The History of Thanksgiving
In September 1620, a small ship called the Mayflower left Plymouth, England, carrying 102 passengers. Many were seeking a promising new life of prosperity and land ownership in the 'New World'. Others were seeking a new home where they could freely practice their faith.
There was dissension and disunity aboard the Mayflower, but after a treacherous and uncomfortable crossing that lasted 66 days, they finally dropped anchor near the tip of Cape Cod, significantly further north than their intended destination at the mouth of the Hudson River.
One month later, they departed again, crossing Massachusetts Bay, where they then began the work of establishing a village at Plymouth.
It was a tough year. Forty-five of the 102 Mayflower passengers died in the dreadful winter of 1620–21, suffering from lack of shelter, scurvy, and the terrible conditions endured on board the ship. However, the Plymouth colonist persevered, and in the Autumn of 1621, they shared a harvest festival with the Wampanoag, which we acknowledge today as one of the first Thanksgiving celebrations in the colonies.
"As the colors of autumn stream down the wind, scarlet in sumach and maple, spun gold in the birches, a splendor of smoldering fire in the oaks along the hill, and the last leaves flutter away, and dusk falls briefly about the worker bringing in from the field a late load of its fruit, and Arcturus is lost to sight and Orion swings upward that great sun upon his shoulder, we are stirred once more to ponder the Infinite Goodness that has set apart for us, in all this moving mystery of creation, a time of living and a home. In such a spirit I appoint Thursday, the twenty-fourth of November, a day of public thanksgiving."
So wrote the late Dr Wilbur L Cross, (pictured above) Governor of Connecticut in his famous Thanksgiving proclamation in 1936. The governor was following an American tradition of three hundred years standing, and the history of that tradition down the years is the theme of a show I have added to RUSC for Thanksgiving, called Path of Praise.
Joy has also lined up a whole heap of wonderful old time radio delights for your entertainment, which you will find on special Thanksgiving page here.
Or if you prefer to listen non-stop, you can tune in to the RUSC Thanksgiving radio station by clicking the link below, or by clicking on the RUSC Radio menu option to the left.
Listen here: Thanksgiving Radio Station
However you spend your Thanksgiving holiday, I hope that these shows will add to your pleasure and entertainment.
And so, on behalf of myself and my wonderful wife Joy, I'd like to wish you, and your family, a very Happy Thanksgiving holiday. Thank you again for your friendship and support of RUSC throughout the year.
Happy listening my friends,
P.S. If you're looking to avoid the crowds on Black Friday, here's an idea... Give a RUSC gift subscription! Find out more at:- www.rusc.com/giftsubscription.aspx