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October 26, 2008 - by Terri Johnson,
author
of Homeschooling ABCs (www.homeschoolingabcs.com
) -
dedicated to helping new homeschoolers gain the
confidence and the necessary skills to successfully teach
their children at home.
Host an Authentic Thanksgiving
In a recent issue of Seasons at Home, we discussed the benefits
of holding historical feasts in your home as part of your
family’s delightful and hands-on educational experience. You
can read “Feasting on History” in the Summer 2008 issue of
Seasons at Home magazine.
With the arrival of autumn and the cooling temperatures
outside, our thoughts turn to holiday celebrations - the
gathering of family and friends around our hearth and home. The
brilliant color display of the deciduous trees reminds us that
this is the time to express our thankfulness to the Lord for
His goodness and the abundant harvest of this past year.
In the year 1621, just 10 months after arriving at Plimouth,
our pilgrim forefathers held a feast to celebrate their
successful harvest and the Lord’s goodness bestowed upon them.
With only 53 surviving members of their colony - about half of
the number that left England the year before - these resilient
men and women invited over 90 Wampanoag Indians to join them
and threw an outdoor feast lasting 3 full days.
This feast may not have actually been called “Thanksgiving”
because to these devoutly religious people, a day of
thanksgiving was a day of prayer and fasting, and would have
been held at any time during the year when they felt an extra
day of thanks was called for. It was also a feast that was not
repeated annually, so it can't even be called the beginning of
a tradition. At least, not yet…
It wasn’t until 1863, shortly after the battles of Vicksburg
and Gettysburg, that our tradition began when Abraham Lincoln
declared a national holiday - a day of remembrance and
Thanksgiving - to be observed on the last Thursday of November.
It has been an annual American tradition ever since. Even so,
we will always reflect upon and observe the 1621 feast as the
very first Thanksgiving and it has become the model that we
pattern our own Thanksgiving celebrations after.
So what was served at that very first Thanksgiving? Was it
turkey and pumpkin pie? Well, yes and no… Turkey was
undoubtedly served, but it wasn’t the centerpiece at the table
nor was it stuffed. It was accompanied by venison, duck, geese
and fish. Pumpkin may have been served, but certainly not in
the form of a pie. Most likely, it would have been stewed and
not sweetened like we serve it today.
Here is a recipe that may have found its way onto that first
Thanksgiving table. It is called Furmenty and it is a pudding
usually served at Harvest time in England. Furmenty is made
from whole hulled wheat. Unusual, but delicious!
Furmenty
* 1 cup whole hulled wheat/wheat berries (available at many
stores that sell bulk foods)
* 1 quart milk
* 1/4 cup sugar
* 1/2 tsp. salt
* 1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
* 1/8 tsp. ground mace or a pinch of nutmeg
* 2 egg yolks
* 1/2 cup heavy cream
* additional sugar for sprinkling
1. Fill a large pot with 8 cups of water, bring a boil and add
the wheat. Lower heat to simmer, cover, and continue to cook
for 3/4 hour, or until, soft. Drain off all the water and add
the milk, sugar, salt, cinnamon and mace/nutmeg.
2. Continue to simmer, stirring frequently, until most of the
liquid is absorbed (20 to 30 minutes).
3. In a small bowl, beat the egg yolks and cream together and
slowly stir 1/2 cup of the hot wheat mixture into the yolk
mixture. Then stir the yolk mixture into the pot, and continue
cooking for another 5 minutes, stirring frequently.
4. Serve sprinkled with sugar.
To re-create the other foods that were most likely present at
that first Thanksgiving, I would recommend that you order the
Thanksgiving Primer, a book that has been published by the
Plimoth Plantation, a living museum recreating 17th century
Plymouth. The museum’s goal is to create a better understanding
of the life and times of both the English colonists who settled
there as well as their Native American neighbors, the
Wampanoag. (Another source of authentic Thanksgiving recipes is
the book titled Giving Thanks: Thanksgiving Recipes and History
from Pilgrims to Pumpkin Pie also available from Plimoth
Plantation. Amazon price is $22.50.)
Order the Thanksgiving Primer by writing to:
Plimoth Plantation
Attn: Mail Order Department
P.O. Box 1620
Plymouth, MA. 02362-1620
Include a check for $10.90.
Or you may order these titles from Vision Forum or
Amazon.com.
Within the pages of the book, you will also learn how the
colonists might have dressed in 1621. We conjure up images of
dowdy figures dressed head to toe in black with just a peek of
white around the collar and cuffs. This was not the case at
all. There was a much wider range of colors worn than our
modern image portrays - colors such as red, yellow, purple,
blue, brown and grey.
Clothing was fashioned primarily from wool and linen, with some
leather pieces. Most of the garments worn by a typical English
commoner from this time period would be recognizable today,
consisting of a long shirt, breeches, knee-length stockings,
coat and cape. Women wore shifts and petticoats as
undergarments and gowns, waistcoats, capes and aprons over the
top. Most women wore a linen cap called a coif covering their
hair while the men wore varying styles of hats and caps, worn
inside and out.
Although the 3 day feast of 1621 was more of a secular event
and not a true day of Thanksgiving as they defined it, the
faith of our pilgrim forefather’s permeated their every day
lives. They undoubtably would have said a prayer before sitting
down to their meal. Although the exact words are unknown, a
typical “prayer before meate” would have gone something like
this:
O Lord our God and heavenly Father, which of Thy
unspeakable mercy towards us, hast provided meate and drinke
for the nourishment of our weake bodies. Grant us peace to use
them reverently, as from Thy hands, with thankful hearts: let
Thy blessing rest upon these Thy good creatures, to our comfort
and sustentation: and grant we humbly beseech Thee, good Lord,
that as we doe hunger and thirst for this food of our bodies,
so our soules may earnestly long after the food of eternal
life, through Jesus Christ, our Lord and Saviour,
Amen
George Webb - Short direction for the daily exercise of the
Christian London 1625.
The pilgrims would have sat on benches at cloth-covered tables.
They ate with knives, possibly spoons, but without forks. They
would have used large linen napkins, about 3 feet square, for
wiping their hands, which were used to both serve and eat the
meal. The individual dishes they used were called trenchers,
which are small square or round wooden plates. The food would
have been brought to the table on serving dishes or platters
and the trenchers used as a place to cut food just before being
consumed, much like the “reach and eat” style of eating that is
still common in the Near East today.
Enjoying an authentic first Thanksgiving will be a very
worthwhile and memorable event for your entire family and
invited guests. I challenge you to take a stab at it and take
many pictures throughout the process. What a highlight for this
fall season! Take the guesswork out by ordering a copy of the
Thanksgiving Primer. This book outlines everything you need to
know about throwing your own 1621 Thanksgiving feast.
Bon Appétit!
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