I recently read some newspaper articles about my grandpa’s Baptist Church in Belton,  MO.  He was only there from August of 1921 to December 1922, but he published articles in the paper about the church events often.  Rev. Roy Osborn Chaney started out as a newspaper reporter in Rochester, NY and then wrote for the Rocky Mountain News in Denver, CO.   His account of why he changed from a news reporter to a Pastor is interesting (see the post here).  He helped operate an implement business in Mound Valley, KS, with his brother-in-law for a while.

it gets more interesting

Later he became a Baptist minister but then switched to the Congregational denomination for some reason.  No one seems to know why, but both churches were strong in his ancestry, especially the latter.  He came, literally, from Pilgrim stock.

the Mayflower

Some of  his ancestors came on the Mayflower in 1620 — John Alden; William, Alice and Priscilla Mullins; Thomas and Joseph Rogers; and Richard Warren.  Many others were in Plymouth Colony as well, having come on other early ships.  In particular, George Morton and his family were members of the Leiden, Holland, pilgrims, and had attempted to sail with the Mayflower on the Speedwell, but had been turned back.  This group came in 1623 on the Anne.

early missionaries in Burma

My grandfather’s brother, Rev. Clarence E. Chaney, was a Baptist missionary in Burma (now Myanmar) from 1909-1944.  He became the head of all missionary operations in that region, and had quite a story to share (the subject of a later post).  My grandparents raised Clarence’s son, Eastman Chaney, until his early death at the age of fifteen in 1925.

So what does the descendant of Mayflower pilgrims speak about in sermons of 1921?  Here is the intriguing list (many dates are missing unfortunately):

sermon titles

• 8/14/21 — “Missouri’s Centennial”
• 8/21/21 (AM) — “The Unpardonable Sin”
• 8/28/21 (AM) — “Making Friends by Means of Mammon”
• 8/28/21 (PM) — “The Call to the Right”
• 9/4/21 (AM) — “Beholding the Unseen”
• 9/4/21 (PM) — “Why Go to School?”
• 9/11/21 (AM) — “Is it Ever Right to Do Wrong?”
• 9/11/21 (PM) — “Felicitous and Foolish Fighting”

Sermons for 1922:

• 1/15/22 (AM) — “The Business of Jesus”
• 1/15/22 (PM) — “The Christian January”
• 2/5/22 (AM) — “Reforms”
• 2/5/22 (PM) — “The February of the Christian”
• 2/20/22 —  ”The Pastor and His Publicity” (Address to the Baptist Ministerial Alliance)
• 5/21/22 (AM) — “Rainbows”
• 5/21/22 (PM) — “The Christian Month of May”
• 7/23/22 (AM) — “One Year in Belton”
• 7/30/22 (PM) — Guest speaker Rev. Clarence E. Chaney and wife Elsie, missionaries to Burma
• 9/10/22 (AM) — “Vacation Days” (reflections of three weeks in the Ozarks)
• 9/10/22 (PM) — “School Days”
• 10/29/22 (AM) — “The Secret of Hilarity”
• 11/19/22 (AM) — “A Prophet’s Song”
• 11/19/22 (PM) — “The Superman”

fascinating KC connections

After a year in Belton, my Grandpa went on to serve as a Baptist, and then a Congregational, Pastor in Kansas City, MO.  He chaired many organizations — the Anti-Vice League, The Christian League, The Union of Christian Endeavors, The Association of Congregational Churches, The Professional Men’s Club, The Kansas City Ministerial Alliance; and was Editor of The Christian Reveille.  I understand that Grandpa had a great tenor singing voice, he was a big fan of Baseball and of Reverend Billy Sunday, and my dad even recalls having Madame Chiang Kai-Shek (1st Lady of the Republic of China) stay in their home (imagine that!).  Here is a poster from a revival around 1924 (he’s the shorter man on the right).

no nut

Grandpa was less than five feet in height and weighed only 91 pounds, but it did not deter him one bit from making a huge impact on society. He once said of himself, “About as big as a peanut, but he is no ‘nut.’”  He worked tirelessly to provide jobs for men suffering from the depression of the 20’s and 30’s.  He was involved in the founding of the City Union Mission of Kansas City.  He spoke out strongly against the Pendergast Machine, to the point of receiving numerous threats by phone.  He teamed up often to give side-by-side sermons with Rabbi Samuel S. Mayerberg.  No wonder I am passionately involved with the ministry of Compassion International — serving children in poverty and great need throughout the world.  No wonder I play piano for numerous choirs, church and community events.  No wonder I love to write about my faith.

100 years

I want to honor my Grandpa and Grandma, Delia Wilson Chaney, today because their wedding was on January 1, 1910.  Wow.  That’s 100 years ago today — I hadn’t made that connection until this very moment.  In light of this, I would welcome requests to sponsor a child in honor of this momentous anniversary!

Delia and Roy Chaney -- January 1910

I vaguely recall their 50th Wedding Anniversay at our home in 1960.  Here are some scenes from that occasion as well (you might even spot me here — the youngest of two granddaughters):

Roy and Delia Chaney -- January 1960

Grandpa may have lost his eyesight, but never his sense of humor -- he couldn't let Grandma cut that piece of cake without a little ornery resistance!

…a meaningful legacy…

Thank you, Grandpa, for a legacy of Faith, Humor, Writing, Music and Advocacy.  I believe I have taken up your torch, and will continue to do so, as God allows, as long as I live!  I also clearly remember the wonderful “Penny Stories” told at my bedside in those years.  Priceless!

Update:  I made a quick trip down to the bank vault yesterday afternoon, to retrieve Grandma’s wedding ring from our lock box.  Amazingly, it fits perfectly (I believe a size 4)!  I’m wearing it today in honor of Grandma and Grandpa’s wedding day.

Down in the bleak December bay

The ghostly vessel stands away;

Her spars and halyards white with ice,

Under the dark December skies.

A hundred souls, in company,

Have left the vessel pensively, -

Have reached the frosty desert there,

And touched it with the knees of prayer.

And now the day begins to dip,

The night begins to lower

Over the bay, and over the ship

Mayflower.

Neither the desert nor the sea

Imposes rites: their prayers are free;

Danger and toil the wild imposes,

And thorns must grow before the roses.

And who are these? – and what distress

The savage-acred wilderness

On mother, maid, and child may bring,

Beseems them for a fearful thing;

For nw the day begins to dip,

The night begins to lower

Over the bay, and over the ship

Mayflower.

But Carver leads (in heart and health

A hero of the commonwealth)

The axes that the camp requires,

To build and lodge, and heap the fires.

And Standish from his warlike store

Arrays his men along the shore,

Distributes weapons resonant,

And dons his harness militant;

For now the day begins to dip,

The night begins to lower

Over the bay, and over the ship

Mayflower;

And Rose, his wife, unlocks a chest -

She sees a Book, in vellum dressed,

She drops a tear, and kisses the tome,

Thinking of England and of home:

Might they – the Pilgrims, there and then

Ordained to do the work of men -

Have seen, in visions of the air,

While pillowed on the breast of prayer

(When now the day began to dip,

The night began to lower

Over the bay, and over the ship

Mayflower),

The Canaan of their wilderness

A boundless empire of sucess;

And seen the years of future nights

Jewelled with myriad household lights;

And seen the noney fill the hive;

And seen a thousand ships arrive;

And heard the wheels of travel go;

It would have cheered a thought of woe,

When now the day began to dip,

The night began to lower

Over the bay, and over the ship

Mayflower.

- Erastus Wolcott Ellsworth, from The Family Book of Best Loved Poems, ed. by David L. George

On December 21:

1118  Thomas Becket, Lord Chancellor of England and Archbishop of Canterbury was born.

1598  Battle of Curalaba: The revolting Mapuche, led by cacique Pelentaru, inflicted a major defeat on Spanish troops in southern Chile.

1620 William Bradford and the Mayflower Pilgrims landed on what is now known as Plymouth Rock in Plymouth, Massachusetts.

 The Landing of the Pilgrims., by Henry A. Bacon, 1877

1682 Calico Jack Rackham, English pirate, was born.

1804  Benjamin Disraeli, 1st Earl of Beaconsfield, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, was born.

1815  Thomas Couture French painter and teacher, was born.

1843 Thomas Bracken, Irish-born New Zealand, was born.

1844 – The Rochdale Pioneers commenced business at their cooperative in Rochdale, England, starting the Cooperative movement.

1861  Medal of Honor: Public Resolution 82, containing a provision for a Navy Medal of Valor, was signed into law by President Abraham Lincoln.

1872  HMS Challenger, commanded by Captain George Nares, sailed from Portsmouth.

 Painting of Challenger by William Frederick Mitchell

1883 The first Permanent Force cavalry and infantry regiments of the Canadian Army were formed: The Royal Canadian Dragoons and The Royal Canadian Regiment.

