The REAL Story of Thanksgiving

The Liberator Onlline ^ | Nov. 20, 1997 | Paul Schmidt

[HuntsvilleTxVeteran]

http://www.texasalmanac.com/history/highlights/thanksgiving/

The First Thanksgiving?

A new Thanksgiving tradition has taken root in Texas.
El Paso residents now claim the first Thanksgiving in
North America.
The modern event, first observed in April 1989,
commemorates a day of thanksgiving celebrated by
Spanish explorer Juan de Onate and his expedition
on April 30, 1598.

[Recovering Ex-hippie]

thank you...Never heard this in school.

[muawiyah]

Yes, the Virginia thing was the first by English speaking people. But actually it was second or third by Western Europeans.

The Southwest has a claim to First, but so does Bar Harbor, Maine. The St. Sauveur colony, under the French flag but actually composed of Bretons (who we know were the descendants of the original inhabitants of Roman Brittain), edged them out in 1598 or 1599.

I don't know if the folks at the Portuguese colony in Newfoundland did the same thing, but when Spain took over Portugual, that colony shut down and the colonists were taken South to the Caribbean (which was undoubtedly far nicer).

What we have in Thanksgiving is an American custom that arose spontaneously in most places, but which does have identifiable antecedents.

In fact, my own genealogical research demonstrates that one of the attendees at St. Sauveur certainly was present for the first Thanksgiving at Jamestown, and may well have attended the first Thanksgiving at Plymouth. He'd gone into real estate sales with John Smith.

[Semper Mark]

Bradford realized that the communal system encouraged and rewarded waste and laziness and inefficiency, and destroyed individual initiative. Desperate, he abolished it. He distributed private plots of land among the surviving Pilgrims, encouraging them to plant early and farm as individuals, not collectively.

The results: a bountiful early harvest that saved the colonies. After the harvest, the Pilgrims celebrated with a day of Thanksgiving -- on August 9th.

Thanksgiving is a day to celebrate Americas first rejection of Communism.

Well done. Thanks for the ping.

[gwilhelm56]

**thank you...Never heard this in school.**

when I was in school... they were still allowed to say that the Pilgrims gave thanks to God

but my kids taught me that the Pilgrims gave thanks to the INDIANS...

WAITAMINIT, KID .. we need to have a little talk. by that time Rush had dropped this story in (i think) his first book.

[GeronL]

Yes I have, always great to see it again though

[444Flyer]

Bump.:)

[unkus]

Rush tells this story every year around Thanksgiving.

[editor-surveyor]

Thanks for the ping!

[BIGLOOK]

Yes, I've seen it and thanks for bringing it to the forefront again.

My family predated the colonists, they were whalers; if anyone knows about life on the sea, they know you pull your weight or stay ashore. When settlements were established on Long Island, the same rules applied but remaining ashore wasn't the option.

Happy Thanksgiving, FreeKeys!

[Salvation]

Just sent this to a bunch of friends.

[sweetiepiezer]

bttt

[RaceBannon]

http://books.google.com/books?id=BP94AAAAMAAJ&pg=PA444&lpg=PA444&dq=plymouth+plantation+book&source=bl&ots=zGlvR6EbYY&sig=C_pHzQFLj1wHqGso3PujjU98Hnk&hl=en&ei=PR8KS4P4EoWxlAeVurCFBA&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=7&ved=0CCwQ6AEwBg#v=onepage&q=plymouth%20plantation%20book&f=false

READ William BRadford for yourself FREE via Google!

[RaceBannon]

http://books.google.com/books?id=BP94AAAAMAAJ&pg=PA444&lpg=PA444&dq=plymouth+plantation+book&source=bl&ots=zGlvR6EbYY&sig=C_pHzQFLj1wHqGso3PujjU98Hnk&hl=en&ei=PR8KS4P4EoWxlAeVurCFBA&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=7&ved=0CCwQ6AEwBg#v=onepage&q=plymouth%20plantation%20book&f=false

READ William BRadford for yourself FREE via Google!

[neverdem]

thanks, bfl

[Lexinom]

A great find, and a prescient dollop of wisdom in Bradford 400 years past. Never more applicable here than to today it would appear.

Thank you so much!

[guitarplayer1953]

From what I have read the preamble to the Constitution originally said life liberty and pursuit of private property. But was changed because they considered it could be used by the south to legitimize slavery as slavers were considered private property.

[freema]

Thank you, Race.

[KTM rider]

wow thanks, here all this time I was taught in school that “it was a harvest celebration and the Pilgrims invited the indians because the indians taught them how to grow stuff and saved them from starvation”

[tallyhoe]

yes and thanks