Throughout the nation, American families are preparing for a traditional Thanksgiving celebration. The self-basting turkey will be roasted in the oven, and served with dressing. Potatoes will be mashed with an electric beater, gravy processed in the blender, a bag of cranberries taken from the refrigerator to be transformed into relish by a food processor. A can of green beans will be opened and heated in the microwave. Pumpkin pie will be topped with whipped cream from a squirt can.

Following the meal, the dishes will be cleaned in the dishwasher while the family congregates around the television set to watch a football game, or play a video game. Our thankfulness for our blessings is perhaps all we share with our Pilgrim ancestors.

The first Thanksgiving in 1621 followed a year of unbelievable hardships. The Pilgrims had survived a miserable, dangerous and difficult voyage to the New World, landing in a strange place about which they knew nothing. During their first winter, many died from disease, and all of them suffered from the cold and hunger.

With the coming of the spring, they watched their ship sail for England, severing their only link to their civilization. Friendly Indians taught them to hunt and fish and cultivate crops as they struggled to carve out a settlement in the wilderness.

When autumn arrived and crops were harvested, the Pilgrims took a much-needed break to celebrate their safe passage from immigrants to settlers. They gave thanks for a bountiful harvest, food supplies and friendships. The feasting lasted for three days.

The guests of honor, Chief Squanto, and his Indians, ninety in all, outnumbered the Pilgrims. The Indians provided five deer, and the colonists prepared wild turkeys, geese, ducks, oysters and fish. From the fields, they gathered pumpkins, onions, potatoes, turnips, radishes, beans and corn.

The meats were roasted on spits over open fires for an entire day, while children took turns rotating the venison or fowl for even cooking. Corn, a staple in the diets of both the settlers and the Indians were prepared as a vegetable and ground into cornmeal for breads, cakes and cornpones. Pumpkin soon became a favorite because of its versatility and easy storage.

The Pilgrim women began their preparations for the communal feast early in the day. Men and boys participated in contests throughout the day, running, jumping and throwing games followed by story-telling around bonfires in the evenings. Meals cooked over open fires were served in wooden trenchers and bowls fashioned from gourds. Without modern conveniences, cooking and cleaning required most of the day, but the work would have been made easier with many hands and light-hearted conversations.

Our lifestyles may have changed greatly over the past almost four hundred years, but the character of the Thanksgiving celebration has remained constant. This holiday was and still is, a time for family and friends, when we take a break from the ordinary days and work to tally our blessings, delight in the harvest bounty and give thanks.

Learn more about this author, Joyce Good Henderson.
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