their lamb, venison,
goose, turnip, squash and various kinds of fish. Whether the Indians brought along any “fire
water” or perhaps even some local wine isn’t recorded, but it’s hard for this
observer to imagine that the Pilgrims and the Indians feasted and danced for
three days only drinking water and tea!
Our “Pilgrim Fathers” insisted that the purpose of the
occasion was to thank both the Indians and the Almighty for assisting Bradford
and company in getting through their first New England winter and successfully
sowing and reaping a generous harvest.
From all reports, the occasion went well. Everyone apparently had enough to eat and
drink, supposedly everyone danced with the partner of his or her choice, and a
good time was had by all. The question
then is what, if any, was the long-term value of the Pilgrim’s expressed
gratitude?
There were two more pre-Revolutionary War Thanksgiving Day
celebrations. In 1623, in the wake of a
nourishing rain following a long drought in Pilgrim New England, Governor
Bradford invited his Wampanoag Indian friends to another Thanksgiving feast.
However, just 53 years later, the Puritans who’d taken over
the New England colony from the separatist Pilgrims invited only one Wampanoag
Indian to their 1676 Thanksgiving Day celebration. He was Metacom, the son of the great
Massasoit, the Wampanoag leader who had originally befriended our Pilgrim
Fathers. Metacom, who was then known by the Puritans as “King Phillip” for his
European style of dress and bearing, was the very reason for that Thanksgiving
feast. Having turned on the Puritan
settlers, he led a long period of warfare against white New Englanders before
he was finally conquered and slain. It
was Metacom’s head atop a pike that served as sort of a centerpiece in 1676 at
our third day of thanksgiving.
In 1621 and 1623, Thanksgiving Day signified friendship,
unity and peace. Beginning in 1676,
Puritan Massachusetts altered the meaning and perhaps the very nature of
“thanksgiving.”
Friday, October 18th, 1777, the newly minted
United States of America would celebrate its first official “day of
thanksgiving.” The occasion was our
victory over British General John (“Gentleman Johnny”) Burgoyne at the Battle
of Saratoga, New York. The hero of the
day was General Horatio Gates. The
long-term benefit of the victory was the heretofore reluctant intervention of
both France and Spain on the side of the American cause. Thus, the fourth celebration of Thanksgiving
was gratitude for triumph in war. The
score at that point was peace and friendship, 2, gratitude for victory in war,
2.
In November 1863, President Lincoln, responding to the
insistence of Sarah Josepha Hale (the editor-in-chief of a publication called
the American Lady’s Magazine), declared that Thursday, November 26th
would be a National Day of Thanksgiving.
Surely Thanksgiving Day in 1863 celebrated the increasing advancement of
Union troops over the Confederacy (which included our army and naval conquests
of Mobile, Vicksburg, and Gettysburg) as well as Lincoln’s issuance of The
Emancipation Proclamation.
Certainly no commentator can suggest, with much hope of
influencing readers, what we ought to be thankful for this Thursday. However, I can’t resist the following
observation.
If we only focus on the blessings of yesterday, whether they
be victory in war or the hard-earned freedoms and prosperity we enjoy today,
what does that say about our hopes and expectations for tomorrow? Perhaps, then, the real significance of
yesterday’s blessings is the opportunity that is still ours to make future
Thanksgiving Days even more worthwhile.
Two Thanksgiving Days ago on Thursday, November 22nd,
2012, at the Erie, Pennsylvania home of two very close friends, a very special
lady and I agreed to share the rest of our lives together. As wonderful as the memory of our engagement
is, the opportunity it offers for gratitude throughout so many tomorrows gives
an extra special meaning to Thanksgiving Day!
RESPECTFULLY SUBMITTED,
EDWIN COONEY
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