I recently read someone's post extolling the supposedly Christian meaning of the "First Thanksgiving." Could we pause for just one moment of reality here? That 1st TG kicked off 500 years of hate crimes against American Indians.
Here's part of a Thanksgiving sermon delivered in Plymouth in 1623 by Puritan minister "Mather the Elder." Mather gave special thanks to God for a plague of smallpox that had wiped out most of the Wampanoag Indians (yes, the same tribe that had saved newly arrived Pilgrims from starvation.) Specifically, he praised God for destroying "chiefly young men and children, the very seeds of increase, thus clearing the forests to make way for our better growth."
In 1637,the first official “Day of Thanksgiving” was proclaimed by Governor John Winthrop. To offer thanks for a bountiful harvest? Not so much: Winthrop called his people together to celebrate the Puritans' slaughter of some six hundred women, children, prisoners, and surrendering Pequot Indians in the Connecticut Valley. On this Thanksgiving Day, Mather was also on hand, delivering a victory sermon which thanked God "that on this day we have sent six hundred heathen souls to Hell."
But indeed, spiritual grace abounds in the story of the first Thanksgiving--just not on the part of the invading Europeans. Among American Indians, unrestrained generosity and forgiveness is highly admired. Giving to those in need, without holding back, is a cherished cultural value--and along with it goes the faith that there will be enough for all to share.
The Pilgrims had arrived poor and hungry. Their English crops failed in the new land. Within a few months, fully half of them had perished from disease and hunger. Despite having suffered for a hundred years at the hands of European slave traders, the Indians took pity on the new crop of white people on their land. Through the winter the local Wampanoags fed the Pilgrims and taught them how to grow their food.
O. Henry wrote that Thanksgiving Day is the one day of the year that is purely American. As we offer gratitude this week, may we be reminded to thank the Americans who were already here when we struggled ashore onto land that had always been theirs; who blessed us with kindness, instruction, and sustenance; and who almost surely rescued this nation from early extinction.
