Understanding our Christian traditions allows us to appreciate their significance and the values they represent–values that we strive to keep in the America Foundation workforce.
Thanksgiving | The True Thanksgiving Story
Thanksgiving’s True History
By: The Waterfield America Foundation
November 23, 2023 (Thanksgiving Day)
Turkey, mashed potatoes, gravy, stuffing, cornbread, pumpkin pie, and most of all family, together and focused on being thankful for what we have. A cheery “Happy Thanksgiving!” is always a warm sight and sound.
Americans have been pausing their busy lives to celebrate and be thankful for America, and all of God’s blessings, with their families & friends since President George Washington proclaimed Thanksgiving a National Holiday via the Thanksgiving Proclamation in 1789.
Thanksgiving is full of rich symbolism. It is a day to be thankful for the sacrifices our forefathers, Christian Pilgrims, made when they departed their English homes in 1620 on a small ship called The Mayflower, their families in tow, to brave the dangerous Atlantic crossing, that they might create a New World, under God, with freedom and justice for all.
These Pilgrim families paved the way for what became America, the greatest nation on earth, and the light of modern-day freedom. They thanked God when they prayed for basics like life, health, food, and family, much as we do today. We should always remember to add them to our Thanksgiving prayers, as their sacrifices most certainly led the way to the freedoms and comforts, we have today.
Our forefathers were good people. They believed in the power of family, friendship, hard work, freedom, and Christianity. When they landed in 1621, they befriended the local Indians they met, which was a courageous, kind, and hopeful thing to do at a time when most Europeans thought them ‘savages,’ dangerous and unpredictable. The Christian kindness our forefathers held out to the Indians in the face of those concurrent stereotypes created heart-warming goodwill. The Pilgrims thought the Indians Christianity, and The Word of God, and the two disparate cultures became friends. The Indians, in turn, helped the Pilgrims with their plantings and their first harvest. Ultimately, they broke bread together and had their first Thanksgiving Dinner on the edge of the forest of the new world, within sight of the sea the Pilgrims had just dared adventure.
A More Detailed History
A small ship known as the “Mayflower” carrying 102 passengers left Plymouth, England in September of 1620. These brave and dedicated Christians were willing to leave the safety of Merry Old England to start a new life in America, which was then called ‘The New World.’
In order to establish themselves as a legitimate colony in the “New World”, passengers on the Mayflower drafted and signed a document they, then and there, named The Mayflower Compact promising to create a democracy when they landed, governed by elected officials. This was the genesis of what later became The Declaration of Independence, The Constitution of the United States of America, and the light of freedom in the world. We owe those early Christians, our forefathers, a truly monumental debt of gratitude. Without them, we would not have the freedoms we have today.
After a troublesome, two-month venture on turbulent seas, the Mayflower landed at Plymouth Harbor in Massachusetts. There they founded Plymouth Colony, which became “New England” (Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut).
Many colonists initially remained on the ship because of the brutal Winter season at the time of their arrival (November). Due to the harsh winter and the disease, they were subjected to in those unfamiliar forests, only half of the Mayflower’s 122 passengers survived that first winter (the winter of 1621).
In March, true to their Christian heritage, a few of the more daring Pilgrim leaders befriended an (Abenaki) Indian named Samoset, and a (Paxtuxet) Indian named Squanto. The Pilgrims taught these Indians their culture, and Christianity, and various modern artifices. The Indians in turn thought The Christian Pilgrims how to cultivate corn, catch fish, and survive in the wild New World forests, which were large, full of poisonous plants, and dangerous beasts. The Christian Pilgrims came to love Squanto, and eventually formed a friendly alliance with his tribe, the Wampanoag Tribe.
First Thanksgiving & First Friendship Between The White Christian Pilgrims & American Indians
Christian Plymouth Colony Governor William Bradford, a Pilgrim, was the man who initiated the first Thanksgiving celebratory feast. Being a strong, honorable, and good-natured Christian, he invited their Indian friends, including the Wampanoag Chief. This First Thanksgiving Feast lasted for three whole days. As testimony to the joint goodwill present there during those days, during the course of the event, close to a hundred uninvited Wampanoag Indians appeared at the settlement’s gate, and even though the Pilgrims did not have much in the way of food, they shared it with an open heart, included the Indians in their games, made them feel welcome, and honored the long Christian tradition of caring for guests as their own. In turn, the Indians went out and killed venison to add to the feast. These incredible acts of Christian generosity, and the returned generosity of the Indians created a friendship that lasted until King Philip’s War.
King Philip’s War
King Philip, Chief of the Wampanoag Indian Tribe, which had originally befriended The American Pilgrims, eventually developed a distaste for American Pilgrims, and did not want to share his lands. He attacked the English Settlers and their allies, starting what became known as the The Great Narragansett War, one of the bloodiest wars in American history (1675-1676). His warring Indians killed 2,500 colonists and destroyed 12 Pilgrim towns before they were stopped by The American Pilgrims, a strong lot, as fierce in war as they were in peace when provoked. The American Pilgrim response killed 5,000 Indians, including King Philip, and ended the hostilities.
Thankfully, and as per God’s will, the original sentiments of the original Christian Pilgrims and their original Indian friends found light with America’s brilliant and humble First President, George Washington, a devout Christian, who brought Thanksgiving back as testament to mankind’s higher calling. He declared it a National Holiday via his Thanksgiving Proclamation, which is still today the law of the land. It begins with:
“Whereas it is the duty of all nations to acknowledge the Providence of Almighty God, to obey His will, to be grateful for his benefits, and humbly to implore his protection and favor…both Houses of Congress have…requested me to recommend to the people of the United States, a day of public Thanksgiving and Prayer, to be observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts, the many and signal favors of Almighty God…
It reads, in full:
By the President of the United States of America [George Washington]
A Proclamation
October 3, 1789
“Whereas it is the duty of all nations to acknowledge the Providence of Almighty God, to obey His will, to be grateful for his benefits, and humbly to implore his protection and favor: and whereas both Houses of Congress have, by their joint committee, requested me to recommend to the people of the United States, a day of public Thanksgiving and Prayer, to be observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts, the many and signal favors of Almighty God, especially by affording them peaceably to establish a form of government for their safety and happiness.
Now therefore, I do recommend and assign Thursday the twenty-fifth day of November next, to be devoted by the people of these states, to the service of that great and glorious Being, who is the beneficent Author of all the good that was, that is, or that will be: that we may then all unite in rendering unto Him our sincere and humble thanks for his kind care and protection for the people of this country previous to their becoming a nation; for the signal and manifold mercies, and the favorable interpolations of his Providence on the course and conclusion of the late war – for the great degree of tranquility l, union and plenty, which we have since enjoyed; for the peaceable and rational manner in which we have been enabled to establish constitutions of government for our safety and happiness, and particularly the national one now lately instituted; for the civil and religious liberty with which we are blessed, and the means we have of acquiring and diffusing useful knowledge; and in general, for all great and various favors which He hath been pleased to offer us.
And, that we may the unite in mass humbly offering our prayers and supplications to the great Lord and Ruler of Nations, and beseech Him to pardon our national and other transgressions – to enable us all, whether in public or private stations, to perform our several and relative duties.
Happy Thanksgiving, America The Beautiful!
In God We Trust,
The Waterfield America Foundation
November 23, 2023