How Thanksgiving Came

"How Thanksgiving Came" by Elizabeth Gordon is a charming children's book that explores the origins and customs of the Thanksgiving holiday. Through engaging storytelling and vivid illustrations, the book presents the history of Thanksgiving, highlighting the significance of gratitude, family, and community. It introduces young readers to the Pilgrims' journey, their interactions with Native Americans, and the traditions that have shaped modern Thanksgiving celebrations. With a focus on the themes of sharing and appreciation, the book serves as both an educational and heartwarming read for families during the festive season.

• Children
• Short story

								
“Gobble, gobble, gobble,” said Mr. Turkey Cock proudly spreading
his wonderful turkey tail fan and looking as pompous as no one
but he can look.

“Oh, you funny, conceited bird,” said the boy named Billy, “you
won’t be so noisy next Thursday when we have you for Thanksgiving
dinner. But that reminds me--won’t somebody please tell me why
the turkey is called our National bird? I thought it was the
eagle. And why do we always have Thanksgiving Day on Thursday?”

“Well, you see, Son,” said Somebody, “it started this way. As you
of course know, our Pilgrim Fathers and Mothers came over in the
Mayflower and landed on Plymouth Rock on November 21st, 1620;
just one hundred and two brave souls in a strange land, full of
strange people who might well resent their being there. Although
it was late in the year and cold weather, they managed to build
themselves houses of a sort; but with the best that they could do
more than half of them perished that first terrible winter.

“When Spring came, those who were left, with the help of the
Indians, bravely planted the crops and started to make a home in
the wilderness. The Indians gave them corn for seed and taught
them how to plow the land and fertilize it, and with the seed
that they had brought with them they managed so well that when
harvest time came they had a bountiful yield. To express their
gratitude to God who had so marvelously prospered them, as well
as to show their friendliness to the Indians, Governor Bradford
issued a proclamation to the effect that they would have a
Thanksgiving feast to which Chief Massasoit and his braves were
to be invited, which should last from Thursday morning until
Saturday night. That was in October, 1621.

“But the Pilgrim Mothers, remembering the harvest festivals of
England, with the barbecued sheep and oxen which they used to
have, said ‘How can we make a feast? We have no meat.’ ‘Meat,’
said Governor Bradford, ‘why the woods are full of it.’ So he
sent four of his very best riflemen out into the forest for wild
turkeys, and they brought back so many that there was enough meat
for the three days feasting for the colonists and their guests,
the Indians. And ever since then no Thanksgiving feast could be
really right without a nice plump turkey.”

“Did the Indians like the feast?” asked the boy named Billy.
“Indeed they did,” said Somebody; “they liked it so well that
Chief Massasoit sent his young men back with a gift of nice fat
deer which they had shot especially for the colonists. Chief
Massasoit wanted to show Governor Bradford that the Indians knew
how to play fairly.”

“So that’s how Thanksgiving became,” said the boy named Billy.

“Yes,” answered Somebody, “but it was a long time after that
before it became the good old holiday that we know now.

“In the first year of his office, President George Washington
issued a proclamation recommending that November 26, 1789, be
kept as a day of “national thanksgiving” for the establishment
of a form of government that made for safety and happiness.
After that, it was only held at odd times, but in 1863 it became
a National holiday and the last Thursday in November is always
proclaimed by the President as a day of prayer and thanksgiving.”

“We’re going to have the whole family here for dinner this year,”
said the boy named Billy; “and we’re going to have turkey and
cranberry jelly and pumpkin pie ’n’ everything.”

“Gobble, gobble, gobble,” remarked Mr. Turkey Cock.

“We shall!” remarked the boy named Billy, laughing.
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