Thanksgiving: Some Historical Details

We celebrate Thanksgiving tomorrow.  Below I list a couple interesting links talking about the history of the Thanksgiving holiday.

Sheet music cover for a Thanksgiving hymn.

This article from Indian Country Today explains the first Thanksgiving:

What Really Happened at the First Thanksgiving?  The Wampanoag Side of the Tale

I found this article through Wiconi International which is a Christian ministry organization that promotes spirituality among Native Americans.  I suggest following them on Facebook for all sorts of good info.

Also, this article from USA Today is interesting and goes over the history of Lincoln's and Roosevelt's involvement:

Abraham Lincoln, Father of the Thanksgiving Holiday

Have a great Thanksgiving weekend!

9 Ways to Make Thanksgiving Work

The holidays are stressful for some people. Follow these rules and there's a good chance you won't try to strangle anyone with a chicken bone.

1 - No Politics at the Table

Yes, I know, I'm right about everything. Spewing my Libertarian dogma is not only my right - it's also a service to those around me who are not so enlightened. However, I'll keep my mouth shut during Thanksgiving. Or I'll just keep it filled with pie.

Words of wisdom: no one ever said anything stupid while shoving pumpkin filling into their face.

2 - Calm Down

It's only a meal. We're getting together to eat food - it's not as if it's a meeting of the U.N. This should be a no pressure gig. Sit down, eat, and catch up with the loved ones. Simple, right? Don't make it hard.

3 - Don't Hurt Yourself in the Kitchen

Like I said - no pressure. You don't have to have those perfect DIY mashed potato sculptures shaped like Daleks you saw on Pinterest, and the Thanksgiving police won't show when people find out there's no gluten-free gravy. Chill out. Serve everyone sandwiches if you want - you're not a restaurant.

4 - Thank the Labor Force

If you're not making food (some of us aren't allowed in the kitchen), remember that those who volunteer to spend a few days cooking to provide for thirty minutes of eating deserve a medal. Treat them like it.

5 - Bury the Hatchet (in a Turkey)

You know that family member you don't get along with? (Maybe there are few of them.) When you see them, greet them with a hearty handshake and talk like the two of you have never met. By Christmas, you'll have forgotten why you didn't like each other.

6 - Bring a Friend

One year, my roommate had nowhere to go for Thanksgiving; fortunately, my family didn't mind if he tagged along with me. It was fun having someone new who didn't know all of our stories, and he didn't have to spend the day alone. (Also, everyone will be on their best behavior for a guest.)

7 - Be Thankful

Life is rough, but remember that there's food on your table. Lots of us have very serious problems, but
let's take the time to notice what we have. When life gets tough, this helps. I've been unemployed, but I've never been without the love of a church community or my friends and family. That's not bad.

8 - Help Others.

If you're reading this, you're probably not homeless and you might know where your next meal is coming from. Not everyone is so lucky. Consider a donation to a local charity to help those in need.

When John the Baptist was asked how people should prepare for Jesus' coming, he said, "If you have two coats, give one to someone who doesn’t have any. If you have food, share it with someone else."

As we prepare for the Christmas season let's look for ways to help those around us. Even a small donation of $5 is helpful to your community charities. I give something to this group each month.

9 - Make Others Thankful You Were There

Some people don't bring anything to the holidays besides their whining, and everyone else can't wait for them to leave. Don't be that person.

Tell your stories. Ask everyone how their year has gone. Bring games or movies. Think of something to add to the occasion. (It goes without saying that if you're bringing food you don't have to worry about this one.) A family is special because of the unique thing that everyone brings to the table.

That's it. Enjoy yourself and relax.

The First Thanksgiving, or, The First American Protestant Christian Thanksgiving

If you went through elementary school in the United States then you probably know all about The First Thanksgiving.  In 1620, weary Pilgrims set out from the Old World in search of a home: The New World of America.  After a terrible first winter, they established homes, befriended local Indian peoples, and planted their first crops.  By late 1621, the Pilgrims were reaping a bountiful harvest, complete with pumpkins and little hand-traced turkeys decorating the table (at least, that's what I learned).  They invited their Indian neighbors to join in the feast and thank God for the harvest.  The First Thanksgiving.