1892  Rebecca West, British writer, was born.

1905  Anthony Powell, British author, was born.

1913 Arthur Wynne’s “word-cross”, the first crossword puzzle, was published in the New York World.

1917  Heinrich Böll, German writer and Nobel laureate, was born.

1937 – Jane Fonda, American actress, was born.

1937  Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, the first full-length animated film, premiered at the Carthay Circle Theater.

1946 Carl Wilson, American musician (The Beach Boys), was born.

1958 Charles de Gaulle was elected President of France when his Union des Démocrates pour la République party gained 78.5% of the vote.

1964 More than 170 years of New Zealand whaling history came to a close when J. A. Perano and Company caught its last whale off the coast near Kaikoura.

1967  Louis Washkansky, the first man to undergo a heart transplant, died 18 days after the transplant.

1968 Apollo 8, the first manned mission to the moon, was launched from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. At 2h:50m:37s Mission elapsed time (MES), the crew performed the first ever manned Trans Lunar Injection and became the first humans to leave Earth’s gravity.

1971 New Zealand Railways (NZR) launched a new tourist-oriented steam passenger venture, the Kingston Flyer.

1979 Lancaster House Agreement: An independence agreement for Rhodesia was signed in London by Lord Carrington, Sir Ian Gilmour, Robert Mugabe, Joshua Nkomo, Bishop Abel Muzorewa and S.C. Mundawarara.

 Bishop Abel Muzorewa signing the Lancaster House Agreement seated next to British Foreign Secretary Lord Carrington.

1988  A bomb exploded on board Pan Am flight 103 over Lockerbie, Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland, killing 270.

 Sourced from NZ History Online & Wikipedia.

I do these Today in History posts, nearly daily, and I am learning so much, about our history as a country and as a free people. It saddens me that our country is being ripped apart by those who have sworn to up hold and protect it…In the name of progress. As we enter this <s>Holiday</s> Christmas Season, and we freely gather with our families and celebrate by giving gifts, I ask that we remember to also continue to pray for the leaders of this country. That as they gather their own families around them that they remember what this country was founded on.

Millions on immigrants didn’t spent months on a ship crossing the ocean to arrive in the “new world” to have their descendants end up be coming what they left behind. Today is also the day that the Mayflower arrived in Plymouth, Massachusetts and I find it horribly ironic that freedom began in this county the same day(s) as it is being whisked away only 233 short years after it was birthed.  Some will say and expound on how that is such a long time and we must move forward, those were different times, etc. But was it really that long ago? Was their fight that much different from what we are encountering in our country today?

Two days ago, I again tuned into C-Span (for the second time in my life) and saw that a Senator had asked for a reading of an amendment. I saw on the screened that this wasn’t typically done, that they were just submitted without being read. Can you imagine? Then as the Clerk read, and got to page 70 or so of 300+ the Senator that submitted the amendment withdrew it. I can only ask would that of been the same situation if it had not been read aloud? The word TAX was dropped like it was hot!

I can only wish that we were able to demand that all the bills and amendments they pass or try to pass, were read out loud for all to hear before they were giving a chance to be voted on. <i>(Isn’t it sad that that has to be a wish, and not an everyday occurrence?)</i>

Earlier this week was the anniversary of the Boston Tea Party, where the colonist dumped tea into the Boston Harbor in protest of the unfair taxes. Ironically Time Magazine came out with their year in pictures and the Tea Party Protests that were held across the country this year in protest of unfair taxes were soundly ignored, in hopes I can only assume; that they will quickly be forgotten by history.

People that came to this country, (and still do today) left behind their families, their homes, careers, in some cases sold everything they had to risk their lives to come to this ‘new world’.  For Freedom.  For opportunity. Fleeing from the tyranny, from oppression, from governments that didn’t listen to its people.

I was watching tv last night, and there was a little boy who was no more than 7, who said “A house isn’t a home without a family in it.” For such a young person to say something to honest, true and deep was refreshing.  The same can be the same for our country.   The United States isn’t the United States without freedom.

Not sure what to write about this one,  but to say even Washingtonian women are awesome!  Unfortunately, I didn’t have the pleasure to be there to take this artistic photo. A friend who had attended his corporate Christmas party in Mayflower hotel in Downtown DC last night, sent this to me. Apparently, these sexy ladies knew exactly how to drive us morons, men crazy.

I just wish I was there to offer them a cup of coffee in my place Damn! How could I miss such a party!!!

Anyway, aside from the politics, corruptions, and scandals, Washington is just soooooo pure and Awwwwwwwesome! Can’t you just see that?

Speaking of Mayflower Hotel, It is the one the New York governor, Eliot Spitzer shagged his high-priced call girl and lost his job over it.

I recall my company’s Christmas party in the same Hotel while with Yurie Systems back in 1997. Great memories from that party Our company went public that year and was sold to Lucent for $1.23 B in March of 1998.  It was very rewarding to all employees.

The Hotel is right in Connecticut Ave and L Street just south of Dupont Circle.  Interested in staying in the Hotel, here is where you can learn more about it. I mean what more do you need to know. The NY governor had a blast there for years

Renaissance Mayflower Hotel – A Historic Washington DC Hotel

When the Puritans hit the shores of the Americas in 1620 they carried with them all the viruses of false guilt and manufactured shame that still contaminate reason to this day.  It is noted in Time Frames and Taboo Data—p 327:

 By myth and tradition the year 1620 is regarded in the United States as when the “Founding Fathers” or the “Pilgrims” first set foot in the Americas.  Although the Mayflower did indeed reach the bleak shores of what is today Massachusetts, the Pilgrims were at that location because of bad weather and poor navigation.  Their intended destination had been Jamestown and “The Old Dominion” of Virginia, 500 miles to the south, which had been established in 1607.  And tradition has it that the Puritans brought by the Mayflower were fleeing religious persecution in England, but the bulk of them had lived for eleven years in Holland where they were not persecuted.  The real reason for the Puritans to strike out for the New World was to bring aid and support to the Puritan element in Virginia, for the Puritan deputy governor, Samuel Argall, had been deposed by the Episcopalians in 1619—a great setback to the Whig/Puritan cause.

Apparently it never occurred to the Puritans that they might have been led astray because their intolerant faith was not much appreciated by god.  Their hardened hearts chose instead to establish a new colony of Massachusetts on the tenets of harsh intolerance of any beliefs other than their own.  Unfortunately, the bigotry and cruelty of the Puritan “fathers” would for centuries taint even the more tolerant faith systems of the U.S.

A few years later, 1634, Cecilius Calvert, the second Baron Baltimore, after his father’s death, wished to found a colony where coreligionists might worship freely without incurring the persecution they were subjected to in England.  Of the little more than 200 colonists to arrive, however, probably over half were Protestants.  The settlement they founded was called St. Mary’s.  The first statutes of the Providence (Maryland) were passed in 1638 and religious tolerance was the central feature of the project.  By this time the Puritans and their coreligionists had regained their hold over the Episcopalians of Virginia (mentioned in 1620), and with assistance of the Massachusetts Puritans actually invaded Maryland!  Typical of theocratic mentality, the Puritans quickly dismantled the Maryland Constitution in which the “Act of Toleration” was clearly proclaimed and replaced it with the disgraceful “Act Concerning Religion,” which mandated that the Puritan doctrine and tenets were to be followed by all.

Three years later, December 1641, another example of Christian/Puritan piety was played out in the disgraceful carnage known as the Cos Cob Massacre.  The New England settlers had been kindly received by the Indians under Cos Cog at Myanus and Stamford.  The Indians had taught the settlers how to make a living from the sea and from the forest.  But when the number of settlers had grown and they attained sufficient firearms, they displayed their Christian neighborly love by creeping out on Christmas Eve to the Indian village of Petuquapen.   In the spirit of Christ they built a huge fire at each of the village gates and then shot down every man, woman and child that sought to escape.  Every inhabitant of the village perished—some 400 “savage” souls.

Then in 1643 a company of Puritans were excluded from Virginia for religious nonconformity.  The shunned Puritans then founded a settlement called Providence on the site of present day Annapolis.  Interestingly, at the Naval Academy at Annapolis, Md., cadets had to legally petition the school there in 2008 to abolish mandatory daily prayer at weekday lunch.  The practice was/is unconstitutional—but it does remain true to Puritan tradition.

On December 18:

1271  Kublai Khan renamed his empire “Yuan” (元 yuán), officially marking the start of the Yuan Dynasty of Mongolia and China.

Mayflower in Plymouth Harbor by William Halsall (1882)

1642  Abel Tasman and his men had the first known European encounter with Maori.

1707 Charles Wesley, English Methodist hymnist, was born.

1777 The United States celebrated its first Thanksgiving, marking the recent victory by the Americans over General John Burgoyne in the Battle of Saratoga in October.

1778 Joseph Grimaldi, English clown, was born.

1849 Henrietta Edwards, Canadian women’s rights activist, was born.

1863 Franz Ferdinand, Archduke of Austria, was born.

1878 Joseph Stalin, leader of the Soviet Union, was born.

1888 – Richard Wetherill and his brother in-law discovered the ancient Indian ruins of Mesa Verde.

