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Thanksgiving has always been among my favorite days of the year. It’s a time when family and friends come together to give thanks, and to remember those who came before us to establish our lands and customs.
We recall their sacrifices and ingenuities and recall with thanksgiving their gifts and courage. We remember the native tribes who taught us survival skills as newcomers. Today, we enjoy good food, fellowship, laughter, gratitude, thanks, and even a football game or two.
At this celebrated time, we mostly recall the extraordinary sailing of the Mayflower, the 1620 arrival, the founding of the village of Plymouth, and the survival of the pilgrims and others. We recall their native neighbors, the Wampanoag Tribe, with whom they forged an alliance for over 50 years, learning many skills from them.
It was a three-day feast of Thanksgiving in a cold, wintry November of 1621. With only 53 remaining pilgrims and others, they joined 90 Wampanoag Indians who brought deer, turkey, fish, nuts and vegetables to be shared at this joint feast, as the pilgrims gave grateful thanks for their safe passage and survival of the remaining men, women, and children.
While that first Thanksgiving continued to be celebrated in various ways through the years, it wasn’t until 1863 during the Civil War that President Abraham Lincoln proclaimed a National Day of Thanksgiving to be held each November in the US. This will be our 403rd year since the first.
But let us not forget Texas and our earliest recorded Thanksgiving celebration on new world soil which occurred on our own native Texas soil in 1598. This celebration occurred some 23 years before the Pilgrims celebrated at Plymouth Rock; 228 years before Texas became a Republic; and 271 years before Eagle Lake became a town. Now that’s a first worth remembering.
How did it happen? In 1597, a Basque Spanish explorer Juan de Onate and his colonists were granted authority to explore the land inhabited by the Pueblo Indians along the Rio Grande Valley near today’s Texas-New Mexico border. They arrived in 1598 to a small area near the river near today’s El Paso. He had 500 in his entourage including wives and children and 7000 head of livestock.
After 50-60 days of travel on foot, on horses, and oxcarts, and after long periods with no food and water, a scout came riding into the group shouting “El Rio, El Rio!” He had spied on the river and its adjoining land which the explorers claimed for their own. They shouted, screamed, fell to their knees and celebrated after such a long, arduous journey.
It took them ten days to recuperate, and the leader nailed a cross to a tree by the river on April 30, 1598. The Franciscan missionaries said Mass, and all offered thanks to God for their safety and trip’s end, beginning their first Thanksgiving.
They shared food, drink, waterfowl, venison, and fish with the Pueblo Indians whom they had encountered, giving thanks for a safe journey to an unknown destination. They celebrated the beginning of new life and development under the Spanish crown, not unlike the Plymouth experiment when the English crown established a foothold there, also in the new world, which we happily celebrate today.
