This year marks the 400th anniversary of the first Thanksgiving held by the English speaking people in America. On Dec. 4, 1619, after a stormy 75 day trans-Atlantic trip, Capt. John Woodlief of the Margaret with its crew and 38 settlers reached their destination, Berkeley Hundred, 20 some miles upriver from Jamestown. His sealed orders received in London directed them first to have a service of thanksgiving for their safe arrival - and do so on that date in perpetuity.
According to the Williamsburg Foundation, the newly arrived colonists read “from the Book of Common Prayer. There was no grand meal…they likely fasted, a common practice during religious days. …”
The annual celebration ended after a 1622 surprise Indian attack wiped out almost the entire settlement. Because of the massacre, the other colonists did not feel like celebrating.
Berkeley was unoccupied for many years, but eventually the Harrison family built a magnificent brick house which became the home of a signer of the Declaration of Independence (Benjamin IV) and the ancestral home of two Presidents (William Henry and Benjamin). A public celebration of Thanksgiving is held there annually in early November.
Most Americans trace our annual celebration of Thanksgiving to the 1621 feast held in Plymouth, Massachusetts, when the Pilgrims invited the Wampanoag tribe to join them in thanking God for their survival and that year’s harvest. However, their three-day celebration was a harvest festival only and not planned to be an annual event.
President George Washington issued the first proclamation under the Constitution on Oct. 3, 1789, designating Thursday, Nov. 26, as a national day of thanks. It stated “Whereas it is the duty of all Nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey his will, to be grateful for his benefits, and humbly to implore his protection and favor — and whereas both Houses of Congress have by their joint Committee requested me ‘to recommend to the People of the United States a day of public thanksgiving and prayer … we may then unite in most humbly offering our prayers and supplications to the great Lord and Ruler of Nations and beseech him to pardon our national and other transgressions.”
Although the media emphasize great conflicts among us, as we celebrate this Thanksgiving, we can be thankful to be a self-governing people who live in the freest, most prosperous nation in history. We are also thankful to our Creator for life, our families and friends and those who serve, often at great sacrifice.
Sincerely,
Ellen Latane Tabb
Alexandria