[Dialogue] [Oe List ...] Happy Thanksgiving

Thu Nov 27 06:41:18 PST 2014

Thank you, George for sharing this good proclamation of our Order history
as we celebrate.  I found a great children¹s book called Thank You, Sarah: A
Woman Who Saved Thanksgiving, (Sarah Hale, that you mention). Very colorful
and animated illustrations.  Good story of how change happens one person at
a time and the power of the pen!      Look for it next Thanksgiving for the
grandchildren.     Lynda

From:  George Holcombe via OE <oe at lists.wedgeblade.net>
Reply-To:  George & Wanda Holcombe <grholcombe at gmail.com>
Date:  Thursday, November 27, 2014 at 8:58 AM
To:  ICA/OE List Serves <oe at lists.wedgeblade.net>, ICA/OE List Serves
<dialogue at lists.wedgeblade.net>
Subject:  [Oe List ...] Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving.  Here¹s a little history about the day.
"The First Thanksgiving

The first thanksgiving feast was celebrated in 1621 by the pilgrims of the
Plymouth colony along with about ninety Indians. The Pilgrims had suffered
through a devastating winter in which nearly half their number died. Without
the help of the Indians, all would have perished.

After the first harvest, Governor William Bradford proclaimed a day of
thanksgiving and prayer to God. The food, which was eaten outdoors, included
corn, geese, turkeys, ducks, clams, plums, cod, bass, barley, venison and
corn bread. The feast lasted 3 days, races and other games were played
during the celebration. Though the exact date is unknown, the feast clearly
took place in late autumn.

In 1623, a period of drought was answered by colonists with a proclamation
of prayer and fasting. This prayer and fasting was changed to another
thanksgiving celebration when rains came during the prayers. Later that
year, Governor Bradford proclaimed November 29 as a time for pilgrims to
gather and give thanks.

³Inasmuch as the great Father has given us this year an abundant harvest of
Indian corn, wheat, peas, squashes and garden vegetables, and made the
forest to abound with game and the sea with fish and clams, and inasmuch as
he has protected us from the ravages of the savages, has spared us from the
pestilence and granted us freedom to worship God according to the dictates
of our own conscience.

Now I, your magistrate do proclaim that all ye Pilgrims, with your wives and
ye little ones, do gather at ye meeting house, on ye hill, between the hours
of nine and twelve in the daytime on Thursday, November ye 29th, of the year
of our Lord one thousand six hundred and twenty-three, and the third year
since ye Pilgrims landed on ye Plymouth Rock, there to listen to ye Pastor
and render Thanksgiving to ye Almighty God for all his blessings.²

 Governor Bradford November 29, 1623

Throughout American history, there were many thanksgiving proclamations and
celebrations. In 1789 George Washington proclaimed a National Thanksgiving
Day on the last Thursday in November, in honor of the new United States
Constitution. Thomas Jefferson, the third president, later discontinued it,
calling it ³a kingly practice.²

But in 1863, Sarah Josepha Hale, the author of the poem ³Mary Had a Little
Lamb,² convinced Abraham Lincoln to proclaim Thanksgiving a national
holiday. For the date she chose the last Thursday in November because of
Washington¹s proclamation. In 1941, it was officially changed to the fourth
Thursday in November.²

And the Mayflower Compact - we used to read at Thanksgiving.

THE MAYFLOWER COMPACT

"In the name of God, Amen. We, whose names are underwritten, the Loyal
Subjects of our dread Sovereign Lord, King James, by the Grace of God, of
England, France and Ireland, King, Defender of the Faith, e&.Having
undertaken for the Glory of God, and Advancement of the Christian Faith, and
the Honour of our King and Country, a voyage to plant the first colony in
the northern parts of Virginia; do by these presents, solemnly and mutually
in the Presence of God and one of another, covenant and combine ourselves
together into a civil Body Politick, for our better Ordering and
Preservation, and Furtherance of the Ends aforesaid; And by Virtue hereof to
enact, constitute, and frame, such just and equal Laws, Ordinances, Acts,
Constitutions and Offices, from time to time, as shall be thought most meet
and convenient for the General good of the Colony; unto which we promise all
due submission and obedience.In Witness whereof we have hereunto subscribed
our names at Cape Cod the eleventh of November, in the Reign of our
Sovereign Lord, King James of England, France and Ireland, the eighteenth,
and of Scotland the fifty-fourth. Anno Domini, 1620."

There followed the signatures of 41 of the 102 passengers, 37 of whom were
members of the "Separatists" who were fleeing religious persecution in
Europe. This compact established the first basis in the new world for
written laws. Half the colony failed to survive the first winter, but the
remainder lived on and prospered.
1 Mr. John Carver <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Carver>
2 William Bradford 
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Bradford_(Plymouth_governor)>
3 Mr. Edward Winslow
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Winslow_(Mayflower_passenger)>
4 Mr. William Brewster
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Brewster_(Mayflower_passenger)>
5 Mr. Isaac Allerton <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isaac_Allerton>
6 Capt. Myles Standish <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Myles_Standish>
7 John Alden <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Alden>
8 Mr. Samuel Fuller
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samuel_Fuller_(Mayflower_physician)>
9 Mr. Christopher Martin
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Martin_(Mayflower_passenger)>
10 Mr. William Mullins <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Mullins>
11 Mr. William White
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_White_(Mayflower_passenger)>
12 Mr. Richard Warren <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Warren>
13 John Howland <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Howland>
14 Mr. Stephen Hopkins
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephen_Hopkins_(Mayflower_passenger)>
15 Edward Tilley <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Tilley>
16 John Tilley 
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Tilley_(Mayflower_passenger)>
17 Francis Cooke <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francis_Cooke>
18 Thomas Rogers 
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Rogers_(Mayflower_passenger)>
19 Thomas Tinker <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Tinker>
20 John Rigsdale
21 Edward Fuller <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Fuller_(Mayflower)>
22 John Turner
23 Francis Eaton 
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francis_Eaton_(Mayflower_passenger)>
24 James Chilton <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Chilton>
25 John Crackstone <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Crackstone>
26 John Billington <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Billington>
27 Moses Fletcher <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moses_Fletcher>
28 John Goodman
29 Degory Priest <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Degory_Priest>
30 Thomas Williams 
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Williams_(Mayflower)>
31 Gilbert Winslow
32 Edmund Margeson
33 Peter Browne 
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Browne_(Mayflower_passenger)>
34 Richard Britteridge
35 George Soule 
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Soule_(Mayflower_passenger)>
36 Richard Clarke
37 Richard Gardiner
38 John Allerton <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Allerton>
39 Thomas English
40 Edward Doty <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Doty>
41 Edward Leister

George Holcombe
14900 Yellowleaf Tr.
Austin, TX 78728
Mobile 512/252-2756
geowanda1 at me.com

"Whatever the problem, community is the answer.  There is no power greater
than a community discovering what it cares about."  Margaret Wheatley

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