Posted on 11/25/2004 9:26:52 AM PST by sionnsar
The celebration of Thanksgiving is, I think, for faithful Anglicans a difficulty. To remember with fondness those nasty schismatic heretics called Puritans is problematic for me, so I have decided to offer some suggestions for the celebration of Thanksgiving in a thoroughly Anglican and tasteful manner.
1) Cornucopias have got to go. Flower arrangements are far more preferable, roses are even better.
2) All images of Puritanism must be excluded, including buckle-hats, blunderbusses, buckle-shoes, as well as all pewter. Good Anglicans use brass candlesticks and silver place-settings.
3) All remembrances of Puritans as fighters for the "Freedom of Religion" must be abolished. The Puritans had no interest in religious freedom, unless of course we are speaking of their own. Further, it is not appropriate to refer to Puritans as "Pilgrims." Pilgrims visit holy places such as Walsingham, Compostela, and Rome. The Puritans had no such intentions.
4) The blessing of the meal ought to include thanks for the Holy Eucharist (the REAL Thanksgiving feast), as well as William Laud, Jeremy Taylor, and Charles the Martyr.
5) Even though the Puritans did not celebrate Christmas, many Americans have found Thanksgiving to be a kick-off for Christmas. Good Anglicans will remember that Christmas starts at sundown on December 24th. If you'd like, you can gather the family and sing Winchester New or Lo, He Comes With Clouds Descending on Sunday afternoon.
There are, however, a few things to remember. The Mayflower was loaded with more beer, gin, and rum than water. One of the first buildings at Harvard was a brewery. The drinking of alcohol is most agreeable to the celebration of Thanksgiving and it is flatly un-American to do otherwise. Also, it has been found that cranberry sauce, turkey, mashed potatoes, and pumpkin pie had no place in the original and puritanical Thanksgiving feast - so knock yourself out! But, remember, no buckle-hats!
Traditional Anglican ping, continued in memory of its founder Arlin Adams.
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A blessed Thanksgiving to you all!
Cute. Thanks.
He shall feed His flock like a shepherd; and He shall gather the lambs with His arm, and carry them in His bosom, and gently lead them that are with young.
Isaiah 40:11
Amen.
And as a good Southerner, I have to remember that the modern US Thanksgiving was first proclaimed by Abe Lincoln in thanksgiving for killing a bunch of Confederates at Missionary Ridge. Thus it is both a Puritan and Yankee holiday.
Nevertheless, I love it anyway!
Happy Turkey Day everyone!
Yet another reason I love reading Isaiah.
And why do we only celebrate the Puritans in Plymouth and not the settlers of Jamestown, Virginia that arrived in America first?
There are, however, a few things to remember. The Mayflower was loaded with more beer, gin, and rum than water. One of the first buildings at Harvard was a brewery. The drinking of alcohol is most agreeable to the celebration of Thanksgiving and it is flatly un-American to do otherwise. Also, it has been found that cranberry sauce, turkey, mashed potatoes, and pumpkin pie had no place in the original and puritanical Thanksgiving feast - so knock yourself out! But, remember, no buckle-hats!
Got any references for that? :-)
My son wanted me to get "adult beverages" for thanksgiving, but my wife nixed that idea. This AnarchoCalvinist Puritan sympathizer thinks that sounds like a fun way to celebrate thanksgiving. (Good beer, not the stuff they make out of fish heads. . .)
That's PILGRIMS south of Boston who started Thanksgiving. We Puritans are in Boston and points north!
Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours. Hope your day is full of good food and blessings.
Chortle! Happy Thanksgiving, FRiend! We celebrated with "Anglican Mission in America" congregants (although we hope to convert them to Catholicism, in God's time :-).
Enjoy the cold rain and fog in your lovely home :-).
Cy the Tax-chick
Ack! I did not know that. And my grandfather had a house (my father grew up) on Missionary Ridge!
And I trust it's been a happy Thanksgiving for you! We've had some minor difficulties and schedule issues so we haven't sat down to dinner yet, but we will shortly.
Enjoy the cold rain and fog in your lovely home :-).
Thay shorted us on the fog this time, but it's a lovely, cool drizzle outside. Just perfect!
Also, it has been found that cranberry sauce, turkey... had no place in the original and puritanical Thanksgiving feast .
One of my 7th great great grandfather's was there on the occasion of the first harvest festivities - 3 days of it - for the giving of thanks. He wrote a journal for his descendants and he listed many of the foods they had for the first Thanksgiving. I wont list them all - but there was roast duck roast goose, and other wild "fowle", cod, bass and other fish, clams and other shellfish, venison, white bread, corn bread, white and red wine made from local wild grapes, berries and many wild "turkies."
Now the area around Plymouth is rich in cranberry bogs - so I don't think you can empirically claim they did NOT have cranberries. And as for the "turkies" - I'll take his word for it - he was there. Were you?
As to the rum, etc - in those days, in England, if you drank water, you were like to die for England was so polluted at the time that it was only safe to drink ale, beer, etc.. It was the rule of the day.
After a bit in the new world, they discovered the water was safe = and they wrote home to remark at it so being - clear and sweet.
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My wife's family lives in East Ridge.
I walked the Missionary Ridge battlefield with her (what can I say, I'm such a romantic devil). It's amazing to me that Sherman's men were able to climb the ridge, let alone win the battle - Bragg was such a bad general.
I'll probably take my son (now four) soon.
Hey, I thought Puritans were just Anglicans without the Catholic puffery.
Sorry the Virginians were the first to offer Thanksgiving.
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