377 Years Later, The Tradition Continues

Tomorrow we gather with friends and family to celebrate the American tradition of Thanksgiving which had its beginnings in our country's earliest days among the English settlers who landed in the wilderness of Plymouth in 1620. Like many details of those times, the facts are a little sketchy but a basic understanding has grown from surviving documents.

The View from Plymouth Rock indeed emanates from the Town of Plymouth, Massachusetts, but rather than blogging from the Rock itself, The View originates from a small nearby settlement called Winslowe's View. But let's face it, The View from Plymouth Rock is more illustrative than would be the View from Winslowe's View.
On December 11, 1621, one of the first settlers, Edward Winslow, for whom our community is named, wrote a letter, which has survived to provide a glimpse of what was probably the first celebration of Thanksgiving:

"Our corn did prove well, and God be praised, we had a good increase of Indian corn, and our barley indifferent good, but our peas not worth the gathering, for we feared they were too late sown. They came up very well, and blossomed, but the sun parched them in the blossom. Our harvest being gotten in, our governor sent four men on fowling, that so we might after a special manner rejoice together after we had gathered the fruit of our labors. They four in one day killed as much fowl as, with a little help beside, served the company almost a week. At which time, amongst other recreations, we exercised our arms, many of the Indians coming amongst us, and among the rest their greatest king Massasoit, with some ninety men, whom for three days we entertained and feasted, and they went out and killed five deer, which they brought to the plantation and bestowed on our governor, and upon the captain and others. And although it be not always so plentiful as it was at this time with us, yet by the goodness of God, we are so far from want that we often wish you partakers of our plenty."

By 1623, the tradition seems to have gained strength as Governor William Bradford issued the first Thanksgiving Proclamation:

"Inasmuch as the great Father has given us this year an abundant harvest of Indian corn, wheat, peas, beans, squashes, and garden vegetables, and has made the forests to abound with game and the sea with fish and clams, and inasmuch as He has protected us from the ravages of the savages, has spared us from pestilence and disease, has granted us freedom to worship God according to the dictates of our own conscience.

Now I, your magistrate, do proclaim that all ye Pilgrims, with your wives and ye little ones, do gather at ye meeting house, on ye hill, between the hours of 9 and 12 in the daytime, on Thursday, November 29th, of the year of our Lord one thousand six hundred and twenty three and the third year since ye Pilgrims landed on ye Pilgrim Rock, there to listen to ye pastor and render thanksgiving to ye Almighty God for all His blessings."

William Bradford
Ye Governor of Ye Colony

Thanksgiving has become a uniquely American tradition and while some cynics like to to poke holes in its historical underpinnings, we, as a country, set aside our differences for a day and celebrate our abundant blessings. Happy Thanksgiving from the View.