1890  Edwin Armstrong, American inventor (FM radio) was born.

1898  Gaston de Chasseloup-Laubat set the new land speed record going 39.245 mph (63.159 km/h), in a Jeantaud electric car. This is the first recognized land speed record.

1900 The Upper Ferntree Gully to Gembrook Narrow-gauge (2 ft 6 in or 762 mm) Railway (now the Puffing Billy Railway) in Victoria, Australia opened.

 The Monbulk Creek Trestle Bridge.

1905 – Irving Kahn, American financial analyst and investor, was born.

1908  Celia Johnson, English actress, was born.

1910 – Eric Tindill, New Zealand cricketer and rugby player, was born.

1912 The Piltdown Man, later discovered to be a hoax, was found in the Piltdown Gravel Pit, by Charles Dawson.

1913 Willy Brandt, Chancellor of Germany, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize, was born.

1916  Betty Grable, American actress, was born.

1935  Jacques Pépin, French chef, was born.

1938 Chas Chandler, English musician (The Animals), was born.

1943  Keith Richards, English guitarist (The Rolling Stones), was born.

1946  Steve Biko, South African anti-apartheid activist, was born.

1946 – Steven Spielberg, American film director, was born.

1963 Brad Pitt, American actor, was born.

1966 Saturn’s moon Epimetheus is discovered by Richard L. Walker.

1969  Home Secretary James Callaghan’s motion to make permanent the Murder (Abolition of Death Penalty) Act 1965, which had temporarily suspended capital punishment in England, Wales and Scotland for murder (but not for all crimes) for a period of five years, was carried by both the House of Commons and the House of Lords.

1973 Soyuz 13, crewed by cosmonauts Valentin Lebedev and Pyotr Klimuk, was launched from Baikonur in the Soviet Union.

1987  Larry Wall released the first version of the Perl programming language.

1997  HTML 4.0 was published by the World Wide Web Consortium.

1999 NASA launched into orbit the Terra platform carrying five Earth Observation instruments, including ASTER, CERES, MISR, MODIS and MOPITT.

Sourced from NZ History Online & Wikipedia.

Interested persons can contact
Email: mayflowermh@gmail.com

Published on November 25, 2009, on RealClearMarkets.com.

The Mayflower’s Pilgrim Capitalists

by Steven Malanga

Reading Nathaniel Philbrick’s Mayflower, an account of the voyage of the Pilgrims and the settling of Plymouth Colony, what strikes me most is not simply the extraordinary suffering of those who made the crossing, or how close to failure the entire venture teetered for years, or even the author’s recounting of the first celebration we’ve since dubbed Thanksgiving.

What leaps out from the pages of the history, probably because it’s so little a part of the common narrative of the Pilgrims, is a crucial decision by the colony’s governor, William Bradford, to change the fundamental organization of Plymouth’s economy, a move which secured the colony’s future. As Philbrick describes it, after three years in America the Pilgrims “stumbled on the power of capitalism” and in the process ensured the colony’s survival.

Of course, for many people, the particulars of an economic system hardly seem like the stuff out of which national myths are made. Instead, the popular retelling of the Pilgrims’ tale this time of year typically focuses on their role as separatists who fled England seeking religious freedom, came to thrive in the Dutch city of Leiden but worried that their children would lose their English identity and language, and so determined instead to found a colony in America where they could practice their religion but otherwise govern themselves as Englishmen and women.

The Pilgrims got more than they bargained for in the journey. After a brutal 66-day voyage, the Mayflower reached Cape Cod in mid-November of 1620, too late to build a suitable settlement before the winter set in. Living largely aboard the ship while they built the first structures, the settlers were ravaged by disease that winter, and by early spring, only half of the original voyagers remained alive.

Through the spring and the summer the Pilgrims nursed each other back to health, built their settlement, made friends with local Indians, and planted both native English crops and American seeds provided them by the local natives. That fall, as Plymouth Harbor attracted hordes of migratory birds, the Pilgrims went hunting, accumulating enough meat for a big celebration. When a hundred or so Pokanokets Indians showed up with freshly killed deer to add to the plenty, what started as a traditional European harvest festival became a feast of mythic significance, especially after Bradford and Edward Winslow ended their account of the Pilgrim’s first year at Plymouth with the story of that Thanksgiving..

But mythic celebrations aside, the Pilgrims would struggle at Plymouth for two more years, never quite securing their freedom from worry and want until Bradford reorganized their tiny economy. For three years Plymouth had operated like other English colonies such as Jamestown, on a communal system where everyone worked the land and shared the fruits of labor. Now instead, in 1623, Bradford decided that each family should have its own plot of land to cultivate and would get to keep what it produced. By rights, this shouldn’t have mattered much to the God-fearing Pilgrims. After all, they were engaged in a heroic endeavor to create a new life for themselves in America and all of them were presumably working as hard as possible to achieve that.

Still, as Philbrick writes, under Bradford’s new regime, “the change in attitude was stunning.” While previously men had tended the fields while women cared for the children, Bradford wrote that now women and children took to the fields, too, and the colony’s output increased sharply. “The inhabitants never again starved,” Philbrick relates, and eventually Winslow described Plymouth as a place where “religion and profit jump together.”

Despite their devout nature, the Pilgrims weren’t abhorred by such comparisons because the nature of religion was changing, too. The Protestant reformer John Calvin had placed work and the pursuit of one’s occupation in a new religious context. Whereas under the Catholic Church for more than a thousand years work was something one did to subsist, Calvin argued that work was what God willed the faithful to do, and the worldly success that one achieved through hard work was a sign that one was, perhaps, a member of the elect. So thoroughly did many Protestant sects adapt this ethic that more than 100 years after the founding of Plymouth the minister John Wesley, architect of Methodism in England, would observe that “religion cannot but produce both industry and frugality, and these cannot but produce riches.”

The Pilgrims were followed to New England by waves of Puritans who believed as the Pilgrims did that a man’s occupation was his calling in life and that success in one’s calling was not to be renounced. It was a very different view of work and prosperity which became, not surprisingly, the ethic that defined the new country where, as Alexis de Tocqueville would later observe, all “honest callings are honorable” and where “the notion of labor is therefore presented to the mind on every side as the necessary, natural, and honest condition of human existence.”

Not your typical Thanksgiving sentiment, but words nonetheless to contemplate this time of year.

Steven Malanga is an editor for RealClearMarkets and a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute

Below is a compilation of moments from the 40th National Day Of Mourning, which I attended in Plymouth, MA on Thanksgiving. Despite several ignorant comments posted in response to my last blog post, attending an event where thousands of conscious, aware people converged for an important cause was a wonderful reminder of why I continue to vehemently fight against bigotry. I find that getting feedback from ignorant people inspires me just as much as attending events like this, because every  meathead comment like “Uh, I like Thanksgiving and football and could care less about genocide.” makes me want to yell in the streets until my voice breaks–and we need voices in the streets now more than ever. As you will see from this video, there was no shortage of conscious people converging at Plymouth Rock yesterday. The below video is a compilation intended for those with short attention spans. For anyone interested in watching the full speeches, you can view them on my Youtube Channel.

a ‘bed’ aboard the Mayflower II

You and I spent the day in a warm place with full tummies. Be glad. When those poor voyagers landed in the New World they smelled to high heaven and no wonder. The inside of the Mayflower was so tiny you wouldn’t try putting 120 people in there for an hour never mind two months.  One person died on the way over possibly because  of the food,  “The bread musty and mouldy, the  beefe and porke of such a loathsome and filthy taste”  that people “were constrained to stop their noses” to get it down. Liquids would have helped there but “the beer was sharp and sour and the water corrupt and stinking” enough so that the only way they could get that down was to mix it with wine – which had to also taste terrible.

You and I ate pretty good today and now we get to crawl into our nice little beds.

Here’s the typical bed in the Plimoth of 1620. (Note firewood stacked under it.)

and here’s what they had for insulation:

It was December when they got here and within a year fully half their number would be dead. Not the cheeriest note to end on but it does make you ponder.

11:23 on a Thanksgiving night in the first decade of the new Millenium. Rain and a touch of snow comin’ in. Peace in this house and a sweet old cat beside me. I know I feel grateful.

▼ブログランキングに参加しています。下記のバナーにクリックして、応援していただけると嬉しいです。▼

ありがとう！Thanks for your support!
===

Just a quick note: the student presentations (6 in all) from the last Mayflower Presentation Party (MPP6) are now being uploaded over on the Mayflower Student Blog. Each and every one of the presentations were amazing and special, and I hope you enjoy reading and commenting on them!

