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Show .r : T-.imnm it.hu mi. ., ,., i.. iiiiinJJiu.M"t-i-i--J- rev t h fWif Pum Ir - their new home. Qaintly does "Mourt's Relation" chronicle the event: "Our harvest being gotten in,, our Governour sent foure men on fowling, that so we might after a more speciall manner rejoyce together, after we had gathered the fruit of our labours; they foure in one day killed as much fowle, as with a little helpe beside, served the Company almost a weeke, at which time amongst other Recreations, Recrea-tions, we exercised our Armes, many of the Indians coming amongst us, and amongst the rest their greatest King Massasoyt, with some ninetie men, whom for three dayes we entertained enter-tained and feasted, and they went out and killed Deere, which they brought to the plantation and bestowed upon the Captaine, and others. And although al-though it be not alwayes so plentiful, as it was at this time with us, yet by the goodnesse of God, we are so farre from want, that we often wish you partakers of our plentie." While the bill of fare of this first American celebration of the Harvest festival has not been preserved the feast was no doubt a royal one even if some of the food and the methods of preparation would seem strange and outlandish to present day Americans. Amer-icans. The provisions must have been bountiful for there were about 140 persons including the 90 of Mas-sasoit's Mas-sasoit's company who were entertained enter-tained for three days, nd all had their share of supplies. From other sources we How that Jie foods of the sea were abundant and that the Pilgrims had made the acquaintance of the oyster. Ducks they had in plenty of the choicest species and also geese. Game, from grouse to venison, veni-son, was brought in from the forest in abundance, and there was a "great store" of wild turkeys. Barley loaf and cakes of corn meal were highly prized by the colonists and played th;Ir part in the feast. For vegetables vege-tables the Pilgrims had much the same as they had in England, Gov. Bradford's list naming beans, pease, parsnips, carrots, turnips, onions, melons, cucumbers, radishes, "skir-ets," "skir-ets," beets, coleworts, and cabbages, in addition to wheat, rye, barley and oats. Besides these they had the indigeous squash and pumpkin, and it may be taken for granted that a careful care-ful Pilgrim housewife had preserved during the summer by drying a quantity quan-tity of strawberries, gooseberries and "ra.spis." Take it altogether, the food basis of the first Harvest Thanksgiving Thanksgiv-ing day celebration in America was much the same as today. But if the good housewife of today was obliged to prepare the thanksgiving thanksgiv-ing feast with the utensils and inconveniences incon-veniences of the kitchen of three cen-turea cen-turea ago she probably would throw up her hands in hopeless despair. The kitchen with its great glowing fireplace fire-place was the housewife's domain and the general living room of the entire family. The walls and the floor were bare and the furniture meager and comfortless, while the kitchen furnishings furnish-ings were odd and strange. It was in this great cavernous chimney that the Pilgrim wife cooked her thanksgiving dinner. Placed high up in the yawning yawn-ing chimney was the heavy backbar, or lug-hole, of green wood, afterwards displaced by the great iron crane. It was beyond reach of the flames, and from it hung a motley collection of hooks of various lengths and weights. They had many different names, such as pot-hooks, pot-hangles, pot-claws, pot-cleps, trammels, crooks, hakes, gallow-balke, words that would puzzle puz-zle a housewife of today to define. From these were suspended the pots and kettles in which the food was cooked. At both sides of the fire- 4 HANKSGIVING day as it is now celebrated is a rL i composite of the ancient vi. .Jr, Harvest festival, whose orS'ns so back to the ."iy. ft? dim pre-historic begin-JSfr( begin-JSfr( nings of civilization, and Jt" ' the solemn Puritan rj religious ceremony of thanksgiving. The joyous joy-ous celebration of the gathering of the year's harvest, a day or week of feasting, feast-ing, snng, dance and revel, is found in all ages and among all peoples. Thanksgiving days are also common to all religions, past aud present, but-they but-they were not regular or periodical events occurring 1 generally after some victory of war. "The Puritans and ttie Pilgrims brought with them from England both the Harvest festival festi-val and the Thanksgiving days, the latter being observed whenever the deeply religious mind of the Puritan saw In their prosperity or good fortune for-tune the direct intervention of Providence. Provi-dence. The Puritan also stripped the ancient Harvest festival of much of its rude license that had grown up around the celebration in England, and gradually grad-ually through the two centuries following fol-lowing the setlement of New England, there grew up the practice of. combining combin-ing the two events and making the Thankgiving annual. The religious element has been greatly subordinated as the years passed until at the present pres-ent time it is to a majority of Americans Ameri-cans only an incident that by many is observed only in the breach. To the stern old Puritan of almost three centuries ago, the Thanksgiving day of 1912 would seem little less than sacrilege so far as the thinksgiving feature of it is concerned. But he would understand and appreciate the day's feasting and revel as a part of the celebration of the Harvest festival. festi-val. The difference is apparent In the records of the early settlement of America. The