Connection to the Past:
Happy Thanksgiving Y’all
By Amy Wood
The first "gobble, gobble" to mark the
celebration of Thanksgiving in North America could
be heard in Texas. But, although sources agree that
the first celebration was in the Lone Star state, it
is still under speculation as to which part of the
state it was held.
According to the Texas Almanac, the first story
goes something like this. In 1597 the viceroy of New
Spain granted land in the northern Rio Grande Valley
to Juan de Onate, whose family had served the
Spanish monarchy for quite some time. Onate embarked
on an expedition to survey the land.
After sending Vicente de Zaldivar ahead of the
expedition to scope things out, in March of 1598,
Onate took over 500 people and 7,000 head of
livestock from Santa Barbara in southern Chihuahua
and headed for the land of the Rio Grande. But the
problems started almost immediately after the
expedition began. Facing first unrelenting rain
followed by miserable dry weather, then running out
of food and water, the travelers barely made it. But
they did. The dehydrated and famished people of the
expedition were saved by the water of the Rio
Grande.
Onate decided it was time for a thanksgiving
celebration, complete with a feast and mass.
According to one account, "We were happy that our
trials were over; as happy as were the passengers in
the Ark when they saw the dove returning with the
olive branch in his beak, bringing tidings that the
deluge had subsided." The other version of the story
took place not too far away, just northeast of El
Paso, and supposedly much sooner.
On his northeast expedition from Mexico, in
search of cities of gold, Francisco Vasquez de
Coronado came upon what is now Palo Duro Canyon. At
the time, the members of the expedition were out of
food, but soon they would have something to be
thankful for. On May 23, 1541, Coronado celebrated
the discovery of food supplies. According to
Wikipedia.com, they had a feast in gratitude to God.
Maybe this was the first Thanksgiving.
If the holiday started in Texas, then what
happened at Plymouth Rock? When we think of the
traditional Pilgrim and Native American Thanksgiving
story, what we are picturing is the feast at
Plymouth that took place sometime in 1621. This
feast was in celebration of the Pilgrim's first
harvest in the new world. However, it was typical of
the English to have these harvest feasts, so it was
not anything new...yet. It was not until 1623 that
the real Thanksgiving was held among the Pilgrims.
This time the thanksgiving was in response to
answered prayers for rain. Over time a thanksgiving
day was a religious observance that took place after
something good happened in the colony. It was not
until the mid-17th century that Thanksgiving became
a holiday celebrated after the harvest. However, the
celebration day varied among the different colonies.
The Thanksgiving as we know it, celebrated the
fourth Thursday in November, was established by the
U.S. Congress in 1941 under the presidential
leadership of Franklin D. Roosevelt. |
