The first Thanksgiving was quite different from the holiday we now enjoy with family and friends.

In 1621, after arriving from England on the Mayflower, the Pilgrims soon discovered that food was harder to find than they had expected. Was America really a land of plenty?

The first Pilgrims had to work ceaselessly, building homes, caring for the sick and injured, and trying to find enough food to survive.

Families rarely, if ever, sat down to meals together. While working, they ate whatever they could find, berries, nuts, roots, dried peas, and the occasional smoked fish or meat.

There was no ceremony and little politeness. People just grabbed whatever they could get their hands on and ate it while they worked or searched for more food.

The Mayflower had sailed back to England in April of 1621, and by that time the Pilgrims had built several dwellings and planted some crops.

The following Autumn they reaped their first harvest. The English grains they had brought had not done well, but there was a fine supply of Indian corn. Governor William Bradford decided to hold a celebration, a day of thanksgiving. The Indian Chief Massasoit was invited. The Pilgrims wanted to repay his kindness in teaching them how to raise Indian corn, their only successful crop.

The first year in America had been very hard on the PilgrimsÐonly four Pilgrim women still survivedÐthey would certainly need help preparing the Thanksgiving feast.

The children were sent out to the streams and seaside to gather clams, mussels, eels, and oysters. They also went to the woods and found wild onions, leeks, and watercress to make a sallet (salad).

The Governor sent four men out to shoot wild birds, and they returned with wild geese, ducks, and turkeys. To round out the meal dried plums, berries, cornflour bread, and grape wine were prepared.

Then Chief Massasoit arrived with ninety braves! The Pilgrims worried, they did not have enough food to feed that many people, and would need to save some of the food for the ensuing winter. Luckily, Massasoit understood. He sent his best hunters into the woods and they returned with five deer and presented them to the Pilgrims.

Now there was enough food for all. The first Thanksgiving was a wonderful celebration. They looked forward to the future with hope and courage.

Once again, we are coming up on another holiday season.

The weather cools, sometimes showering the land with an occasional rain to mark the Fall season.

Along with a somewhat quieted, hibernating earth, follows a more humbled world....one that gives thanks for the past year's blessings and good fortunes.

The last Thursday of November marks the festive holiday of Thanksgiving, a day celebrated with church services and family gatherings.

The first Thanksgiving proclamation in the United States was issued by Governor Bradford of the Plymouth Colony in 1821. This was following the first harvest in the New World where Pilgrims and Indians sat together for the first Thanksgiving dinner. For several years thereafter, Thanksgiving Day was kept alive by proclamations of the governors of various states.

The actual establishment of this holiday can be attributed to the life long campaign of Sarah J. Hale of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. In 1863 she took her plan to President Lincoln and acquired his support. On October 3, 1863, he issued a national Thanksgiving proclamation, setting the date of observance as the fourth Thursday in November.

Thereafter each year, the President proclaimed the holiday, which was established by custom as that fourth Thursday.

HAVE A FESTIVE THANKSGIVING HOLIDAY!