FSE: Thanksgiving 2007

Well, today is Thanksgiving, and I try to write about holidays whenever they come. So what are my thoughts and musings about Thanksgiving today?

At the moment, what comes to my mind are things I've done for Thanksgiving in the past. When I was a kid, there were years when my brother, sisters, cousins, and I would put on a play about the first Thanksgiving, with pilgrims and Native Americans and the Mayflower and turkey--the works. Some years, we would dress up. Other years, we would make pencil puppets. I guess we kids were in charge of the Thanksgiving entertainment when I was growing up.

Then there were the traditional movies and shows that reminded us of the first Thanksgiving. The Mouse and the Mayflower was one of my favorites. Too bad it costs tons of money on Amazon right now! There was also a series of Peanuts specials on American history, and one of the shows was about the pilgrims. I don't remember much of it, but I do recall that Squanto taught the pilgrims to farm by placing fish on the soil.

As I became older, I read things to remind myself of the history of Thanksgiving. One was a book entitled If the Foundations Be Destroyed, which was about America's Christian heritage. It wasn't exactly a politically correct narration of history, but it had a good chapter on the pilgrims and how God guided them to America. I mean, there were times when the pilgrims could have died. The Mayflower almost exploded because of a young man's prank. Rain was scarce in a year that the pilgrims desperately needed it. But the pilgrims prayed to God, who acknowledged their dependence on him and provided for their needs. God even sent them Squanto, a Native American who knew English and had travelled around the world. What were the odds of that happening by chance?

Something else that I read was the account of William Bradford, the first governor of Plymouth. No, I don't think he's one of my ancestors, though I certainly would like people to think that! Bradford mentioned a lot of the events that were in the Foundations book, but there was one part of his account that always puzzled me: the Maypole. He said there were settlers who were dancing around it, and he considered it pagan, but I didn't know what it was. When I saw the original Wicker Man (with Edward Woodward, the Equalizer), I had a clearer idea. Bradford talked about the Maypole the same way that the Old Testament prophets discussed the prophets of Baal.

Part of me always sympathized with the religion of the pilgrims. I grew up in a denomination that did not observe Christmas, and the pilgrims didn't keep it either. I guess my family wasn't the only weird group in the history of America! Nowadays, however, I'm not sure if I sympathize with their religion as much. Basically, they were anti-Catholic. They wanted to separate from the Church of England because it had some Catholic elements in its worship. If you want a picture of what the situation was, rent the movie Cromwell (with Alec Guinness, or Obi-Wan Kanobe), in which Oliver Cromwell threw a fit when he saw a cross in his church. I now attend a Catholic church (though I'm not Catholic), and the only problem I've had with the Episcopalians is that they are liberal (after all, they produced "Bishop" Spong!). I'm not sure if I would have had the same beliefs as the pilgrims had I lived in those days. Still, I admire the fact that they left everything and risked their lives for their convictions.

So what am I going to think about this year on Thanksgiving? I guess I'll just be thankful. God has blessed me with good family and good food, and he has preserved my life for another year. This is something I can appreciate, even though I'm not a pilgrim.