By the way, our next MPP — featuring a debate match and drama — will be on Saturday, December 26th (opening at 14:30, and starting at 15PM). More info soon…

 As I reflect on the meaning of Thanksgiving and its beginnings, I cannot help but think of the heart of those faithful men and women who risked all for the love of God; many of them leaving their homes and families to endure hardship and death for many of them. What was their motivation and why was it so important that they would take such great risks? As the writer to the Hebrews puts it;

But as it is, they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared for them a city. (Hebrews 11:16)

Although the writing was speaking of the patriarchs and not pilgrims, I want very much for God to say to me what he said about Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, “I am not ashamed to be called your God.”

Now consider the reason he gives: “They desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God.” The reason is their desire. They desire a better country—that is, a better country than the earthly one they live in, namely a heavenly one. This is the same as saying they desire heaven, or they desire the city God has made for them.

So two things make God unashamed to be called our God: he has prepared something great for us, and we desire it above all that is on the earth. So why is he proud to be the God of people who desire his city more than all the world? Because their desire calls attention to the superior worth of what God offers over what the world offers.

This was the strong desire and motivation of the Puritan Separatists – those pilgrims who traveled from England in search of a better place where they may worship their God. The Reformation was an age of unprecedented religious violence and martyrdom. Many who resisted the King and the established Catholic Church would face certain persecution and martyrdom by fire.

But Daniel 11:32 says, “And such as do wickedly against the covenant shall he corrupt by flatteries: but the people that do know their God shall be strong, and do exploits.”

And great were the exploits of the Puritan Separatists. William Brewster, was a founder of the Plymouth Colony in New England. He helped lead the Separatist movement in England, 1606, allowing the nonconformists to meet for worship at his home in Scrooby, England. He escaped religious persecution by fleeing with the Separatists to Holland, 1608.

William Bradford, was a Pilgrim leader who helped establish the Plymouth Colony. Sailing in the Mayflower, he was chosen as governor of the colony in 1621, and was reelected 30 times until his death. In 1650, William Bradford wrote a history Of Plymouth Plantation. In it, he traced the events which led to the Pilgrims’ departure from England, and from it is where we derive most or our information about the early pilgrims and the Plymouth Colonies:

Governor William Bradford stated: They shook off this yoke of antichristian bondage, and as the Lord’s free people, joined themselves by a covenant of the Lord into a church estate in the fellowship of the gospel, to walk in all His ways, made known unto them, according to their best endeavors, whatsoever it should cost them, the Lord assisting them.¹⁹⁶

In 1607, as a result of religious persecution upon their persons, reputations, families, and livelihood, the “Separatists,” or Pilgrims, departed from England for Holland. Governor Bradford recorded:

Being thus constrained to leave their native soyle and countrie, their lands and livings, and all their friends and famillier acquantance. … to goe into a countrie they knew not (but by hearsay) where they must learne a new language, and get their livings they knew not how, it being a dear place, and subject to the miseries of war, it was by many thought an adventure almost desperate, a case intolerable, and a miserie worse than death. …

But these things did not dismay them (though they did sometimes trouble them) for their desires were sett on ye ways of God and to enjoye His ordinances; but they rested in His providence, and knew whom they had believed.¹⁹⁵

They lived in Holland 12 years, but little did they realize that out of the 103 Pilgrims who departed, 51 would die in the first winter in the New World. On September 6, 1620, after two attempts which were canceled due to the ship, the Speedwell, developing a leak, the Pilgrims finally set out for America in the Mayflower, just as the stormy season began in the North Atlantic. On November 11, 1620, having been blown off course by violent winds from their intended destination of Virginia, the Pilgrims landed at Cape Cod, Massachusetts. They found the area deserted, as the Patuxet tribe which lived there, one of the fiercest Indian tribes on the New England coast, had been destroyed by a great plague just two years prior. Had the Pilgrims landed there earlier, they would most likely have been massacred as the survivors of a French vessel were in 1617, as recounted by Bradford:

About three years before, a French ship was wrecked at Cape Cod, but the men got ashore and saved their lives and a large part of their provisions. When the Indians heard of it, they surrounded them and never left watching and dogging them till they got the advantage and killed them, all but three or four, whom they kept, and sent from one Sachem to another, making sport with them and using them worse than slaves.²⁰⁰

On November 12, 1620, the first full day in the New World, Bradford described the Pilgrims’ thankfulness: Being thus arrived in a good harbor, and brought safe to land, they fell upon their knees and blessed the God of Heaven who had brought them over the vast and furious ocean, and delivered them from all the perils and miseries thereof, again to set their feet on the firm and stable earth, their proper element.²⁰²

Later he would write; what could now sustain them but the spirit of God and His grace? May not and ought not the children of these fathers rightly say: Our fathers were Englishmen which came over this great ocean, and were ready to perish in this wilderness; (Deuteronomy 26:5, 7) but they cried unto the Lord, and He heard their voice, and looked on their adversity. Let them therefore praise ye Lord, because He is good, and His mercies endure for ever. (107 Psalm: v. 1, 2, 4, 5, Yea let them which have been redeemed of the Lord, show how He has delivered them from the hand of the oppressor. When they wandered in the desert wilderness out of ye way, and found no city to dwell in, both hungry, and thirsty, their soul was overwhelmed in them. Let them confess before the Lord His loving kindness, and His wonderful works before the sons of men.²⁰³

Three years after the Pilgrims’ arrival and two years after the first Thanksgiving, Governor William Bradford made an official proclamation for a Day of Thanksgiving, to all the Pilgrims he said: Last and not least, they cherished a great hope and inward zeal of laying good foundations, or at least making some ways toward it, for the propagation and advance of the gospel of the kingdom of Christ in the remote parts of the world, even though they should be but stepping stones to others in the performance of so great a work.²¹¹

Thus out of small beginnings greater things have been produced by His hand that made all things of nothing, and gives being to all things that are (Romans 4:17); and, as one small candle may light a thousand, so the light here kindled hath shone unto many, yea in some sort to our whole na[i]tion; let the glorious name of Jehovah have all the praise.²¹²

The great and rich spiritual heritage of those who would dare go against the powers of this world and do exploits by the grace of God because of the future hope of a promised possession – a city made by God, eternal in the heavens. And for this, the same future possession, the Lord has called you and me to as well, as the apostle Peter tells us, “To an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fades not away, reserved in heaven for you, (1 Peter 1:4).

¹⁹⁵ Bradford, William. 1607, in his work entitled, 4 (Boston, Massachusetts: Massachusetts Historical Society, 1856; Boston, Massachusetts: Wright and Potter Printing Company, 1898, 1901, from the Original Manuscript, Library of Congress Rare Book Collection, Washington, D.C.; rendered in Modern English, Harold Paget, 1909; NY: Russell and Russell, 1968; NY: Random House, Inc., Modern Library College edition, 1981; San Antonio, TX: American Heritage Classics, Mantle Ministries, 228 Still Ridge, Bulverde, Texas, 1988). Verna M. Hall, comp., Christian History of the Constitution of the United States of America (San Francisco: Foundation for American Christian Education, 1976), p. 186.Marshall Foster and Mary-Elaine Swanson, The American Covenant—The Untold Story (Roseburg, OR: Foundation for Christian Self-Government, 1981; Thousand Oaks, CA: The Mayflower Institute, 1983, 1992), p. 32.

¹⁹⁶ Bradford, William. 1650, in his work entitled, 4 (Boston, Massachusetts: Massachusetts Historical Society, 1856; Boston, Massachusetts: Wright and Potter Printing Company, 1898, 1901, from the Original Manuscript, Library of Congress Rare Book Collection, Washington, D.C.; rendered in Modern English, Harold Paget, 1909; NY: Russell and Russell, 1968; NY: Random House, Inc., Christian History of the Constitution of the United States of America (San Francisco: Foundation for American Christian Education, 1976), p. 185. Marshall Foster and Mary-Elaine Swanson, The American Covenant—The Untold Story (Roseburg, OR: Foundation for Christian Self-Government, 1981; Thousand Oaks, CA: The Mayflower Institute, 1983, 1992), p. 62.

²⁰⁰ Bradford, William. 1617, describing the fate of a French ship wrecked off Cape Cod. William Bradford (Governor of Plymouth Colony), 2 (Boston, Massachusetts: Massachusetts Historical Society, 1856; Boston, Massachusetts: Wright and Potter Printing Company, 1898, from the original manuscript; rendered in Modern English, Harold Paget, 1909; NY: Russell and Russell, 1968; San Antonio, TX: American Heritage Classics, Mantle Ministries, 228 Still Ridge, Bulverde, Texas, 1988), p. 82.

²⁰² Bradford, William. November 12, 1620, in recounting the Pilgrims’ first full day in Cape Cod, Massachusetts, in his work entitled, 2 (Boston, Massachusetts: Massachusetts Historical Society, 1856; Boston, Massachusetts: Wright and Potter Printing Company, 1898, 1901, from the Original Manuscript, Library of Congress Rare Book Collection, Washington, D.C.; rendered in Modern English, Harold Paget, 1909; NY: Russell and Russell, 1968; NY: Random House, Inc., Modern Library College edition, 1981; San Antonio, TX: American Heritage Classics, Mantle Ministries, 228 Still Ridge, Bulverde, Texas, 1988), ch. 9, p. 64. John Bartlett, Bartlett’s Familiar Quotations (Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1855, 1980), p. 265.

