Have you ever closed your Thanksgiving festival with a gnawing feeling of disappointment, as though something was missing? Observing the five “Fs” formula of the first Thanksgiving in 1621 may remedy that disappointment.
FOOD
According to Gov. William Bradford’s “History of Plymouth Plantation,” supplemented by Edward Winslow in “Mourt’s Relation,” the Pilgrims and their Wampanoag guests enjoyed turkey, venison, waterfowl, seafood, and much more.
FELLOWSHIP
Many observe Thanksgiving alone by choice, and others because they have no choice. But most long for Thanksgiving Day to be with family and friends, to relive old memories, to catch up on the latest news, to see how the children have grown, and just to be together again.
The Pilgrims were no different. The roughly 50 Mayflower passengers who survived that first winter included many children and older people. They were joined by 90 Wampanoag braves, led by their Chief Massasoit, ever the Pilgrims’ friend.
A few months earlier, the chief and Plymouth Colony Gov. John Carver agreed to the region’s first treaty between Native Americans and Europeans, thus bringing peace to the area for over 50 years. Both groups brought food to the table and joined in fellowship and goodwill.
FOOTBALL
Well, not exactly. The Pilgrims didn’t have football, but Winslow wrote, “we exercised our arms, many of the Indians coming amongst us.” Englishmen often engaged in wrestling, foot races, marksmanship, and other competitions. The Wampanoag engaged in similar activities and had a version of stickball called “little brother of war,” a game called “hubbub” that involved playing pieces in a bowl, and others. Perhaps they taught each other their games. So I guess football does have Pilgrim and Wampanoag antecedents.
For millions of Americans, Thanksgiving is food, fellowship and football. But something is missing…
FREEDOM
The Pilgrims didn’t come to America just for a change of climate. They came because they suffered persecution in England. Believing the Church of England was following unbiblical doctrines and practices, they were called Separatists or Dissenters, following God’s admonition to “come out from among them and be ye separate” (II Corinthians 6:17). For this, they were jailed, fined, fired from their jobs, and faced confiscation of their property. “I shall make them conform, else I shall harry them out of the land,” the Anglican King James I declared.
So they left England for the Netherlands around 1608, returning to England to journey to America several years later. Before landing in America, they drafted a charter of government called the Mayflower Compact, which reads in part:
In the name of God, Amen. We whose names are underwritten … Having undertaken for the Glory of God and advancement of the Christian Faith and 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 another, covenant and combine ourselves together in 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 Officers, from time to time, as shall be thought most meet and convenient for the general good of the Colony…
John Quincy Adams described the compact as “the only instance, in human history, of that positive, original social compact,” noting the popular belief that it influenced the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution.
A sarcophagus on Cole’s Hill overlooking Plymouth Harbor contains the bones of 51 Pilgrims who died that first winter. The inscription reads in part:
This Monument Marks the First Burying Ground in Plymouth of the Passengers of the Mayflower … Reader! History records no nobler venture for faith and freedom than this Pilgrim band. In weariness and painfulness, in watchings often in hunger and cold, they laid the foundations of a state wherein every man, through countless ages, should have liberty to worship God in his own way. May their example inspire thee to do thy part in perpetuating and spreading the lofty ideals of our republic throughout the world!
As you gather for your Thanksgiving feast, take time to remember why the Pilgrims came and the sacrifices they endured to bring us the freedom we take for granted.
But even patriotic Americans who remember our history often forget the final and most important part of this formula.
FAITH
Some question whether the Pilgrims really thanked God at their feast. The Bradford and Winslow accounts are less than explicit on that point, but Bradford did relay their faithfulness and thankfulness to God throughout their ordeal, so it is inconceivable that they would not have thanked Him at this festival.
As my friends Jerry Perera and Mary Huffman shared with me while I was in Plymouth the week before Thanksgiving, the Pilgrims probably learned these Thanksgiving practices during their sojourn in the Netherlands. In 1578, the Synod of Dordrecht established the Biddag (Day of Prayer) and Dankdag (Day of Thanksgiving), Dankdag usually being held in November. As these were national public events, the Pilgrims undoubtedly observed them and had them in mind when they joined the Wampanoag in celebration.
And so, enjoy your feast in fellowship with family and friends, watching football if you must. But don’t forget the sacrifices those Pilgrims made to build for you a free nation. And don’t forget to faithfully “praise God, from Whom all blessings flow.”
O God, beneath thy guiding hand,
Our exiled fathers crossed the sea,
And when they trod the wintry strand,
With prayer and psalm they worshiped thee.
Laws, freedom, truth, and faith in God
Came with those exiles o’er the waves,
And where their pilgrim feet have trod,
The God they trusted guards their graves.
Colonel Eidsmoe serves as Senior Counsel for the Foundation for Moral Law (morallaw.org), as Pastor of Woodland Presbyterian Church (woodlandpca.org) of Notasulga, Ala., and as Chairman of the Board of the Plymouth Rock Foundation (plymrock.org). He may be contacted for speaking engagements at [email protected].
The views and opinions expressed here are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the policy or position of 1819 News. To comment, please send an email with your name and contact information to [email protected].
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