The First Proclamation of Thanksgiving

[coonculler]

On November 29, 1623, three years after the Pilgrims arrival and two years after the first Thanksgiving, Governor Bradford made an official proclamation for a Day of Thanksgiving: “To all ye Pilgrims: In as much as the great Father has given us this year an abundant harvest of Indian corn, wheat, peas, beans, squashes, and garden vegetable, and has make the forest to abound with game and the sea with fish and clams, and inasmuch as he has protected us from the ravages of the savages, has spared us from pestilence and disease, has granted us freedom to worship God according to the dictates of our own conscience; now I, your magistrate, do proclaim that all ye Pilgrims, with your wives and ye little ones, do gather at ye meeting house, on ye hill, between the hours of 9 and 12 in the day time, on Thursday, November ye 29th, of the year of our Lord one thousand six hundred and twenty three, and the third year since ye Pilgrims landed on ye Pilgrim Rock, there to listen to ye pastor and render thanksgiving to ye almighty God for all His blessings. William Bradford, Ye Governor of Ye Colony.”



Prior to the first Thanksgiving there was a drought and Governor Bradford declared a time of prayer and fasting, next day it began to rain steady for several days, which brought about the first Thanksgiving. As we celebrate Thanksgiving may our hearts be stirred that this holiday was a proclamation to meet in our house of worship giving thanks to our All Mighty God.

[krank]

The local Indians were impressed with the Pilgrim and their religion and existed peacefully for 20 years. It was the introduction of other white folks who did not practice their religion that started all the trouble.