Maggie's Farm

We are a commune of inquiring, skeptical, politically centrist, capitalist, anglophile, traditionalist New England Yankee humans, humanoids, and animals with many interests beyond and above politics. Each of us has had a high-school education (or GED), but all had ADD so didn't pay attention very well, especially the dogs. Each one of us does "try my best to be just like I am," and none of us enjoys working for others, including for Maggie, from whom we receive neither a nickel nor a dime. Freedom from nags, cranks, government, do-gooders, control-freaks and idiots is all that we ask for.

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Wednesday, November 23. 2016

The First Thanksgiving Menu

Re-posted -

How did they celebrate their first year and their first harvest in the fall of 1621, when they sat down with their Cape Cod Wampanoag friends?


"Deer and wildfowl." What else? We don't know. I don't think they had the grain to brew their beloved beer until the next year. What we do know is that these folks had been through a nasty voyage in a rotten, leaky boat, landed at the wrong place - remember, they were headed to the Dutch New Amsterdam area - which was better idea. They managed to scrape out a living, thanks to the Indian's education (these folks weren't farmers, anyway) as they watched their family members die.


Only 53 of the original 104 immigrants survived until fall, 1621. Then they gave thanks to God. Thanks for what? Thanks, I think, to God for being there with them through thick and thin.


It's always been a wonder to me that they didn't all catch the next flight from Logan back to Leyden. Trust in God is strong stuff, and many of us are not strong enough to handle the powerful grip of God. Thanksgiving is about putting our faith in the Lord, or trying to - and nothing else. God Bless us, and America, please, and make us Pilgrims in our own time, in our own ways.

Posted by Bird Dog in Food and Drink, History at 13:10 | Comments (11) | Trackbacks (0)

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"Trust in God is strong stuff, and many of us are not strong enough to handle the powerful grip of God. Thanksgiving is about putting our faith in the Lord, or trying to - and nothing else. God Bless us, and America, please, and make us Pilgrims in our own time, in our own ways."

Most eloquently put, Bird Dog. I may have to quote you to my family around the table tomorrow. Thanks for a very simple, true and yet profound message.
#1 J.C. Loophole (Link) on 2006-11-22 09:33 (Reply)
Thank you, Loop
#2 Bird Dog on 2006-11-22 13:44 (Reply)
This is a great site its all really nice....I love thanksgiving even know im a jew. I love you guys and allah bless.
#2.1 Treyvone on 2007-11-20 09:52 (Reply)
Treyvone - Thanksgiving isn't just for Christians, though it may have had a Christian origin here in North America. It's the traditional giving of thanks for the harvest and - I rather suspect - predates both Christianity and Judaism. In my own tradition (Anglican - English brand), we were wont to celebrate Harvest Thanksgiving about the 3rd week in September when - we hoped - the crops were all in. The church would be decorated with produce: we would bring crab apples from the tree and veg from the garden as our personal "sacrifice" in thanks for a good harvest. I am certain there are various Jewish festivals giving thanks for various harvests.

To this day, though we no longer have the garden, we observe Canadian Thanksgiving as - not just a feast - but a true giving of thanks for the harvest. This year, the harvest was not great, but we gave thanks for what was brought in. As the grandbrats grow, we will instill in them the sense of giving thanks for the harvest and where their food comes from.
#2.1.1 Frances on 2016-11-23 20:49 (Reply)
Thanks, Bird Dog. The food is great, but trusting in God is the real point.

Here's a Kindle version of the Geneva Bible with marginal notes by the reformers of the day that was the Pilgrim's Bible. http://www.amazon.com/Geneva-including-Marginal-Reformers-version-ebook/dp/B0044R8ZXE
#3 retriever on 2013-11-27 07:08 (Reply)
Lots of traffic going into Logan, I'd tough out the winter too.
#4 chuck on 2014-11-26 13:41 (Reply)
I am Canadian with many English relatives who do not eat cranberries with meat in England, and I noticed that only in North America do we eat cranberries with our thanksgiving turkey. I also noticed that the pilgrams settled in Plymouth Rock which in now near the cranberry capital of the world Lakeville/Middleborough, Massachusetts. Could it be that on that day they ate wild Turkey with wild cranberries? If they had settles a little farther north in Maine, the blueberry capital of the world, would we be eating blueberries with our turkey. Just asking. I bet that combo would be good.
#5 Phil Taylor (Link) on 2014-11-26 23:09 (Reply)
Cranberries, like turkeys, corn, potatoes, and squash, come from the Americas. Don't think blueberries would work nearly so well as they lack the tartness which give the cranberries their spark.

We are of British origin, but always make cranberry sauce from a recipe in a book my parents received as a wedding gift. The book will be 80 years old next year and my parents were married in 1940, so that recipe's been going on a long time.
#5.1 Frances on 2016-11-23 20:54 (Reply)
Dear Bird Dog:

i know I sometimes cause you discomfort--I am sorry--please forgive! But, please remember that I am always grateful for MF.

This was a nice piece you presented today. Thank you
Faculty Wife
#6 faculty wife on 2016-11-23 13:19 (Reply)
QUOTE:
“For we could not now take time for further search our victuals being pretty much spent especially our beer.”—from the log of the Mayflower.
#7 Zachriel on 2016-11-23 14:47 (Reply)
I want those guys' laundry service. Survive a trip across the Atlantic in a leaky tub and arrive with your clothes mended, clean, and nicely pressed. :)
#8 JTW on 2016-11-23 23:50 (Reply)

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