CELEBRATE GOOD TIMES! 

THIS DAY IN HISTORY 

NOVEMBER 1621 

CELEBRATE GOOD TIMES! 

Around 404 years ago today we had our very first Thanksgiving. We actually do not know the  exact dates of the first Thanksgiving. In fact, originally, it wasn’t even called Thanksgiving.  Americans did not start referring to our celebration in November as Thanksgiving until almost  200 years later. 

The original “Thanksgiving” was a three day event. It was a feast and a social gathering. The  people involved were the Plymouth Rock pilgrims and the Wampanoag Indians. The pilgrims  were very thankful that fall of long ago. This is the Thanksgiving that we are taught in school.  Prior to that first Thanksgiving the pilgrims had gone through some tough times. The fall of  

1621 saw a good harvest. The prospects for the future looked good. They were thankful.  

The pilgrims didn’t always have good years though. Often, “Thanksgiving” wasn’t a time of  feasting. It was a time of fasting and prayer; trying to repent so that God would be more  merciful. It was a day spent on a hard pew in church, listening to a preacher call you to  repentance. 

What would you rather do; fast, pray, and spend the day at the church, being lectured by the  preacher? Or would you rather stuff yourself with turkey, potatoes, stuffing and pie, and then  watch football for the rest of the day? 

Rend Petersen