by Ruth Storkel.
It has been a lovely fall, mixed with sunshine and rain. Many of the trees have been disrobed and now stand starkly naked, but here and there, there remains a tree with beautiful gold, red, or orange leaves, still showing forth its beautiful foliage. The air is crisp, the days are shortening, and we realize winter is just around the corner.
The American poet and humorist James Whitcomb Riley (1849-1916) described this current season thus:
“When the frost is on the punkin and the fodder’s in the shock,
And you hear the kyouk and gobble of the struttin’ turkey cock,
And the clackin’ of the guineys, and the cluckin’ of the hens,
And the rooster’s hallylooyer as he tiptoes on the fence;
O, it’s then’s the times a feller is a-feelin’ at his best,
With the risin’ sun to greet him from a night of peaceful rest,
As he leaves the house, bareheaded and goes out to feed the stock,
When the frost is on the punkin and the fodder’s in the shock.”
Mr. Riley’s works celebrated the rural people, dialect, and traditions of Indiana, his home state. He was one of the era’s very popular American poets. This poem paints a colorful picture of autumn.
Gratitude
As we near year’s end and have time to reflect on the previous eleven months of 2024, we have MUCH to be thankful for (which is what Thanksgiving Day is actually about). I’ve enjoyed meditating on these thoughts about gratitude, shared by people from various times and places:
“Nothing is more honorable than a grateful heart.” – Lucius Seneca
“When we learn to give thanks, we are learning to concentrate not on the bad things, but on the good things in our lives.” – Amy Vanderbilt
“Saying thank you is more than good manners; it is good spirituality.” – Alfred Painter
“Start each day with a positive thought and a grateful heart.” (What great advice THIS is!) – Roy T. Bennett
“Gratitude can transform common days into thanksgiving, turn routine jobs into joy and ordinary opportunities into blessings.” – William Ward
“Reflect upon your present blessings, of which every man has plenty; not on your past misfortunes, of which all men have some.” – Charles Dickens
“Always have an attitude of gratitude.” – Sterling K. Brown
“When I started counting my blessings, my whole life turned around.” – Willie Nelson
“An attitude of gratitude creates blessings.” – Sir John Templeton
“In ordinary life, we hardly realize that we receive a great deal more than we give, and it is only with gratitude that life becomes rich.” – Dietrich Bonhoeffer
The History of Thanksgiving
Our American holiday of “Thanksgiving” has evolved over a number of centuries. There has been much discussion about who actually celebrated the first Thanksgiving in North America; some credit 800 Spanish settlers in 1565 in St. Augustine, where they had a festive meal of thanksgiving with the native Timicuan people.
Farther north, in 1621, the Plymouth Colony settlers and the Wampanoag Native Americans had a 3-day celebration, described by Pilgrim settler Edward Winslow as a gathering where “we might after a more special manner rejoice together.” (He never called it “Thanksgiving Day,” but that was the intent.)
That day of Thanksgiving in Plymouth was quite different from our present-day celebrations 400 years later: They ate a lot of venison, local fowl, and seafood, along with pumpkins and food harvested from the Pilgrims’ gardens. There were dried cranberries but no cranberry sauce due to a sugar shortage; no pumpkin pie —- they called this vegetable pompion and did not know how to use it. They did not finish the meal with desserts.
There were races, shooting contests of guns and bows and arrows, closing the day by singing a hymn and a prayer of thanksgiving to “Almighty God for all His blessings and His divine providence which saved the colony from drought and starvation.”
Notable American Thanksgivings
In 1789, George Washington called for a national day of thanks on the last Thursday of November to celebrate the ending of the Revolutionary War and the Constitution’s ratification. President Lincoln gave the first official national Thanksgiving holiday proclamation in 1863, declaring the date to be Thursday, November 26. (He had been highly influenced to do so by abolitionist Sarah Josepha Hale.) Since Lincoln’s time, every U.S. president has proclaimed Thanksgiving Day yearly.
Today in America, nearly 400 years after the pilgrims, Thanksgiving day has evolved; it means many things to our citizens: football games, parades, big feasts with friends and family, running in a turkey trot, volunteering at a local soup kitchen, getting out the Christmas decorations, watching “a Charlie Brown Thanksgiving” and possibly taking an after-dinner tryptophan-induced nap.
In the midst of it all, most importantly, it still remains as a day TO COUNT OUR BLESSINGS!
“Grace at Evening”
by Edgar A. Guest
“For all the beauties of the day,
The innocence of childhood’s play,
For health and strength and laughter sweet,
Dear Lord, our thanks we now repeat.”
“For this our daily gift of food,
We offer now our gratitude,
For all the blessings we have known,
Our debts of gratefulness we own.”Amen.
God bless everyone on this Thanksgiving Day!
One Response
Thanksgiving Greetings from Perth, Australia! We’re a day ahead of you here with clear skies, temperature in the high 70’s, and a nice breeze to keep the “mozzies” at bay. This afternoon is the high school graduation ceremony for our eldest grandchild. We’re so proud of her. I can’t wait to hear the speeches. Lot’s to be thankful for here, and we wish you all a very happy Thanksgiving, too.
Ken Becker