first thanksgiving service serv-ice held in North America was observed ob-served with religious ceremonies conducted con-ducted by an English minister in the year 1578 on the shores of Newfoundland. Newfound-land. This clergyman, accompanied the expedition under Frobisher, who Eettled the first English colony in America. The records of this significant signifi-cant day have been preserved in the quaint rules and regulations of the expedition ex-pedition as follows: "In primus: To banish swearing, dice and card playing, and filthy communication, com-munication, and to serve God twice a day with the ordinary service of the Church of England. On Monday morning, morn-ing, May 27, 1578, aboard the Ayde, we received all, the communication by the minister of Gravesend, prepared as good Christians toward God, and resolute men for all fortunes; . . . and Maister Wolfall made unto us a goodlye sermon, exhorting all especially espe-cially to be thankful to God for His strange aud marvelous deliverance In those dangerous places." The second record of a thanksgiving service in America is that of the Pop-ham Pop-ham colony which settled at Sagadahoc Sagada-hoc on the Maine coast in 1607. It consisted of prayer and sermon as In '.he first instance. These were thanksgiving thanks-giving days pure and simple, and after tho settlement of Plymouth many others oth-ers of a similarly solemn religious nature na-ture occurred. The first Harvest festival held In America was upon December 13, 1621. It has been called, wrongly, the first uitumnal thanksgiving held in America, Amer-ica, but it was in reality tho observance observ-ance of the Harvest festival, with which the settlers had been acquainted acquaint-ed in England. It was not a day set apart for religious worship and it is not likely that any religious service was held; on the contrary, it was the heginning of a whole week of festivity festiv-ity in celebration of the successful garnering of their first harvest in place were large ovens in which baking bak-ing and roasting were done. There were no tin utensils in those-old those-old days and brass kettles were worth $15 a piece. The utensils were-mostly were-mostly of iron, wood, pewter or lat-tern lat-tern ware. Glassware was practically unknown and bottles were made o! ., . - . - leather. Wood playd a great part in kitchen and tableware. Wooden trenchers from which two ate were . used on the table for a century after the settlement at Plymouth. Wood was also used for pans and bread troughs and a host of other things-displaced things-displaced by tin in the modern kitchen. kitch-en. Of wood were made butter paddles, pad-dles, salt cellars, noggins, keelers,. rundlets, and many kinds of drinking bowls which were known under the names of mazers, whiskins, piggins,. tankards and kannes, words many of which have disappeared from use. The dining table of these old days-was days-was the old Anglo-Saxon board placed on trestles, and the tablecloth was known as the "board cloth." Thus we have the origin of the time-worn phrase: "Gather around the festive board." And the furnishings of the "board" were simple, inventories of that period mentioning only cups, chafing dishes, chargers, threnchers, salt cellars, knives and spoons. The table fork was an innovation not yet in general use; the fingers of the eater were used to thrust the food into the mouth. The spoons were of wood and pewter mostly. Silver spoons were rare. There was no chinaware on the tables of the early thanksgiving feasts; for no china-ware china-ware came over on the Mayflower. That and the lack of glassware and silver would make a thanksgiving table of the seventeenth century look impossible to a housewife of today. Complete the picture by imagining large trenchers, square blocks of wood hollowed out by hand, placed around the "board" from each of which two people dig their food out with their I fingers, and you have an idea of the manner in which our ancestors celebrated cele-brated Thanksgiving three centuries ago. But if the kitchen and table furniture furni-ture would appear strange to a housewife house-wife of today some of the dishes served would appear even stranger. How many housekeepers of today can cook "suppawn" and "samp" from corn meal? Or bake manchet, sim-mels, sim-mels, cracknels, jannacks, cocket bread, cheat loaves, or "wasel" bread? The colonists did not take kindly at first to the pumpkin, which in the pie form has become a distinctive feature fea-ture of the modern thanksgiving feast. They called them "pomions" then, and this is awe-inspiring recipe from which the colonial housewife made "pompion" pie: "Take a half pound of Pumplon and slice It, a liandful of Tyme, a little lit-tle Rosemary, Parsley and sweet Marjoram Mar-joram slipped off the stalks, then the cinnamon, nutmeg and pepper, and six cloves, and beat them. Then mix them and beat them together and put in as much sugar as you see fit; then fry them like a froiz. After it is fried let it stand until it be cold. Take sliced apples, thinne rounde ways, and lay a row of the frolze and a layer of apples with currents betwixt the layer while your pie is fitted, nnd put in a good deal of suoet butter before you close it. When the pie is baked take six yolks of eggs, some white wine or Vergis and make a caudle of this, but not too thick. Cut up the lid and (. put it in. Stir them well together whilst tho eggs and the pomplons be not perceived and serve it up." Thus Balth tho old cook book, and the modern housewife who faithful-' ly follows this recipo can lmvo at least a unique concoction, fearfully and wonderfully made, to grace lur Thanksgiving table. |