²⁰³ Bradford, William. November 11, 1620, in his record of the Pilgrims’ landing at Cape Cod, Massachusetts. William Bradford (Governor of Plymouth Colony), 2 (Boston, Massachusetts: Massachusetts Historical Society, 1856; Boston, Massachusetts: Wright and Potter Printing Company, 1898, 1901, from the Original Manuscript, Library of Congress Rare Book Collection, Washington, D.C.; rendered in Modern English, Harold Paget, 1909; NY: Russell and Russell, 1968; NY: Random House, Inc., Modern Library College edition, 1981; San Antonio, TX: American Heritage Classics, Mantle Ministries, 228 Still Ridge, Bulverde, Texas, 1988), p. 66. Sacvan Bercovitch, ed., Typology and Early American Literature (Cambridge: University of Massachusetts Press, 1972), p. 104. Peter Marshall and David Manuel, The Glory of America (Bloomington, MN: Garborg’s Heart’N Home, Inc., 1991), 11.28. (note: reference to these first settlers as “pilgrims” is owed to this passage.)

²¹¹ Bradford, William. 1650, in his work entitled, 6 (Boston, Massachusetts: Massachusetts Historical Society, 1856; Boston, Massachusetts: Wright and Potter Printing Company, 1898, 1901, from the Original Manuscript, Library of Congress Rare Book Collection, Washington, D.C.; rendered in Modern English, Harold Paget, 1909; NY: Russell and Russell, 1968; NY: Random House, Inc., Modern Library College edition, 1981; San Antonio, TX: American Heritage Classics, Mantle Ministries, 228 Still Ridge, Bulverde, Texas, 1988), p. 21. Jordan D. Fiore, ed., Mourt’s Relation: A Journal of the Pilgrims of Plymouth (Plymouth, MA: Plymouth Rock Foundation, 1841, 1865, 1985), pp. 10-11. William T. Davis, ed., History of Plymouth Plantation (NY: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1908), p. 46. The Annals of America  20 vols. (Chicago, IL: Encyclopedia Britannica, 1968), Vol. 1, p. 66. Verna M. Hall, comp., Christian History of the Constitution of the United States of America (San Francisco: Foundation for American Christian Education, 1976), p. 193. Marshall Foster and Mary-Elaine Swanson, The American Covenant—The Untold Story (Roseburg, OR: Foundation for Christian Self-Government, 1981; Thousand Oaks, CA: The Mayflower Institute, 1983, 1992), p. 11. Gary DeMar, America’s Christian History: The Untold Story (Atlanta, GA: American Vision Publishers, Inc., 1993), pp. 34-35.,

²¹² Bradford, William. 1650, in his work entitled, 2 (Boston, Massachusetts: Massachusetts Historical Society, 1856; Boston, Massachusetts: Wright and Potter Printing Company, 1898, 1901, from the Original Manuscript, Library of Congress Rare Book Collection, Washington, D.C.; rendered in Modern English, Harold Paget, 1909; NY: Russell and Russell, 1968; NY: Random House, Inc., Modern Library College edition, 1981; San Antonio, TX: American Heritage Classics, Mantle Ministries, 228 Still Ridge, Bulverde, Texas, 1988), p. 236. John Bartlett, Bartlett’s Familiar Quotations (Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1855, 1980), p. 265. Fleming, One Small Candle: The Pilgrim’s First Year in America, p. 218. Peter Marshall and David Manuel, The Glory of America (Bloomington, MN: Garborg’s Heart’N Home, Inc., 1991), 11.25. D.P. Diffine, Ph.D., One Nation Under God—How Close a Separation? (Searcy, Arkansas: Harding University, Belden Center for Private Enterprise Education, 6th edition, 1992), p. 4.

[i]

Pumpkin pi. GET IT? Pi? Pie?? GET IT??!! (Okay, the jokes get better from here.)

(Hey, all. Cat goes home today! I’ll write more later. [Once home I'll begin updating her status via Twitter; I invite you to follow me there.] In the meantime, here’s a fun little Thanksgiving quiz I posted right about this time last year.)

1. The Pilgrims were:
a.  an exceptionally boring rock band from Kidneypool, England.
b. a sure way to kill any party.
c. the least fashionable sailors ever.
d. Christians who fled England in rebellion against Henry VIII’s forbidding of pew cushions.

2. The first thing Indians thought upon meeting the Pilgrims was:
a. “Why are these people the color of our gums?”
b. “Sun. Black clothes. Cool! Human popovers!”
c. “Okay, these guys are turkeys.”
d. “Bummer. There goes the neighborhood.”

3. The Mayflower was:
a.. the name of the company that moved the Pilgrims from England to America.
b. the primary ingredient used by Pilgrims to make the May chocolate chip cookies.
c. a ship that got lost somewhere between the Thames river and Hawaii.
d. a pretty gay name for a boat.

4. The purpose of Thanksgiving is to commemorate:
a. the founding of the New World.
b. the losing of the New World.
c. the temporary misplacement of the New World.
d. the Pilgrims smoking their first peace-pipe with the Indians.
e. the Pilgrims discovering the Indians didn’t know tobacco from a lava lamp.

5. Plymouth Rock is significant because:
a. it’s the first organic musical form to give expression to the Pilgrim experience.
b. how many rocks get their own name?.
c. it’s the first place on the North American continent where the Pilgrims ruined their shins.
d. it’s what the Chrysler company tethered to its last idea for a decent car before hurling it into the ocean.

6. “Maize” is the Algonquin Indian word for:
a. No way out.
b. Not belonging to February, March, or April.
c. “He who awesomely dominates the center of the field.”
d. tired, boring, cliche, trite: corny.

7. At first the Pilgrims had a hard time surviving in America because:
a. Their humongous belt buckles prevented effective arrow ducking.
b. They refused to pay taxes.
c. It’s so demoralizing when the native population won’t stop making fun of your hat.
d. All their gunpowder was wet.

Happy Thanksgiving to you, and a most joyous holiday season.

**********************************************************************************************************

Follow: http://twitter.com/johnshore
Befriend: http://www.facebook.com/john.shore1
Be Fan: http://www.facebook.com/pages/John-Shore/89494795412?ref=

The First Thanksgiving

In 1621, the Plymouth colonists and Wampanoag Indians shared an autumn harvest feast which is acknowledged today as one of the first Thanksgiving celebrations in the colonies. This harvest meal has become a symbol of cooperation and interaction between English colonists and Native Americans. Although this feast is considered by many to the very first Thanksgiving celebration, it was actually in keeping with a long tradition of celebrating the harvest and giving thanks for a successful bounty of crops. Native American groups throughout the Americas, including the Pueblo, Cherokee, Creek and many others organized harvest festivals, ceremonial dances, and other celebrations of thanks for centuries before the arrival of Europeans in North America.

Historians have also recorded other ceremonies of thanks among European settlers in North America, including British colonists in Berkeley Plantation, Virginia. At this site near the Charles River in December of 1619, a group of British settlers led by Captain John Woodlief knelt in prayer and pledged “Thanksgiving” to God for their healthy arrival after a long voyage across the Atlantic. This event has been acknowledged by some scholars and writers as the official first Thanksgiving among European settlers on record. Whether at Plymouth, Berkeley Plantation, or throughout the Americas, celebrations of thanks have held great meaning and importance over time. The legacy of thanks, and particularly of the feast, have survived the centuries as people throughout the United States gather family, friends, and enormous amounts of food for their yearly Thanksgiving meal.

What Was Actually on the Menu?

What foods topped the table at the first harvest feast? Historians aren’t completely certain about the full bounty, but it’s safe to say the pilgrims weren’t gobbling up pumpkin pie or playing with their mashed potatoes. Following is a list of the foods that were available to the colonists at the time of the 1621 feast. However, the only two items that historians know for sure were on the menu are venison and wild fowl, which are mentioned in primary sources. The most detailed description of the “First Thanksgiving” comes from Edward Winslow from A Journal of the Pilgrims at Plymouth, in 1621:

“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, among 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 upon 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.”

Did you know that lobster, seal and swans were on the Pilgrims’ menu? Learn more…

Seventeenth Century Table Manners:

The pilgrims didn’t use forks; they ate with spoons, knives, and their fingers. They wiped their hands on large cloth napkins which they also used to pick up hot morsels of food. Salt would have been on the table at the harvest feast, and people would have sprinkled it on their food. Pepper, however, was something that they used for cooking but wasn’t available on the table.

In the seventeenth century, a person’s social standing determined what he or she ate. The best food was placed next to the most important people. People didn’t tend to sample everything that was on the table (as we do today), they just ate what was closest to them.

