Part
One
It wasn't a great journey - 3,000 miles in a leaky, wooden galleon,
at the mercy of all the elements: thunderstorms, howling gales,
freezing snowstorms, maggoty meat, weevil-infested biscuits, soured
beer, no water, all within an atmosphere of stinking animal ordure,
human vomit and Death on constant call with his life-ending scythe.
Then, imagine stepping onto stable ground, the churning sea behind
you, ahead green meadows, flowers, fully clothed trees, the sweet
smell of brine-less air and tinkling streams of pure mountain water.
Yes, this is your first first day in the New World. Here you can
worship your God without fear of persecution, you can build a cabin
to house your growing family, till the land and grow your grain and
vegetables and live in freedom and happiness..
Paradise Arrived!
No, not really!
Where's your first meal coming from? Where is your shelter for the
first night? What do you do with your worldly possessions? Your seed
crops are spoiled from exposure to seawater on board ship. What
plants are poisonous? What wild animals are lurking in the forests
ready to kill you?
Henry Hudson described the island of Manhattan as “The
land is the finest for cultivation that I have ever in my life set
foot upon, and it also abounds in trees of every description.”
This
account, along with glowing reports from the French explorer, Samuel
de Champlain, had enticed all manner of people to the New World:
Pilgrims, Puritans and Calvinists, who sought religious freedom of
worship and settlers, who wanted a life away from the strictures of
poverty, punitive laws, robbing nobles and European wars.
The
truth of this new land, though, was not what the colonists had
expected - it was an alien territory of disease, the unbearable cold
of a mini Ice Age, no food and very little shelter. There was,
however, God's love, hope, a gritty determination to succeed and the
local natives, the Wampanoag.
The
Mayflower's
Pilgrims landed on December 16th,
1620 and set up home in a deserted Wampanoag village, Patuxet. It had
been abandoned four years earlier after an outbreak of the plague,
brought by earlier Europeans, had wiped out two-thirds of the tribe
in the region, which, pre-pestilence, had numbered between 50,000 and
100,000.
Although
the Wampanoag had noted the arrival of strangers, they had not
regarded the newcomers as a warlike threat as they were accompanied
by woman and children. The natives observed them through their first
winter, but kept their distance.
On
March 16th,
1621, Samoset, a member of the Moneghan tribe from Maine, visited
Patuxet. He returned the following day accompanied by a Wampanoag
native called Tisquantum or Squanto. It was this kindly man who
showed the Pilgrims how to plant corn, where and how to fish and what
nuts and berries were safe to eat. That same month the Pilgrims and
Ousamequin or Massasoit, the Pokanoket Wampanoag Chief, agreed a
treaty of mutual protection.
In the Autumn of 1621, the Pilgrims harvested their first crop, and
it was a fine yield. The Pilgrims sent four men 'on fowling' and,
according to an account by Pilgrim Edward Winslow, one of only two
sources of this historical event, they used guns to capture their
prey. On hearing the gunfire, Massasoit believed his settler friends
were under attack and showed up at Patuxet ready to give support.
The natives were invited to join in the harvest festivities, but
there were 90 natives and there wasn't enough food for all. Massasoit
sent his men out to hunt and they brought back five deer which they
presented to William Bradford, the English leader.
The ensuing feast lasted for three days. There was venison, seafood,
water-fowl, maize bread, pumpkin, squashes of all description and
possibly 'fowl' or turkey.
How did this small feast of sharing and giving thanks at Patuxet
become Thanksgiving, one of the greatest annual events in American
history? See Part Two of 'Why Give Thanks?' tomorrow, on the Eve of
Thanksgiving.
For more on 17th century Manhattan life read my novel, Manhattan Legacy, available as a print copy or eBook.
Read my novel Manhattan Legacy available on Lulu.com
Read my novel Manhattan Legacy available on Lulu.com
No comments:
Post a Comment