But it wasn't The First Thanksgiving.

People all over the world had celebrated harvests for centuries, so it wasn't really first.

Indian peoples had been celebrating the fall harvest in America long before the Pilgrims arrived.

Spanish colonists celebrated thanksgiving masses in Florida and Texas for decades before the Pilgrims arrived in Massachusetts.

The Pilgrims weren't even the first Protestants to do this!  That distinction goes to the French Huguenots who held a thanksgiving service and celebration in 1564 near present-day Jacksonville, Florida.

So, what do we call the Pilgrims' feast in 1621?  Robert McKenzie, a professor and chair of the department of history at Wheaton College tongue-in-cheek suggests:

"The First American Protestant Christian Thanksgiving"

Over the last week, I have been reading McKenzie's newest book, The First Thanksgiving: What the Real Story Tells us about Loving God and Learning from History.  It has been fascinating, eye-opening, and challenging to me as a historian, as an American, and as a Christian.

By taking apart this American myth of The First Thanksgiving, he is not trying to ruin the holiday.  It's a great holiday!  We should keep celebrating it, with great thanks!  But McKenzie is calling us not just to thank, but to think.  Think not just about the holiday, but about our myths and assumptions as American Christians when it comes to our past.

What is true?  What purposes do our national myths serve?  Are we remembering stories that are helpful to us, and purposefully forgetting stories that shed light on parts of our history we would like to keep in the dark?

For my part, I will be pondering this over Thanksgiving: What would my life look like if I thought about it as part of a broader context, rather than as just my own?  The Pilgrims were not the first, nor were they alone.  They were part of something bigger than themselves.  If my life belongs not just to me, but to those around me, before me, and after me, then my life will be about more than me.  I will reach out to my neighbors.  I will seek the advice of people older than me.  I will remember the contributions of people different from myself who have made my life possible.  I will be thankful for so much more than Thanksgiving.

NOTE: This blog was wholly inspired by Professor Robert Thomas McKenzie's work.  You can find more in:
- His book: The First Thanksgiving
- His blog: Faith and History: Thinking Christianly about the American Past
- His faculty page at Wheaton College

Tradition is Useless in the Marriage Debate

A local group was accused of "indoctrinating" children with a political bias. They were supposedly visiting schools to tell students about the election process, but parents started to notice that their kids were coming home quoting partisan rhetoric.

When reporters brought this accusation to the groups leaders, they responded with, "We've been doing this outreach program for more than twenty years."

And that was it.

What was that supposed to mean? Am I supposed to trust people just because they've been doing their job for a long time? Unfortunately, it's not unusual for people to reach for tradition when they don't know how to prove their point.

I hear this sort of thing often when people talk about homosexual marriage. One side insists that marriage has traditionally been between a man and a woman, while the other side points out that civilizations in the past have accepted and encouraged gay relationships. Both groups want to have tradition on their side.

For myself, I can't figure out why we're dragging tradition into this. My homeland was set up by rebels who defied cultural and religious traditions to start a new country. As a protestant, my worldview is largely shaped by thinkers who risked their lives to break sacred traditions - some of them involving marriage laws. Since when have I been expected to follow tradition?

Tradition is not sacred, to me, and I think most people feel the same way. Most of the conservatives I know pride themselves on breaking old religious traditions, and the liberals I know usually can't wait to take a "progressive" stance toward society by upsetting cultural norms. However, both of these groups think it's important to be "on the right side of history."

For the record, you'll be hard-pressed to find an older culture that allowed homosexual marriage because, until recent times, the main purpose of marriage was to make children. It used to be a matter of urgency for people to procreate, a town could cease to exist of one generation wasn't fertile enough, but in our modern age of medical science we are able to live longer and populate the globe without even trying. As a result, marriage is something we normally do for our own desires and not because we're running out of employees to work the mill. Marriage has changed since the Roman times of the New Testament. (There's certainly nothing traditional about my childless marriage.)

More on this is an upcoming blog entry, but, for now, I have to ask why both sides of the debate think that they need to be "traditional" when we need to be focused on doing what's right. Am I expected to be a Christian, or a Traditionalist? (They are not the same thing.) Since all of us are so proud of breaking traditions, let's take that out of our arguments and discuss the issue better.