Serving in the seventeenth century was very different from serving today. People weren’t served their meals individually. Foods were served onto the table and then people took the food from the table and ate it. All the servers had to do was move the food from the place where it was cooked onto the table.

Pilgrims didn’t eat in courses as we do today. All of the different types of foods were placed on the table at the same time and people ate in any order they chose. Sometimes there were two courses, but each of them would contain both meat dishes, puddings, and sweets.

More Meat, Less Vegetables

Our modern Thanksgiving repast is centered around the turkey, but that certainly wasn’t the case at the pilgrims’s feasts. Their meals included many different meats. Vegetable dishes, one of the main components of our modern celebration, didn’t really play a large part in the feast mentality of the seventeenth century. Depending on the time of year, many vegetables weren’t available to the colonists.

The pilgrims probably didn’t have pies or anything sweet at the harvest feast. They had brought some sugar with them on the Mayflower but by the time of the feast, the supply had dwindled. Also, they didn’t have an oven so pies and cakes and breads were not possible at all. The food that was eaten at the harvest feast would have seemed fatty by 1990’s standards, but it was probably more healthy for the pilgrims than it would be for people today. The colonists were more active and needed more protein. Heart attack was the least of their worries. They were more concerned about the plague and pox.

Surprisingly Spicy Cooking

People tend to think of English food at bland, but, in fact, the pilgrims used many spices, including cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, pepper, and dried fruit, in sauces for meats. In the seventeenth century, cooks did not use proportions or talk about teaspoons and tablespoons. Instead, they just improvised. The best way to cook things in the seventeenth century was to roast them. Among the pilgrims, someone was assigned to sit for hours at a time and turn the spit to make sure the meat was evenly done.

Since the pilgrims and Wampanoag Indians had no refrigeration in the seventeenth century, they tended to dry a lot of their foods to preserve them. They dried Indian corn, hams, fish, and herbs.

Dinner for Breakfast: Pilgrim Meals:

The biggest meal of the day for the colonists was eaten at noon and it was called noonmeat or dinner. The housewives would spend part of their morning cooking that meal. Supper was a smaller meal that they had at the end of the day. Breakfast tended to be leftovers from the previous day’s noonmeat.

In a pilgrim household, the adults sat down to eat and the children and servants waited on them. The foods that the colonists and Wampanoag Indians ate were very similar, but their eating patterns were different. While the colonists had set eating patterns—breakfast, dinner, and supper—the Wampanoags tended to eat when they were hungry and to have pots cooking throughout the day.

The Pilgrims’ Menu

Foods That May Have Been on the Menu

Seafood: Cod, Eel, Clams, Lobster
Wild Fowl: Wild Turkey, Goose, Duck, Crane, Swan, Partridge, Eagles
Meat: Venison, Seal
Grain: Wheat Flour, Indian Corn
Vegetables: Pumpkin, Peas, Beans, Onions, Lettuce, Radishes, Carrots
Fruit: Plums, Grapes
Nuts: Walnuts, Chestnuts, Acorns
Herbs and Seasonings: Olive Oil, Liverwort, Leeks, Dried Currants, Parsnips

What Was Not on the Menu

Surprisingly, the following foods, all considered staples of the modern Thanksgiving meal, didn’t appear on the pilgrims’s first feast table:

Ham: There is no evidence that the colonists had butchered a pig by this time, though they had brought pigs with them from England.
Sweet Potatoes/Potatoes: These were not common.
Corn on the Cob: Corn was kept dried out at this time of year.
Cranberry Sauce: The colonists had cranberries but no sugar at this time.
Pumpkin Pie: It’s not a recipe that exists at this point, though the pilgrims had recipes for stewed pumpkin.
Chicken/Eggs: We know that the colonists brought hens with them from England, but it’s unknown how many they had left at this point or whether the hens were still laying.
Milk: No cows had been aboard the Mayflower, though it’s possible that the colonists used goat milk to make cheese.

Thanksgiving Fun Facts

Over the Years

Though many competing claims exist, the most familiar story of the first Thanksgiving took place in Plymouth Colony, in present-day Massachusetts, in 1621. More than 200 years later, President Abraham Lincoln declared the final Thursday in November as a national day of thanksgiving. Congress finally made Thanksgiving Day an official national holiday in 1941.

Sarah Josepha Hale, the enormously influential magazine editor and author who waged a tireless campaign to make Thanksgiving a national holiday in the mid-19th century, was also the author of the classic nursery rhyme “Mary Had a Little Lamb.”

In 2001, the U.S. Postal Service issued a commemorative Thanksgiving stamp. Designed by the artist Margaret Cusack in a style resembling traditional folk-art needlework, it depicted a cornucopia overflowing with fruits and vegetables, under the phrase “We Give Thanks.”

» back to top

On the Roads

Despite record-high gas prices (more than $3.00 per gallon) in 2007, the American Automobile Association (AAA) estimated that 38.7 million Americans would travel 50 miles or more from home for the Thanksgiving holiday, a slight increase (1.5 percent) over the previous year.

Of those Americans traveling for Thanksgiving in 2007, approximately 80 percent (31.2 million) were expected to go by motor vehicle, 12.1 percent (4.7 million) by airplane and the rest (2.8 million) by train, bus or other mode of transportation.

» back to top

On the Table

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, Minnesota is the top turkey-producing state in America, with a planned production total of 49 million in 2008. Just six states—Minnesota, North Carolina, Arkansas, Virginia, Missouri and Indiana—will probably produce two-thirds of the estimated 271 million birds that will be raised in the U.S. this year.

The National Turkey Federation estimated that 46 million turkeys—one fifth of the annual total of 235 million consumed in the United States in 2007—were eaten at Thanksgiving.

In a survey conducted by the National Turkey Federation, nearly 88 percent of Americans said they eat turkey at Thanksgiving. The average weight of turkeys purchased for Thanksgiving is 15 pounds, which means some 690 million pounds of turkey were consumed in the U.S. during Thanksgiving in 2007.

The cranberry is one of only three fruits—the others are the blueberry and the Concord grape—that are entirely native to North American soil, according to the Cape Cod Cranberry Growers’ Association.

According to the Guinness Book of World Records, the largest pumpkin pie ever baked weighed 2,020 pounds and measured just over 12 feet long. It was baked on October 8, 2005 by the New Bremen Giant Pumpkin Growers in Ohio, and included 900 pounds of pumpkin, 62 gallons of evaporated milk, 155 dozen eggs, 300 pounds of sugar, 3.5 pounds of salt, 7 pounds of cinnamon, 2 pounds of pumpkin spice and 250 pounds of crust.

» back to top

Around the Country

Three towns in the U.S. take their name from the traditional Thanksgiving bird, including Turkey, Texas (pop. 465); Turkey Creek, Louisiana (pop. 363); and Turkey, North Carolina (pop. 270).

Originally known as Macy’s Christmas Parade—to signify the launch of the Christmas shopping season—the first Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade took place in New York City in 1924. It was launched by Macy’s employees and featured animals from the Central Park Zoo. Today, some 3 million people attend the annual parade and another 44 million watch it on television.

Tony Sarg, a children’s book illustrator and puppeteer, designed the first giant hot air balloons for the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade in 1927. He later created the elaborate mechanically animated window displays that grace the façade of the New York store from Thanksgiving to Christmas.

Snoopy has appeared as a giant balloon in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade more times than any other character in history. As the Flying Ace, Snoopy made his sixth appearance in the 2006 parade.

The first time the Detroit Lions played football on Thanksgiving Day was in 1934, when they hosted the Chicago Bears at the University of Detroit stadium, in front of 26,000 fans. The NBC radio network broadcast the game on 94 stations across the country–the first national Thanksgiving football broadcast. Since that time, the Lions have played a game every Thanksgiving (except between 1939 and 1944); in 1956, fans watched the game on television for the first time.

Mayflower Myths

▼ブログランキングに参加しています。下記のバナーにクリックして、応援していただけると嬉しいです。▼

ありがとう！Thanks for your support!
===

Nobu, a Mayflower student, entrepreneur, and sanshin player, talks about the importance of music in his life!

Hello everyone! My name’s Nobu.

I’m friends with Ted, one of Mayflower’s directors (along with Ryu, and Robert.). He and I studied entrepreneurship at business school together. I decided to join Mayflower because I would like to support Ted’s taking a step forward, towards his dream. I also sympathize with Mayflower’s educational policy, one important aspect of which challenges me to study entrepreneurship through English.

Quite simply, I must improve my English, because I am involved in a business which requires me to use English. Through my studies here at Mayflower, I am gradually becoming more interested in English culture. Right now, I cannot say what I feel freely in English, but this is changing slowly.

OK, now let’s get down to business!

