Dorothy Brush "Random Thoughts" Published Nov. 26, 2003

An American tradition

There is one day that is ours. Thanksgiving Day ... is the one day that is purely American.

O. Henry wrote those words and proof that Thanksgiving Day is purely American abounds at Plimoth Plantation in Plymouth, MA. The Mayflower delivered the first immigrants to this new land in November 1620 and the next month Plimoth Plantation was founded. Today it is a living museum of the 17th century and through continuing study and research, they untangle fact from myth about those first settlers.

One such myth that hangs on is the term Pilgrims. They never called themselves Pilgrims. Instead they considered themselves Separatists, right-wing Protestants who had broken away from the Church of England. They first fled to Holland and after a short time in Amsterdam they settled in Leiden in 1609. There they lived as refugees, working at menial jobs but never giving up the dream of crossing the ocean.

They knew they could never afford to charter a ship and finally they formed a partnership with a group of Englishmen who helped with the financing. Some of these men had been in trouble with the law. The Mayflower sailed from the Netherlands with 102 passengers. Only a few dozen were from the Leiden contingent. More of the Separatists followed later but some never left when they learned their loved ones had perished during that first bitter winter.

The familiar story of the first Thanksgiving was embedded with a great deal of fiction. In the fall of 1621 the colonists did celebrate with marching and firing of muskets. The noise from the shots brought Chief Massasoit and 90 of his Wampanoag warriors to investigate. The colonists numbering 24 men and 28 women and children were heavily outnumbered and there was wariness on both sides.

However the celebration lasted more than three days. According to the historians at Plimoth Plantation, a festival spirit reigned and there were dancing and games and feasting. It wasn't until 1841 that a book on the Pilgrim Fathers called that time the "first thanksgiving."

This is not to say those first settlers did not express thanks often because they observed holy days with long hours in church but this was not one of those times. The first true Thanksgiving was held at Plimoth in 1623 following a year of severe drought.

Another element in the evolution of the Thanksgiving tradition began in 1769 in the town of Plymouth. In December of that year the Old Colony Club was founded and began an annual dinner meeting known as Forefathers' Day to mark the anniversary of the Pilgrim's landing.

The first national Thanksgiving was proclaimed by the Continental Congress in 1777 to celebrate victories by the revolutionaries at the battle of Saratoga. Finally Thanksgiving Day became an annual national holiday on the American calendar in 1863. President Lincoln had been "hounded" to take this action by Sarah Josepha Hale, editor of a popular women's magazine. He finally gave in and issued a proclamation.

May you and yours enjoy this Thanksgiving Day, "the one day that is purely American."

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Dorothy Copus Brush is a Fairfield Glade resident and Crossville Chronicle staffwriter whose column is published each Wednesday.