Celebrating the Pilgrims at Thanksgiving

Some people consider the Pilgrims genocidal invaders of North America. Should we still celebrate the Pilgrims? Here’s a balanced article describing the controversy and making a case for celebrating the good things they brought with them to America.

While the English newcomers brought diseases with them and did fight with the Indians later on (King Philip’s War in 1675), the original Pilgrim settlers did not war with their Indian neighbors. They settled on land that was unoccupied at the time, the local tribe having been mysteriously wiped out by a plague.

Tisquantum, or Squanto, the lone survivor of the plague, had been captured by the explorer Captain George Weymouth in 1605. He spent nine years in England, learned English and helped the English decide where to start colonies. Squanto was returned to the Patuxets by Captain John Smith in 1614.

However, Captain Thomas Hunt stayed behind to dry their catch of fish and trade it for beaver skins, lured twenty Patuxets aboard, and sold them into slavery in Malaga, Spain along with seven Nausets. Squanto and a few others were bought and rescued by Spanish friars, who introduced them to the Christian faith. When Squanto returned to Plymouth six months before the Pilgrims arrived, he found his village deserted. His entire tribe had died during his five year absence. Squanto later helped the Pilgrims with planting corn, fishing and translation with leaders of neighboring tribes. They made a treaty of mutual assistance with Wampanoag Chief Massasoit that would last forty years.

This article describes the Pilgrims’ voyage on the Mayflower, settling in what is now Massachusetts, and the early years in New England.

“Some of the most notable passengers on the Mayflower included Myles Standish, a professional soldier who would become the military leader of the new colony; and William Bradford, a leader of the Separatist congregation who wrote the still-classic account of the Mayflower voyage and the founding of Plymouth Colony. While still on board the ship, a group of 41 men signed the so-called Mayflower Compact, in which they agreed to join together in a “civil body politic.” This document would become the foundation of the new colony’s government.”

The first Thanksgiving feast in the fall of 1621 included wild turkeys shot by the Pilgrims and venison provided by Chief Massasoit and his men.

Here is the original account, recorded in a December 12, 1621 letter by Edward Winslow:

“Our corn [i.e. wheat] did prove well, and God be praised, we had a good increase of Indian corn, and our barley indifferent good, but our peas not worth the gathering, for we feared they were too late sown. They came up very well, and blossomed, but the sun parched them in the blossom. Our harvest being gotten in, our governor sent four men on fowling, that so we might after a special manner rejoice together after we had gathered the fruit of our labors. They four in one day killed as much fowl as, with a little help beside, served the company almost a week. At which time, amongst other recreations, we exercised our arms, many of the Indians coming amongst us, and among the rest their greatest king Massasoit, with some ninety men, whom for three days we entertained and feasted, and they went out and killed five deer, which they brought to the plantation and bestowed on our governor, and upon the captain and others. And although it be not always so plentiful as it was at this time with us, yet by the goodness of God, we are so far from want that we often wish you partakers of our plenty.”

The above article describes the other types of food which were likely eaten that first Thanksgiving at Plymouth Plantation. This link describes the religious beliefs of the Pilgrims, or Separatists, which caused them to leave England and Holland for religious freedom in a new colony in America.

This article has a history of the Thanksgiving holiday in the United States.

The Pilgrims signed the Mayflower Compact, established a successful colony in Massachusetts and had friendly relations with their Indian neighbors.

Charles Spurgeon, the great 19th century London preacher, used the Pilgrims in his book All of Grace as an illustration of faith: “A man eats because he believes in the necessity of food; he goes to business because he believes in the value of money; he accepts a check because he believes that the bank will honor it. Columbus discovered America because he believed that there was another continent beyond the ocean, and the Pilgrim Fathers colonized it because they believed that God would be with them on those rocky shores.”
When I get to heaven, I want to ask Tisquantum if he resented his captivity in Britain and Spain or considered it part of God’s bigger plan for him to learn English, come to faith in Christ, be saved from the plague that killed his tribesmen and help the Pilgrims. I wonder if he felt like Joseph after being sold into slavery by his brothers: “As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today.” (verse 20 from Genesis 50)

Here is an 1844 English harvest hymn by Henry Alford:
1. Come, ye thankful people, come,
Raise the song of harvest home;
All is safely gathered in,
Ere the winter storms begin;
God our Maker doth provide
For our wants to be supplied;
Come to God’s own temple, come,
Raise the song of harvest home.

2. All the world is God’s own field,
Fruit unto His praise to yield;
Wheat and tares together sown,
Unto joy or sorrow grown;
First the blade, and then the ear,
Then the full corn shall appear:
Lord of harvest, grant that we
Wholesome grain and pure may be.

3. For the Lord our God shall come,
And shall take His harvest home;
From His field shall in that day
All offenses purge away;
Give His angels charge at last
In the fire the tares to cast;
But the fruitful ears to store
In His garner evermore.

4. Even so, Lord, quickly come,
Bring Thy final harvest home;
Gather Thou Thy people in,
Free from sorrow, free from sin,
There, forever purified,
In Thy garner to abide;
Come, with all Thine angels come,
Raise the glorious harvest home.

Here is a traditional Dutch hymn “We Gather Together” translated into English by Theodore Baker.

1. We gather together to ask the Lord's blessing;
He chastens and hastens His will to make known;
the wicked oppressing now cease from distressing;
sing praises to His Name, He forgets not His own.

2. Beside us to guide us, our God with us joining,
ordaining, maintaining His kingdom divine;
so from the beginning the fight we were winning:
Thou, Lord wast at our side--the glory be Thine!

3. We all do extol Thee, Thou leader in battle,
and pray that Thou still our defender wilt be.
Let Thy congregation escape tribulation;
Thy name be ever praised; O Lord, make us free!

Photo downloaded from Pixabay’s free images on the internet.

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Please check out The Michigan Declaration and consider signing it.

In previous blog posts, I began telling the story of my brain tumor and the depression which followed it. The second article in the series described my faith in God which sustained me through both trials.

Having recently started a word-by-word translation of Martin Luther’s Bible from German to English, I introduced the project and published Matthew Chapter 1 . Later I wrote commentary on it; my church background and theological training is in my USA Melting Pot bio.

Dale Murrish writes on history, travel, technology, religion and politics for the USA Melting Pot club, LinkedIn, and Troy Patch. You can help this non-profit club by making your Amazon purchases through the link on the left side of their website. You can also see over a dozen ethnic presentations from people with firsthand knowledge under Culture & Country (right hand side), and outdoor presentations (Hobby & Fun), including posts on bicycling, skiing and camping.

Other interesting articles on the USA Melting Pot website have been written by Bilal Rathur on his hajj to Saudi Arabia (Part 6) and by Carl Petersen. Thanks to both of them for their contributions.