Have you seen Michael Jackson’s movie “THIS IS IT”? Well, I did! And I was knocked out by Michael’s performance! So today, I would like to share my fascination of music with you through my own performance. I know what you’re thinking…I may not look like the King of Pop, or even a musician, but actually, I like playing the piano and writing songs, and I always want to share my compositions with others.

Although there are good services such as MySpace, which give amateurs an opportunity to introduce their songs to the world, I thought it was too late in my life for me to make a band, and that I couldn’t make music by myself.

Well, last year, I was asked out of the blue by an old friend from high school to play together (piano and guitar) at a music event in Kanda which took place on a shopping street. Now I’ve already done that kind of performance three times since the end of last year. Amazing!

Through those musical performances, I gradually began to enjoy having a relationship with people through music.

Of course, my first performance was not quite as sweet as I pictured it would be. I couldn’t keep the tempo, and I forgot to play some parts. In fact, I was really disappointed at my performance. And that’s not all, the atmosphere of audience looked a little too heavy, because I failed to capture their attention with my floundering.

But did I give up? Not on your life! Let me tell you what I did to overcome my problem.

I realized that confidence and relaxation are a must! So I arranged a cover song in a way that was easier than the original, and I composed a simple song of my own using a similar chord progression on the “A section”, and the main phrases. Then, I learned it by heart.

Well, because of my efforts, I believe I had some kind of breakthrough at the second performance, because the organizer told me and my friend that our performance had improved, and some audience even clapped their hands during the performance. That felt great!

At that time, I understood that I feel more relaxed if somebody helps me or supports me. So I invited 10 friends of mine to the third performance, which turned out to be around half of the audience!

Through my performances, I realized that getting some feedback about my compositions from my friends is a really satisfying feeling. They said lots of great, supportive things — that I could make fresh pop songs like YUZU, and that my main phrases were catchy — so because of those comments, I slowly started to have confidence in my skill as a composer.

On top of that, doing more performances meant having more opportunities to have relationship swith people through music. For example, other performers invited us to perform together with them in the future, and my friend invited me to join an event that he was holding featuring sansin performances.

Don’t you think its exciting when what you love creates bigger chances to work with others? In this case, taking a step forward means boldly knocking on a door that you have never opened before.

I encourage all of you to try doing what you want, and try say what you like! Life is all about introducing new worlds, and new experiences to each other! And I think that’s exactly what we are doing together here at Mayflower.

Thank you for your attention!

[After the Q&A session, Nobu gave the Mayflower audience a fun performance on his sanshin! Thanks, Nobu.]

As an Englishman I know very little about Thanksgiving so I thought it would be interesting/amusing/embarrassing to write down a few ideas of what the day commemorates before going and looking up the facts on that good old interwebnet thing. So bear with me and forgive my ignorance American folk, I was born on the wrong side of the Atlantic, after all.

So the Pilgrims left Plymouth on The Mayflower some time in the early part of the seventeenth century, looking to settle in the New World and escape the dreadful weather in England. Many of them had big hats, except for the women, who had big bonnets. They were all Quakers, of course, and ran out of porridge oats almost as soon as they arrived and were totally starving because they hadn’t learned how to catch turkeys yet. Some Native Americans tried swapping some beads for whiskey which didn’t go over so well as the Pilgrim Quaker Oats People were all teetotal and told the Native Americans that God would smite them with a big anti-drinking stick. But then they caught a waft of the food that the Native American’s were cooking from across the prairie – cranberry sauce, turkey burgers, pumpkin soup, McDonalds, etc. The Quaker Oats Pilgrim People were all of a sudden really nice to the Native Americano’s and asked them if they could possibly borrow a few items of supper until the harvest came in the next year. The American National Natives said yes, Joey, Ross, Rachel, Chandler, Phoebe and Monica did the cooking, and they all lived happily ever after, until General Custer came along some years later.

Or, if you want to go all Wikipedia on the notion…

Thanksgiving now commemorates the fact that the Plymouth Pilgrims just about survived their first very harsh winter in the New World. The Natives did indeed help the Pilgrims learn how to catch certain foods in the wild and, when the harvest of 1621 had been gathered, Natives and Pilgrims celebrated and feasted together. In 1863 Thanksgiving became a properly recognised tradition although it did not become a federal holiday until 1941.  Given that it’s roots are those of a harvest festival the traditional foods eaten are seasonal foods such as pumpkin, cranberry, sweet potato, sweetcorn etc. The day has become a time to travel and spend with relatives and friends and seems to mark the beginning of the Christmas season more definitively than any traditions back here in England (where Christmas begins in September once the chain stores and supermarkets start promoting it).

My version still sounds funky to me, but as I’ve never experienced an American thanksgiving I shall just have to reserve judgement and think of all the many things I have to give thanks for this year: my wedding to the wonderful Mrs Planet; spending time with friends, reconnecting with some old friends for the first time in years and making some new friends along the way; the sunshine which has surprised us all this morning; the health of our children; the health of most of our birds and the survival of little Annie the sheep even when she looked close to passing away when she first arrived on our doorstep a couple of months ago. The list of things to be thankful for is actually huge, when you stop and think about life. I’m even thankful for my swine flu jab, even if it is still making me feel rotten today.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone.

Since I am related to John Howland, who came over on the Mayflower, I see Thanksgiving as something of a personal holiday. Of course, since I am also related to some of the native people who once owned these lands, I also take it personally in that way as well.

Some folks might be inclined to see the holiday as somewhat hypocritical given how the Europeans ended up dealing with the natives. While I can see the appeal in this and we should not forget the past, I think that the holiday has evolved into something that can be quite meaningful.

On the most surface level, it is about family and friends gathering to share fellowship and food. This is, obviously enough, a good thing. On a deeper level, it is a day we set aside to give thanks for all that we have and to, if we are kind, think about others. For me the most important part of my Thanksgiving is when I bring my donations to the local Turkey Trot race. Two of my friends, Brian and Judy, collect clothing and other items every year for the homeless shelter. I am thankful that I have enough that I can help those who have so much less. While in a better world everyone would have enough, it is right for those of us with more to show our appreciation by helping those who have less. To me, that is what Thanksgiving is really about: gratitude and generosity. Oh, and running.

This year was filled with bad luck, disappointment, and unemployment.
So why should I wear my Turkey Tiara and give thanks?

http://creativewritingbylu.wordpress.com/2009/11/26/just-thinking-2/

This list of quotes that made me feel better:
Happy Thanksgiving!

I live in America’s home town……the place where Squanto planted his corn:

 you know…

 Plymouth, MA.

You might have seen me a few years ago on Good Morning America when they filmed on site.

I was one of the townies who gathered in the cold, at 7 am , at Plymouth Plantation.

 I wanted my 3 seconds of fame.

Did you see me?  I was the extra standing by the Pilgrim, who was perched on a ladder and pretending to thatch a roof.

Then  …1…2…3… POOF!

My star dust evaporated. My celebrity moment was rudely  interrupted by a Christy Brinkley  informercial…I’m sure you remember me…

Do I qualify for being a poster child for this holiday?

You decide:

• The Plantation and the Mayflower are only 10 minutes away from my house.
• My road is named after a fish.
•  I  had 12 wild turkeys sleeping in my back yard this morning, until  my dog had to relieve himself.
•  My boyfriend’s ancestor is  one of the originals who sailed on the Mayflower…no kidding!  He was a steward that fell overboard, and was later rescued.

So, what do you think?

Could I tie with apple pie or at least be a runner-up, deserving the title?

Shouldn’t I be crowned with the Turkey Day Tiara?

I know what you are wondering:

If  I have this status… what’s my problem?  Why did I reject the opportunity to sashay or turkey trot down the runway? What is stopping me from being a  contestant in the Turkey Day Pageant?

That’s easy to answer:

1. I’m allergic to feathers.
2.  I’m just not in the “gobble-gobble”  spirit, the -eat- until- you- loosen- your- belt -and- pop -your- pants- button, and beer belching mind-set.

 I’ll spell it out….I’m S_A_D.

Why?

1. I’m unemployed.
2. My finances have hit the sandbar and I’m sinking in debt.
3. I’m wanting to jump ship. Still no luck with finding a  job.

Okay, this list, sprinkled  with saccharin, is a little corny, by referencing the Mayflower and Plymouth Rock.

Why can’t I be corny? My back yard  was once a trail for a Wampanoag Tribe.

Back to playing my sad violin:   (I’m a writer with ADHD.  Bear with me…)

 As I was saying,

   4. My kids aren’t spending the holiday with me. They are in Canada. They’ve been gone a week, with their dad, visiting their summer PEI home.

They will have Thanksgiving with Canadian neighbors, and won’t miss me at all.

So, do I have your sympathy vote yet?

Okay, so technically, I won’t be alone. I’ll be spending it with my handsome, Pilgrim-  Fell overboard On -The-Mayflower-True-Descendant- English-Honey, and  his wonderful mother.

I’ll even have my share of cranberry sauce and apple pie.

But I can’t help it…

This year was  a year of bad luck and disappointment….Why should I give thanks?

