The silver state. [volume] (Winnemucca, Nev.) 1909-1925, 1916-11-28
OBSCURE ORIGIN
OF THANKSGIVING

1t is just 81 years since the last
| Thursday in November was adopted
by the President of the United States
as the day set apart from all others
of the year to be observed by the peo-
pie of the nation as Thanksgiving
Day. 1t was the first Thanksgiving
celebrated after the close of the Civil
war, and the proclamation by Presi-
dent Johnson few weeks prior, APP
| pointing such a date, was issued be-
cause it was a generally understood
fact that Lincoln had planned, during
the dark days at the end of the strug-
gle, to have some one day in Novem-
ber reserved yearly by all states in
the Union
Throughout the war the celebra-
tion had occurred only here and there
in scattered communities. And al
ways before, in the various states
which did celebrate the day, it was
purely a sectional affair. for which
the governor issued a proclamation
upon his own initiative. November,
1865, witnessed the beginning of the
holiday as national institution.
Since that date the governors of all
states and territories, upon receiv-
ing the Presidents proclamation,
publish their own, naming the day in
formal fashion. 1t is an American
festival day, unique in more than one
respect but most perhaps because it
is the only religious festival eelebrat-
ed in this country upon the recon-
mendation of the government.
1t had tangled beginning A score
of origins are claimed. And one is
rather at sea in selecting his particu-
lar belief. In the Congressional Lii
brary it was a happy chance which
discovered these various sources and
their grave and gay histories outlined
in a chain of sketches.
In the middle states the day is OBJ
served more as a religious matter
than as holiday. but in New Eng
land it is a festival, a domestic feast
day and the chief of all holidays.
Americans like to believe that
Thanksgiving day is purely and SIM
ply American, and it is; but as in
stituted in New England the idea
was borrowed from the Dutch. among
whom the Pilgrims had dwelt for ten
years after leaving British soil and
before emigrating to America. The
Hollanders had been accustomed to
celebrating October both religious
ly and socially, in honor of their de-
liverance from the Spaniards, and
when the first harvest in the new
home of the English emigrants had
yielded we'll, it seemed the natural
thing to rejoice in period of public
thanksgiving.
Some deserted Indian huts stored
with corn had furnished the nucleus
of that harvest, and an Indian chief
who had once been in England and
consequently trusted Englishmen,
gave the Pilgrims instruction as to
the planting of the grain and the pro-
curing of game as well. Upon this
first harvest rested the wellbeing of
the little colony so many of whose
members had perished in that first
fierce winter which followed the land
ing of the Mayfower in December,
1920 The hardest. who survived,
were humbly grateful for the rich
harvest in October, which followed
the neighborly natives suggestions,
and Governor Bradford ordered a
three-day feast and celebration as
recognition of such plenitude. The In
dians who had first extended the hand
of welcome to the pale-faces there
were invited to attend and bring their
friends.
In Holland the settlers had par
taken of Spanish stew as the common
dish of the Thanksgiving day, but in
a new country, with new foods to use.
geese, turkeys, water fowl and ducks
were eaten. Bread made of barley and
corn took the place of wheat bread.
as a necessity, and Goldfish had its
first inning as a matter of both his
tory and gastronomy among white
people. The guests of the forest
brought deer as a friendly contribu-
ton towards the feast And this is
presumed by many persons to be the
first real Thanksgiving day in Amer
lea. Yet, since there was no special
religious service upon this occasion,
recognized authorities disclain this
theory of the origin.
Rather. they Point to July 30, 1923,
when Miles Standish returned from a
voyage with sadly needed provisions
and the glad tiding that ship was
nearing the shore. When this ship.
the Anne, had anchored. and relatives
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