Depiction of Elder William Brewster, returning thanks Thanksgiving Day One.
Thanksgiving
Day
national holiday in the U.S. commemorating the
harvest reaped by the Plymouth Colony in 1621. The first national Thanksgiving
Day was proclaimed by Pres. Washington for Nov. 26, 1789. Pres. Lincoln revived
the custom in 1863. In 1941 Congress decreed that Thanksgiving should fall on
the fourth Thursday of November. The customary turkey dinner is a reminder of
the four wild turkeys served at the PILGRIMS' first thanksgiving
feast.
Many of moon have passed since those first pilgrims celebrated that first harvest. Following the Puritans would be more English loyalist. In 1745 the Jacobitish Clans of Scotland with ideas of Unity and self rule would propagate a new anti-loyalist wave in the Americas. Soon to follow were Irishmen looking for land, Germans looking for Religious freedom from persecution and a host of others.The original Pilgrims brought with them cultural diversity different from that of the American Indians native to the land. Even so to this day modern Pilgrims who bring with them each year a wealth of cultural diversity adding to the tapestry of American Culture. Each group gives thanks for something just a little different from the other groups, from the Asians to the Britts to the Native American Indians we all have something unique to be thankful for as well as some things in-common.
HAPPY THANKSGIVING.
Donald W. Ahrens Jr.