Group items matching

in title, tags, annotations or url

he Pilgrims, fleeing religious persecution, sailed from England to the New World aboard the Mayflower. They stepped ashore on Plymouth Rock and began a new colony. In unfamiliar territory, they came near starvation, but the Indian Squanto appeared and taught them to plant corn and make their living from the land. Led by William Bradford and Miles Standish, they survived these difficult early days, and when they brought in the first rich harvest, they set aside a day to give thanks to God for their good fortune. The chief Massasoit and their other Native American neighbors came bringing deer and wild turkeys, and together the Indians and the Pilgrims celebrated the first Thanksgiving. The vague history (more myth, really) of the first Thanksgiving presents a scenario of the encounter of New World and Old World people that existed for only a moment, if it existed at all. It involves one of the least typical, and least successful, groups of European colonizers of the North American continent. Yet Thanksgiving is an important celebration throughout the United States, and like most things central to American culture, it is complicated and multilayered.

All of these thanksgiving celebrations happened before the Pilgrims had their feast: APRIL 3, 15 13 Spanish explorer Juan Ponce de Leon celebrated a day of thanks when he landed in what is now Florida. SEPTEMBER 8, 1565 Spanish explorer Pedro Menendez de Aviles held a thanksgiving service when he founded St. Augustine in Florida. APRIL 20, 1598 The group of Spaniards led by Don Juan de Oñate gave thanks. They had survived a 350-mile trip from Mexico to a spot near what is now El Paso, Texas. With the Pueblo people, they feasted on roasted geese, ducks, and fish, along with local vegetables and cactus fruit. DECEMBER 4, l619 A group of Virginia settlers is said to have held their colony's first thanksgiving service. They gave thanks for their safe arrival in Virginia.

Japan entered into its second major prehistoric period, a civilized era known as the Yayoi period.

he name Yayoi is derived from an area Tokyo known as Yayoi, where the first documented pottery from this period was discovered in an archaeological excavation in 1884.

ron and bronze materials are believed to have been exchanged with Japanese envoys either for token tributes or prisoners of war.

Most stories of Thanksgiving history start with the harvest celebration of the pilgrims and the indians that took place in the autumn of 1621. Although they did have a three-day feast in celebration of a good harvest, and the local indians did participate, this "first Thanksgiving" was not a holiday, simply a gathering. There is little evidence that this feast of thanks led directly to our modern Thanksgiving Day holiday. Thanksgiving can, however, be traced back to 1863 when Pres. Lincoln became the first president to proclaim Thanksgiving Day. The holiday has been a fixture of late November ever since. However, since most school children are taught that the first Thanksgiving was held in 1621 with the pilgrims and indians, let us take a closer look at just what took place leading up to that event, and then what happened in the centuries afterward that finally gave us our modern Thanksgiving. The Pilgrims who sailed to this country aboard the Mayflower were originally members of the English Separatist Church (a Puritan sect). They had earlier fled their home in England and sailed to Holland (The Netherlands) to escape religious persecution. There, they enjoyed more religious tolerance, but they eventually became disenchanted with the Dutch way of life, thinking it ungodly. Seeking a better life, the Separatists negotiated with a London stock company to finance a pilgrimage to America. Most of those making the trip aboard the Mayflower were non-Separatists, but were hired to protect the company's interests. Only about one-third of the original colonists were Separatists. window.google_render_ad();

Long ago, people called Pilgrims left their home in England and came across the ocean to America in a boat called the Mayflower. They built their own houses, planted seeds they had brought with them, and made friends with the Indians, who were already living in America. The Indians taught them how to plant corn and hunt and fish for animals that they could eat. In the fall, when the corn was ready, the Pilgrims picked it. It was their first harvest, and when they had finished, they had a party to celebrate and give thanks that they had enough food to last through the winter. The party, called the First Thanksgiving, was held outside, and everyone came, including the Indians. Now every year we celebrate Thanksgiving to remember the brave Pilgrims and to give thanks for all of our blessings.

We can trace this historic American Christian tradition to the year 1623. After the harvest crops were gathered in November 1623, Governor William Bradford of the 1620 Pilgrim Colony, "Plymouth Plantation" in Plymouth, Massachusetts proclaimed: "All ye Pilgrims with your wives and little ones, do gather at the Meeting House, on the hill… there to listen to the pastor, and render Thanksgiving to the Almighty God for all His blessings."

Thursday, the 19th day of February, 1795 was thus set aside by George Washington as a National Day of Thanksgiving. Many years later, on October 3, 1863, Abraham Lincoln proclaimed, by Act of Congress, an annual National Day of Thanksgiving "on the last Thursday of November, as a day of Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the heavens." In this Thanksgiving proclamation, our 16th President says that it is…

So it is that on Thanksgiving Day each year, Americans give thanks to Almighty God for all His blessings and mercies toward us throughout the year.