The Bottineau pioneer., 1893-12-02
DAY OF THANKSGIVING.
ONE OF THE OLDEST OF FESTIVAL
~ DAYS. ...& s.'

ONE OF THE OLDEST OF FESTIVAL
@ > DAYS. ~@t
Antidating All other Holidays In
American History-How 1t was Gel
ebrated I'm Colonial Times. "
That which was good for the Thanks
giving day of 1921 is good for the
Thanksgiving day Of 1898. Here Is
what Edward Winslow says about that
earliest A,erican day Of feasting: "Our
harvest being gotten in, our governor
(William BradforO sent four men out
fowling, so that we might after
special manner rejoice4etogether after
we had gathered the fruit Of our Ia
bors. They four in one day killed
as much fowl as, with little help De-
side, served the company almost n
week. At which time, among other
recreations, we exercised our arms,
many of the Indians coming among
us, and among the rest their greatest
king, Massasoyt, with some ninety men,
whom for three days we entertained
and feasted; and they went out ana
killed five deer, which they brought
to the plantation and bestowed on our
governor and upon the captain, Myles
Standish, and others And although 1t
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
nffnr, 1r,ic1, "a E0pS nf
plenty"
Here, then, is the most authentic
record of the first Thanksgiving day on
American soil. The colony, which at
that early time made merry with roast
deer and smaller game, washed down
by some Of Hollands best gin, consist
ed Of fifty-five persons all told. Forty
six had died, during ten terrible months,
and yet those stern puritans found 1t
in their hearts to rejoice. And the same
spirit that animated them in so doing
is the spirit that it is worth while to
cultivate ut the present day. Then.
as now, it is proper to make merry
at the right time. Our American
Thanksgiving has a history Of it's own.
This may not lead directly back to an
cestral halls rich in notable tradition.
but it does lead back to Il birthplace
of which every true American may well
he proud, a birthplace that savors OF
the soil Of new continent and tells
Of the condition which surrounded the
infancy Of a great people. Entire orig
inality in the matter Of feast days,
fast days and holidays is d thing OF
the pest. Practically every day In
the year was rpre-empted for anniver-
sary purposes long ago, and should a
new nation spring into existence to-
morrow and seek to mark the event
by the establishment Of Il general pub
lie festival, some uneasy bookWorm
would rise up and prove by the produc-
ton of a Chaldean or Assyrian or Aztec
calendar that similar festival was
annually observed by primeval men
some ten thousand odd years, more OF
less, before the Christian era. Has
it not been demonstrated that Christ
mas and New Year and Easter, and
even the Jewish Sabbath and the
Christian Sunday are perpetuations Of
,heathenish festivals that had already
existed for centuries.
This, however, is materialistic, not
to say narrow view Of the subject.
The true significance Of a national festi-
val lies in the idea which directly leads
to it's establishment, and it is not Of
the slightest consequence, save as a
matter of curiosity, to trace back the
analysis which can be found on the
pages of history. And considered in
this liberal sense, Thanksgiving may
fairly claim to be the oldest and most
distinctive of our few American festi-
walls. 1t officially antedates the Fourth
of July by more than Il century and q
half Q621-1776), and was the first rec
OgniZed state holiday to attain regular
annual observance in the colonies. Or
iginality Of conception has never been
authoritatively claimed for it. The
harvest home of the SaxOns and Celts,
the cerealtia of the Roman, the Israel
itish feast of Tabernacles, and for all
that we know to the contrary the first
harvest celebration Of preadamite man
were its actual precursors. Even among
the American Indians there was held
an autumnal festival which might not
unjustly claim precedence as the true
aboriginal Thanksgiving Of the West
ern world. Modern Observances of
Thanksgiving are bitterly denounced
in certain quarters as sadly at variance
in all worthy aspects from the ideas
of the Plymouth eolonists during their
first golden autumn on the coast of
Cap Cod bay. Indications are. not
altogether wanting however, that the
manner Of celebrating has changed in
non-essentials only. No longer IL a
as in the days of Governor Bradford.
A single day sufiices Instead Of allow
ing each colony, settlement and state to
choose its own date for giving thanks
and celebrating the event, we recog-
nize our centralized interests by having
national proclamation issued by the
president and sent out by telegraph to
oil the land. Instead of roasting our
turkey before an cper wood fire, where
the touch of the sacred flame imparts
Il subtle and never-to- be forgotten deli
cacy of flavor, we cock it by steam,
or by the heat of the oven or by gas.
Instead Of baking our chicken pies
in an old fashioned brick oven Pre- gnant
with fervent heat from spray embers
Of seasoned hickory and oak, we shut
them into cast-iron box next to
mass of incandescent, gaseous anthra-
cite. .@Ss.a a
But how about the change in spirit
in keeping the day.? For answer one
may turn back to the files Of the city
papers on the day after Thanksgiving
last year, and one will find such head
1ngS as, How the fOOE Were Re1neln-
bered," .'Yale and Princeton at Foot
Ball." "A Tie Game of Base Ball."
Hog Guessing at Gabe's,'' Lacrosse
the Came" Sport at the Naval Acad-
emy," etc. Wherever circumstances
permitted it open-air games, races, ath--
letic entertainments, ETC., were indulged
forts and culinary delicacies that were
<n fo1Joyu With fhnco OaonJInfG flln1.o
are many others Of shooting matches,
of hunting axnadifinns Of hannunts