I know….I have family and friends who love me, or at least they tell  me they do…I have my health…I have a roof overhead…I have food to eat… (Thank you Plymouth Food Pantry)…Blah, Blah, Blah…

But really, don’t make me re-create the draft of my  first grade essay, scribbled illegibly with crayola markers on brightly colored construction paper feathers.

Don’t make me do it.

…Not this year…nope….

I’ve come down with a new strain, the cousin of   West Nile (which by the way, has hit the Plymouth Schools)

 Okay…Focus…

  I have a case of the I- Feel-Sorry -For-Myself- Blues.

So What’s A Girl Like Me To Do?

Type. 

Punch that keyboard with  gusto.

Release my frustration and vent, then I might feel better.

Write and it will set you free.

Well…it’s better than attaching an IV drip to my arm, bags filled with  Sutter Home Chardonnay. That would help me walk around with a smile!

 Don’t shake your head, I’ve actually thought about it.

But I went for a healthier plan, plan B…the  “tapping on the lap top therapy session” plan.

I actually did some research first. I thought maybe I might discover something that would change my mood.

Maybe I would begin to see all the things I should be  thankful for, or at least be amused, maybe chuckle.

This morning I couldn’t see through the trees….poison ivy got in my eyes. I got lost in the woods with Goldilocks…

(I’ve never been the Robin Hood type, more like Yogi Bear….Ah…don’t ya love writers with ADHD?)

Focus Lu: 

 It’s time to take off the Raybans and see….

There’s a lot to be thankful for or  at least laugh about…

 I’m no longer dreading Turkey Day.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Here’s the list of quotes that made me feel better:

I celebrated Thanksgiving in an old-fashioned way. I invited everyone in my neighborhood to my house, we had an enormous feast, and then I killed them and took their land.
Jon Stewart 

•  Every great dream begins with a dreamer. Always remember, you have within you the strength, the patience, and the passion to reach for the stars to change the world.
  Harriet Tubman
• Life’s most urgent question is: what are you doing for others?
  Martin Luther King, Jr.
• Faith is taking the first step even when you don’t see the whole staircase.
  Martin Luther King, Jr.
• Keep your face to the sunshine and you cannot see a shadow.
  Helen Keller
•  
  The world breaks everyone, and afterward, some are strong at the broken places.
  Ernest Hemingway
• Every tomorrow has two handles. We can take hold of it with the handle of anxiety or the handle of faith.
  Henry Ward Beecher
• If patience is worth anything, it must endure to the end of time. And a living faith will last in the midst of the blackest storm.
  Mohandas Gandhi
• A man cannot be comfortable without his own approval.
  Mark Twain
• Basically, I’m for anything that gets you through the night – be it prayer, tranquilizers or a bottle of Jack Daniels.
  Frank Sinatra
• Arranging a bowl of flowers in the morning can give a sense of quiet in a crowded day – like writing a poem or saying a prayer.
  Anne Morrow Lindbergh
•  Always expect the unexpected. Right around Thanksgiving, when the new Alex Cross will be out. It’s called Four Blind Mice and it’s a pretty amazing story about several murders inside the military.
  James Patterson
• An optimist is a person who starts a new diet on Thanksgiving Day.
  Irv Kupcinet
• It’s so warm now, and Thanksgiving came so early – is it just me, or does it not really feel like Ramadan?
  David Letterma
• My cooking is so bad my kids thought Thanksgiving was to commemorate Pearl Harbor.
  Phyllis Dille
• Thanksgiving, man. Not a good day to be my pants.
  Kevin Jame
• The best remedy for those who are afraid, lonely or unhappy is to go outside, somewhere where they can be quiet, alone with the heavens, nature and God. Because only then does one feel that all is as it should be.
  Anne Frank
• The University of Nebraska says that elderly people that drink beer or wine at least four times a week have the highest bone density. They need it – they’re the ones falling down the most.
  Jay Leno
• I don’t know the key to success, but the key to failure is trying to please everybody.
  Bill Cosby
• You know what your problem is, it’s that you haven’t seen enough movies – all of life’s riddles are answered in the movies.
  Steve Martin
• May the forces of evil become confused on the way to your house.
  George Carlin
• Some people see things that are and ask, Why? Some people dream of things that never were and ask, Why not? Some people have to go to work and don’t have time for all that.
  George Carl
• I, not events, have the power to make me happy or unhappy today. I can choose which it shall be. Yesterday is dead, tomorrow hasn’t arrived yet. I have just one day, today, and I’m going to be happy in it.
  Groucho Marxin
• Attitude is more important than the past, than education, than money, than circumstances, than what people do or say. It is more important than appearance, giftedness, or skill.
  W. C. Fields
• Hors D’oeuvre: A ham sandwich cut into forty pieces.
  Jack Benny

• It’s so beautifully arranged on the plate – you know someone’s fingers have been all over it.
  Julia Child

As anyone who is friends with me knows, I have been reading a LOT of colonial  history over the course of the last few months. 

So on the eve of that most colonial of American holidays, Thanksgiving, I thought I would write something about it on this blog. 

William Bradford wonders for all eternity: "Who ate all the stuffing?"

One thing that has always been a mild source of rhetorical confusion for me is the difference between the term “Pilgrim” and “Puritan”.  Were Pilgrims coming over on the Mayflower Puritans? Or did Pilgrims have a separate, nuanced identity apart from Puritans?  Or were Pilgrims the non-religious people coming over with the Puritans?  I wasn’t quite a 100 percent sure. 

To answer this question, I turned to the distinctly non-American online version of the Oxford English Dictionary.   According to the OED, a common U.S. usage of the term Pilgrim refers to the settlers of the Plymouth Colony.:

 1630, William Bradford (the second governor of Plymouth) uses pilgrim of the settlers figuratively, alluding to Hebrews 11:13 (cf. sense 3). The same phraseology was repeated by Cotton Mather and others, and became familiar in New England. By the late 18th cent. commemorative toasts were often given to ‘the Pilgrims’ or ‘the Sons of the Pilgrims’, and through such celebration Pilgrim and Pilgrim Father eventually passed into use as historical designation

So then I looked up the definition of Puritan in the OED.  According to them, a Puritan was:

A member of a group of English Protestants of the late 16th and 17th centuries, who regarded the reformation of the Church under Elizabeth I as incomplete and sought to remove any remaining elements of church practice (such as ceremonies, church ornaments, the use of musical instruments, and in some cases episcopal authority) which they considered corrupt, idolatrous, or unscriptural.

So in essence, the term Pilgrim seems to become a term to separate Puritans in America with those Puritans left behind in England. 

However, the Pilgrim Hall Museum (yes, there is one), suggests that the Puritans that came over on the Mayflower in 1620 and founded the Plymouth Colony were different than the Puritans who came in 1630 on ships such as the Arbella to start the Massachussetts Bay Colony.  In a piece on their Web site called Pilgrim and Puritan: A Delicate Distinction, Richard Howard Maxwell writes:

In other words, the Pilgrims who settled Plymouth were puritans seeking to reform their church [in England], and the Puritans who settled Massachusetts Bay were pilgrims (with that lower-case “p”) who moved to a whole new land because of their religious convictions. Now you know why I call it a “delicate distinction!”

That should clear everything up (he said sarcastically).   

As far as the first Thanksgiving goes, below is an account of the first Thanksgiving in August 1621 from William Bradford’s History Of Plimoth Plantation (FYI—he’s a terrible speller).  Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

They begane now to gather in ye small harvest they  had, and to fitte up their houses and dwellings against winter, being all well recovered in health & strenght, and had all things in good plenty; for as some were thus imployed in affairs abroad, others were excersised in fishing, aboute codd, & bass, & other fish, of which y ey tooke good store, of which every family had their portion. All y e somer ther was no wante.  And now begane to come in store of foule, as winter aproached, of which this place did abound when they came first (but afterward decreased by degrees). And besids  water foule, ther was great store of wild Turkies, of which they tooke many, besids venison, &c. Besids they had aboute a peck a meale a weeke to a person, or now since harvest, Indean corne to y* proportion. Which made many afterwards write so largly of their plenty hear to their freinds in England, which were not fained, but true reports.

If you get too stuffed this weekend to watch football, below are four great reads. Have a happy and safe Thanksgiving, everyone.

A Defense of Wall Street, by John Tamny.

Four Basic Elements of Stock Value, by Andrew Beattie. Nice summary with simple, easy-to-understand explanations.

Mayflower’s Pilgrim Capitalists, by Steven Malanga. First time I seen anything about William Bradford’s decision to align farms and work with families.

Old School Social Network, by Katherine Rosman.  In an age dedicated to building and ‘leveraging’ ever-expanding personal networks, we should remember that sometimes the best networks are, and remain, small. A person in a network is only useful, in a business sense, if he or she will act on your behalf. Will contact #456 on LinkedIn or #1016 on Facebook act on your behalf?