Information Related to "The Sacrifice of Thanksgiving"
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The holiday of Thanksgiving, celebrated in the United States on the fourth Thursday of November, is an annual occasion for family togetherness, food, relaxation and (hopefully) thanksgiving toward God for His blessings. Other nations observe similar holidays on other days of the year.
The original Thanksgiving took place in 1621 as the Pilgrims, along with a number of the local Native American Indians who brought deer and other food, held a three-day harvest celebration. Following is an excerpt of that first Thanksgiving, written by Edward Winslow in Mourt's Relation: A Journal of the Pilgrims at Plymouth:
"At which time, amongst other recreations, we exercised our arms, many of the Indians coming amongst us, and among the rest their greatest king Massasoit, with some ninety men, whom for three days we entertained and feasted, and they went out and killed five deer, which they brought to the plantation and bestowed on our governor, and upon the captain and other. And although it be not always so plentiful as it was at this time with us, yet by the goodness of God, we are so far from want that we often wish you partakers of our plenty."
The Pilgrims didn't make Thanksgiving an annual celebration. Two years following that original celebration, during the summer of 1623, they suffered a terrible drought. With the crops withering and the ground cracking open from lack of rain, Governor Bradford called a council of the leading men of the colony in July. He appealed for a day of fasting and prayer as they sought for God's intervention in their crisis.
Late in the afternoon, after much fasting, prayer and soul-searching, they emerged from their council to find the sky covered with clouds. The next morning, a gentle rain began that lasted, off and on, for 14 days. They had an abundant harvest, and the governor proclaimed another day of thanksgiving that autumn, inviting the Indian chief Massasoit and a number of his men to celebrate with them once again.
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