By Deacon Mike Manno
(The Wanderer) -- As Thanksgiving approached I began thinking about what to
write for a good Thanksgiving column, especially after last week’s column about
my father, baseball, and youthful times in Philadelphia.
As I wracked my brain for an idea, I remembered a
friendship I developed as an aspiring novelist with another writer looking for
her first publisher as well. She and I met in an online writers’ group and
while we never actually met person to person, we did develop a friendship which
lasted several years.
She was a teacher and interested in children’s books and
told me about the book on which she was working about the first Thanksgiving in
what became the United States — it was not in Jamestown in 1619 as we all
believed, but in 1565 in St. Augustine, Fla. So I did a little digging.
As I followed the corresponding links to her book, I found
the story was much more involved than the place and the date: There was a real
connection with the Catholic Church and the Eucharist which I had been unaware.
For the first Thanksgiving was held in conjunction with a Thanksgiving Mass,
Holy Communion, and a banquet to which the Spanish settlers in St. Augustine
invited the local Tumucuan Indians to partake, which they did.
The Catholic connection to the Thanksgiving began when the
priest, who was the chaplain to the Spanish Fleet, Fr. Francisco Lopez de
Mendoza Grajales, who also became the first parish priest in St. Augustine,
planted a cross in the sand and celebrated the first parish Mass, September 8,
the feast of the Nativity of Our Lady who ultimately became the patroness of
the Americas. Fr. Lopez then celebrated a Mass of Thanksgiving.
The Spanish expedition leader, Pedro Menéndez de Avilés,
with some 800 Spanish settlers, joined the celebration with their invited guests.
What we inherited from the later Jamestown Thanksgiving was
a New England dinner, including turkey — which was not on the menu in 1619.
Since it was their first harvest in Jamestown they probably ate vegetables,
including cabbage, beans, carrots, corn, fruits including blueberries, plums,
grapes, and cranberries, as well as fish, shellfish, mussels in curd. Lobster,
bass, clams, and oysters were probably on the menu, too.
The Spaniards, by contrast, probably feasted on cocido — a
stew made with salted pork and garbanzo beans, hard sea biscuits, and red wine.
If the Indians brought their own food, the feast would have included turkey,
venison, gopher tortoise, and seafood such as catfish, drum, and mullet. Also
included might have been squash, beans, and maize (corn).
Now I must admit, today’s turkey with all the fixings,
pumpkin pie, and football sound like a better mix . . . but I digress.
The meal was shared by all but no one really knows what the
natives thought of the Mass. However, Fr. Lopez, in his journal, said they
imitated all that they had seen. Interesting how we should imitate Thanksgiving
in our lives, Mass and Eucharist, followed by a celebratory meal. Remember, the
word Eucharist comes from the Greek Eucharistia, which means “thanksgiving.”
Thus, the Body of Christ is the true Thanksgiving meal, which we should
understand and imitate at every Mass we attend.
Obviously there were other celebrations of thanks for safe
arrivals by many Catholic explorers, notably from Spain and France during that
time period, including Juan Ponce de León in 1513. The difference between these
celebrations was that they were not at a permanent settlement, as was St.
Augustine. St. Augustine was important notably because it was the first
community act of Thanksgiving in the first permanent European settlement in the
land, according to Michael Gannon, in his book, The Cross in the Sand.
There is one other connection with the Catholic Church and
Thanksgiving lore: This one is from the Jamestown settlement in 1619. The
Native American who mediated between the English Pilgrims and the Indians to
establish what is thought of as the original Thanksgiving, Squanto, brings a
new religious connotation to the event.
Squanto had been enslaved by the British but was freed by
the Spanish Franciscans, who converted him to Catholicism. Thus, it was a
Catholic convert who, in effect, was responsible for the Jamestown Thanksgiving
celebration we think of every year at this time.
But why don’t we think of the Spanish Thanksgiving and Mass
in 1565? Did we lose it in history? Well, in a word, yes.
During the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, the French,
Spanish, and British vied against each other, seeking to expand their influence
in the New World against the other nations. Unfortunately for the French and
the Spanish, the British won the expansion battle and ultimately British
history and traditions eclipsed the others, especially when the British began
an annual reenactment of the “first” Thanksgiving in 1621. That reenactment survived
to provide the historical genesis for the Thanksgiving tradition ultimately
adopted by the soon-to-be independent United States, which inherited the
traditions of the Mother Country.
Well, we’ve come a long way from the time of the first
Spanish settlers and the Pilgrims. Thanksgiving customs and foods have changed,
but the central idea has not: setting aside a day for giving thanks for what
you have; a day to appreciate your family and friends, who, after all, provide
for you the greatest joys in your life. And, of course, we should remember the
Eucharistic roots of the day, especially as you decide whether or not to attend
morning Mass that day.
So enjoy all the turkey and gravy and football. Have a
peaceful and joy-filled day!
By the way, my writer friend and I both received book
contracts. Her first was the children’s book America’s REAL First Thanksgiving, by Robyn Gioia. It’s still
available on Amazon, paper bound and Kindle editions.
(You
can reach Mike at: DeaconMike@q.com and listen to him every Thursday on Faith
On Trial at https://iowacatholicradio.com/faith-on-trial/)
