Starving, Eating, Fasting, Stealing, but Giving Thanks

THANKSGIVING, LIKE Mother's Day, Father's Day, and Labor Day, is so important that it can be celebrated anytime, anyplace, and over the years has been moved around quite a bit. The current formula was imposed during the Roosevelt years, around the time of World War Two. The thanksgiving concept has accompanied the Christian faith for hundreds of years; throughout European history days of thanksgiving were set aside, and were usually treated like a work free Sunday, but included fasting. Our modern version in the United States hardly includes fasting; much the opposite, we have determined that the best way for us to give thanks is to eat as much as possible to accompany our thanks giving with a tangible display of gratitude. Lingering confusion surrounds the holiday's history in the "new" world. Did it begin with the 1607 group in Virginia, or the 1620 group in Massachusetts? Probably, a little bit of both. The first thing both groups did, upon arrival, was to take stock of their situation, and realize that they had consumed most of their provisions on the float across the Atlantic, and would have to live largely by hunting and gathering until an entire year of crop growing could be completed.The time of starving was at hand, 1610 was the worst year in Virginia. They got by, both in Virginia and Massachusetts, by stealing from the local Indians, who had plenty, and couldn't understand anybody being stupid or incompetent enough to go hungry in such a land of plenty. In both places, the Indians caught the Europeans red handed, informed them that they would tolerate it no longer, but that the only thing they had ever had to do was...just ask...."why do you steal with hatred what we would gladly give you with love?" In both places, the puritan-pilgrim-sprofit seekers made amends with the local natives, and got on their right side long enough to survive. It made their Christian faith seem more relevant.