Hello on this wonderful Thanksgiving Day. Today is supposed to be beautiful in North Dakota. Yesterday was a balmy 58 degrees and today is also supposed to be above 50, which is really, really warm for this time of year. Last year we had snow all week and it was about 15-20 for a high temperature (it was that cold just last Saturday...made for a painful walk from the parking lot to the indoor football stadium). Therefore, the weather today is definitely something to be thankful for. I'm also very thankful for another year with my wife and daughters.
Here's a link to an article on the first Thanksgiving in 1621. There was a feast, but there was no football game. On another note, I don't think that the Pilgrims or the Indians camped out for days to be the first into the local Wal-Mart on Thanksgiving evening. While I don't have a problem with people having the freedom to shop whenever they so desire, I do think that the ever shorter period of time taken for giving thanks and spending time with family indicate what is most important in our society. Time for thanks gets pushed aside for commercialism tied to Christmas (which is another disconcerting sign of the times and American materialism, IMHO).
To get some feedback on feelings toward the start of Black Thursday on Thanksgiving Eve, I am interested to see who will be going to any stores opening before midnight tonight (Thanksgiving). You can either comment or fill out the poll on the sidebar. God bless and have a great Thanksgiving regardless.
Showing posts with label Thanksgiving Day. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Thanksgiving Day. Show all posts
24 November 2011
21 November 2011
On This Date, the Pilgrims Reached America
It is very fitting, with Thanksgiving falling later this week, that the first settlers in colonial New England anchored just off the coast of Massachusetts. The complete story of the Pilgrims often gets lost as the first Thanksgiving seems to dominate the popular understanding of the group. The Pilgrims were a small group of Separatists from Scrooby, England.
Some people (including one so prominent as T. O. Lloyd, among the best historians of the British Empire) call the Separatists Puritans. The Puritans were quite content to stay in the Church of England with certain reservations. The Pilgrims, on the other hand, were not quite so complicit. They decided to break with the church, which was quite the no-no in a very intolerant age in which the civil and religious hierarchies demanded strict conformity. To escape persecution, these Separatists moved to the Dutch city of Leiden. The Netherlands was the most tolerant religious nation in the seventeenth century. However, the sinfulness of the Dutch (as well as their lack of Englishness, which influenced the Pilgrim children) led the Separatists from Scrooby to consider another option--Virginia. The Pilgrims' stay in Leiden is commemorated in a museum, however.
In September 1620, after having returned to England, the Pilgrims began their journey. Their journey was delayed a couple of times because one of the ships that was to bring them over had (apparently debatable) issues over seaworthiness. All of the Pilgrims then crowded upon the Mayflower and embarked on their journey. Leaving in September was not a good idea, as the journey took several weeks. A storm blew the ship off-course, and the small group failed to reach Virginia. Instead, they wound up outside the land that their charter defined, hence the famous Mayflower Compact. They probably didn't land a Plymouth Rock itself, but they nevertheless reached the New World on November 21, 1620. William Bradford was very important, and his diary provides important information on the Plymouth Colony, which lasted until the early 1690s, at which point Massachusetts absorbed Plymouth.
In spite of their popularity because of Thanksgiving, the Pilgrims are much less important than the Puritans who followed them in 1630. The number of Pilgrims was nowhere near as large as that of the Puritans. The Puritans would greatly impact the society of New England with their idea of the godly society, while they basically absorbed the Pilgrims. Nonetheless, November 21, 1620, is a pretty important date in American history. I would argue, however, that it does not establish religious freedom in America. Just because a group wanted freedom for itself does not mean it wants it for everyone else. Hence, they left the libertarian Netherlands. Their journey does indicate the importance of religious belief and how it can impact the decisions and behavior of people, and the beliefs of the Pilgrims and Puritans led them to leave home for their "City upon a Hill."
Some people (including one so prominent as T. O. Lloyd, among the best historians of the British Empire) call the Separatists Puritans. The Puritans were quite content to stay in the Church of England with certain reservations. The Pilgrims, on the other hand, were not quite so complicit. They decided to break with the church, which was quite the no-no in a very intolerant age in which the civil and religious hierarchies demanded strict conformity. To escape persecution, these Separatists moved to the Dutch city of Leiden. The Netherlands was the most tolerant religious nation in the seventeenth century. However, the sinfulness of the Dutch (as well as their lack of Englishness, which influenced the Pilgrim children) led the Separatists from Scrooby to consider another option--Virginia. The Pilgrims' stay in Leiden is commemorated in a museum, however.
In September 1620, after having returned to England, the Pilgrims began their journey. Their journey was delayed a couple of times because one of the ships that was to bring them over had (apparently debatable) issues over seaworthiness. All of the Pilgrims then crowded upon the Mayflower and embarked on their journey. Leaving in September was not a good idea, as the journey took several weeks. A storm blew the ship off-course, and the small group failed to reach Virginia. Instead, they wound up outside the land that their charter defined, hence the famous Mayflower Compact. They probably didn't land a Plymouth Rock itself, but they nevertheless reached the New World on November 21, 1620. William Bradford was very important, and his diary provides important information on the Plymouth Colony, which lasted until the early 1690s, at which point Massachusetts absorbed Plymouth.
In spite of their popularity because of Thanksgiving, the Pilgrims are much less important than the Puritans who followed them in 1630. The number of Pilgrims was nowhere near as large as that of the Puritans. The Puritans would greatly impact the society of New England with their idea of the godly society, while they basically absorbed the Pilgrims. Nonetheless, November 21, 1620, is a pretty important date in American history. I would argue, however, that it does not establish religious freedom in America. Just because a group wanted freedom for itself does not mean it wants it for everyone else. Hence, they left the libertarian Netherlands. Their journey does indicate the importance of religious belief and how it can impact the decisions and behavior of people, and the beliefs of the Pilgrims and Puritans led them to leave home for their "City upon a Hill."
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