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Show is a ry. PritniH)e- w Ktte bond of their religious ceremonials. As the red man looks at the white American today, he says, the Great Spirit has given the white American fifty times more than he ever gave the red man, but the white American Ameri-can has but one Thanksgiving a year. If the red man with his limitations lim-itations was able to produce his great civilization with but nature's book and the sky as his guide, what can the white man not do with his inheritance and the wisdom of ages through the printed pages of his ideals and experiences? "Faith will move mountains in America today as in days gone by, if we place our feet on. the sacred soil of the red man and, unafraid, 1 0mfm THANKSGIV1JNU is ceieoraieu in memory of the day when the friendly Narraganset Indians In-dians saw the newcoming farmers of old England in need, because their European cereals failed to grow on the sands of Cape God. These red men gave the Pilgrims corn, beans, squashes, wild turkeys, and wild grapes; all considered sacred sa-cred gifts of the Great Spirit to the soil of America, says Dr. Earl Bates, advisor in Indian extension at the New York state college of agriculture. ag-riculture. However, he says, this was not the first Thanksgiving. The rite was born as early man .sought out his relationship to his creator and wondered at the mystery of the seasons. This became associated with mystery and an element of fear; and to explain this, priests soon developed a ceremonial. History His-tory tells of Thanksgiving ten thou- The White American Has But One Thanksgiving a Year. celebrate the true American spirit of Thanksgiving. To be a tolerant, toler-ant, neighborly American, live the Thanksgiving spirit ' of the red American in daily thinking and living," liv-ing," Doctor Bates says. Red Men Gave the Pilgrims Corn, Beans, Squashes, Turkeys. sand years ago in the Tigris-Euphrates valley when the harvest was gathered; in the valley of the Nile; fn Crete; in the beginnings of some of the priestly rituals in Greece and Rome; among the Hebrews; the Norsemen; in the Congo; and in Tasmania as the seasonal waves threw quantities of fish on their shores. . To a simple people like tne North American Indians, Thanksgiving Thanks-giving was personal and sincere. They felt the Spirit at each sunrise and each sunset, anu the tribe, in common council, celebrated cele-brated one of their twelve Thanks-g Thanks-g vings. in midwinter they thanked the Leat Spirit for sending the now to protect the seeds and . .- , mals- later they gave thanks tor Se sweet waters of the woodland or Sr-ap; in spring they held heir creat Thanksgiving, for they were able to Plant their food staple-Indian maLe; soon followed the ceremony cere-mony for the strawberries and, in sirs. "eer and bear was In season Doc I Bates ::ZZ I Nations came tnrougu |
