AFTER THE FIRST harvest of Plymouth colony in 1621, Governor Bradford established a special day of Thanksgiving for prayer and celebration. Other colonies later adopted this feast day. Today it’s a national holiday; a day unique to the American experience and perhaps the richest part of our spiritual heritage. For many Americans it contains more spiritual significance than Christmas–today so sadly debased by the forces of secularism and commerce. We are blessed Thanksgiving’s custom and ceremony has survived.

The first Thanksgiving celebration probably took place in late September or early October. At that time of the year Plymouth harbor held a tremendous number of migrating birds easily felled. According to Nathan Philbrick in his recent book Mayflower, “the First Thanksgiving soon became an overwhelmingly Native celebration when Massasoit and a hundred Pokanokets (more than twice the entire English population of Plymouth) arrived at the settlement with five freshly killed dear.” Though major cultural differences existed between the English Pilgrims and the Native Americans, both peoples understood the need of giving thanks to God. English and Indian were aware of a mystery in creation–within man and in nature.