Thanksgiving

 

     Did everyone enjoy their Thanksgiving? I surely did and I hope you did too. For this blog post I am going to teach you a little bit about the History of Thanksgiving.

     In Britain, citizens were getting jailed and fined for practicing religon that was different from the official, original one. A deal was formed in 1619 with a london company. The citezens could sail to America to form a New England Colony. They hired two ships the Mayflower that was very large, and the Speedywell that was small. The Speddywell had a problem so the Mayflower had to fit all the passengers. There were 102 passengers on that ship including kids and wives. Some wanted freedom in their religon and some wanted work and better lives. In September of 1620 the Mayflower left England and started to sail the ocean blue. Halfway along the trip there were awful winds and storms. On the 66 day journey, two folks died and one was born. They reached land in November of 1920 which was too far north in winter weather. They wrote the Mayflower Compact in agreement to stick together. They called the new land Plymouth and chose it to be where they settled. They stayed on the ship during the winter and which caused many passengers to die. By the time spring had rolled around only half the amount of people who boarded the ship back in England had survived. These are the people that today we call, "Pilgrims".That became the start of the United States of America that we now know today.
     Now every November we celebrate a holiday named, Thanksgiving. We eat feasts and remember the people who rode the Mayflower and started Plymouth Rock. After the death of the many pilgrims, the colonists decided to form a friendship with the neighboring Wamponag tribe. They taught them how to fish, hunt, and plant. By the time of autaumn 1621, the colonists had collected enough food to feed the community throughout the whole coming up winter season. The colonists and the Wampanog joined together in a 3 day feast in honor of their bounty. The feast probably did not include many of of the thanksgiving dishes that we eat today, including turkey. More likely they dined on roast goose. Along with corn, codfish, and lobster. In 1997 the Continental Congress declared that each of the 13 colonies celebrate a day of Thanksgiving as a national holiday because of the Victory at Saratoga. The governer of each colony would pick the day of Thanksgiving. This day could vary from weeks to even months. This day would be to celebrate plentiful harvests, victorious battles, and or the end of droughts. Sara Josepha Hale wanted the nation to have one day in which ALL the colonies celebrated Thanksgiving. In 1863, four months after the Victory at Gettysburg, Abraham Lincoln declared the last Thursday of November to be Thanksgiving Day. Today Thanksgiving is a very important holiday. Most importantly, It is about remebering your family and friends and being thankful.