A Place for Thanksgiving

Over the river, and through the wood,

To Merry Mount away!

We would not stop for doll or top,

for 'tis Thanksgiving Day.

Over the river, and through the wood—

and straight through the barnyard gate,

We seem to go extremely slow,

it is so hard to wait!

Over the river, and through the wood—

To Paddy’s house to play,

He will say, "Let’s shoot today!”

As out to the field we go.

Over the river, and through the wood—

To Granmama's house we fly!

Hurrah for the fun! Is the turkey done?

Hurrah for the pecan pie!

Over the river, and through the wood,

To Merry Mount we’ll stay!

We’ll bless the food in a Merry mood,

for 'tis Thanksgiving Day.

                        Words by Lydia Maria Child & CPW

Merry Mount on a frosty morning

Today as we gather at Merry Mount, we stop to ponder the holiday of Thanksgiving.

History

In 1863, Abraham Lincoln set the fourth Thursday of November, as a day to celebrate Thanksgiving, a national holiday honoring the early settlers and their harvest feast. 

Fact and Fiction

The geographical area surrounding the site of the first Thanksgiving, now known as southeastern Massachusetts and eastern Rhode Island had been the home of the Wampanoag tribe of Native Americas for over 12,000 years, and had been visited by other European settlers before the arrival of the Mayflower. The indigenous people knew the land well and had fished, hunted, and harvested for thousands of generations.

From: https://indiancountrymedianetwork.com/news/the-wampanoag-side-of-the-first-thanksgiving-story/

The harvest feast lasted for three days. What did they eat? Venison, of course, and according to Kathleen Wall, a Colonial Foodways Culinarian at Plimoth Plantation, “Not just a lovely roasted joint of venison, but all the parts of the deer were on the table in who knows how many sorts of ways.” Was there turkey? “Fowl” is mentioned in Winslow’s account, which puts turkey on Wall’s list of possibilities. She also said there probably would have been a variety of seafood and water fowl along with maize bread, pumpkin and other squashes. “It was nothing at all like a modern Thanksgiving,” she said.

While today Thanksgiving is one of our nation’s favorite holidays, it has a far different meaning for many Wampanoag, who now number between 4,000 and 5,000.  “For the most part, Thanksgiving itself is a day of mourning for Native people, not just Wampanoag people.”

The Europeans who comprised the Plymouth Colony were a group of English Protestants who wanted to break away from the Church of England. These ‘separatists’ initially moved to Holland and after twelve years of financial problems, received funding from English merchants to sail across the Atlantic to settle in a ‘New World.' A ship carrying 101 men, women, and children spent 66 days traveling the Atlantic Ocean, intending to land where New York City is now located. Due to the windy conditions, the group had to cut their trip short and settle at what is now called Cape Cod.

Many myths surround the first Thanksgiving. Very little is actually known about the event because only two firsthand accounts of the feast were ever written. The first account is William Bradford’s journal titled, Of Plymouth Plantation, and the other is a publication written by Edward Winslow titled Mourt’s Relations. The written accounts state very little about the food prepared and served during the three day celebration, but the following sentence from Bradford suggests the spoils of the hunt: “And besides waterfowl there was great store of wild turkeys, of which they took many, besides venison…”, but guesses can be made based on the types of food written about in other documents circa 1621: such as mussels, lobsters, grapes, plums, corn and herbs.

Thanksgiving 2017

Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday and as the patriarch of Merry Mount I am blessed to cohost a joyous family occasion.  This year is especially celebratory for we will also celebrate Caroline’s 28^th birthday.  Memories abound.  I have often said that two of the greatest days of my life were the days I witnessed the birth of our two children.  How can my “Caroliney” be 28?  How time flies when one is having fun!  

Caroline's 1st birthday photo

Caroline at last year's 27th birthday

Happy Birthday Caroline!!!

At the center of the Thanksgiving festivities is Rett’s meal that traditionally includes turkey, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, Brussels sprouts, cranberry sauce, deviled eggs, and an assortment of pies.  But the must have is Rett’s cornbread dressing.

photo of the Thanksgiving table 2015

Another tradition is the Woliver “turkey shoot” contest.  Anyone who wants to participate may shoot a shotgun at a target (a photo of a turkey) to see who can get the most shotgun pellets within the boundaries of the target.

A photo from the 2016 turkey shoot

One may ask about Thanksgiving attire?  Hey, it takes place at Merry Mount, so one wears whatever one wishes.  But sometime during the early 1990s, the wearing of the “bird shirt” became a tradition.

from Thanksgiving 2015

Thanksgiving

Gettin’ together to smile an’ rejoice, 

An’ eatin’ an’ laughin’ with folks of your choice; 

An’ kissin’ the girls an’ declarin’ that they 

Are growin’ more beautiful day after day;

Joy and Eva

Chattin’ an’ braggin’ a bit with the men, 

Buildin’ the old family circle again; 

Livin’ the wholesome an’ old-fashioned cheer, 

Just for awhile at the end of the year.

Greetings fly fast as we crowd through the door 

And under the old roof we gather once more 

Just as we did when the youngsters were small; 

Mother’s a little bit grayer, that’s all. 

Father’s a little bit older, but still 

Ready to romp an’ to laugh with a will. 

Here we are back at the table again 

Tellin’ our stories as women an’ men. 

Bowed are our heads for a moment in prayer; 

Oh, but we’re grateful an’ glad to be there. 

Home from the east land an’ home from the west, 

Home with the folks that are dearest an’ best. 

Out of the sham of the cities afar 

We’ve come for a time to be just what we are. 

Here we can talk of ourselves an’ be frank, 

Forgettin’ position an’ station an’ rank. 

Give me the end of the year an’ its fun 

When most of the plannin’ an’ toilin’ is done; 

Bring all the wanderers home to the nest, 

Let me sit down with the ones I love best, 

Hear the old voices still ringin’ with song, 

See the old faces unblemished by wrong, 

See the old table with all of its chairs 

An’ I’ll put soul in my Thanksgivin’ prayers.

   -Edgar Guest

In conclusion, we embrace what Gladys Widdiss, tribal elder of the Wampanoag, has to say about the Wampanoag Tribe and Thanksgiving:

Every day (is) a day of thanksgiving to the Wampanoag . . .(We) give thanks to the dawn of the new day, at the end of the day, to the sun, to the moon, for rain for helping crops grow. . . There (is) always something to be thankful for. .. Giving thanks comes naturally for the Wampanoag.

There is much to be thankful for at Merry Mount and we wish all who read this blog today a very Happy Thanksgiving!  

CPW

A Place of Time and Change

At Day-Close in November

The ten hours' light is abating,
And a late bird flies across,
Where the pines, like waltzers waiting,
Give their black heads a toss.

Beech leaves, that yellow the noon-time,
Float past like specks in the eye;
I set every tree in my June time,
And now they obscure the sky.

And the children who ramble through here
Conceive that there never has been
A time when no tall trees grew here,
A time when none will be seen. 

-Thomas Hardy (1840-1928)

The time has arrived for us to turn the clocks back an hour.  We have manipulated time so as to have a longer day from March 12 to November 5, but, alas, the time for extended darkness has returned.

Seasonal signs of change are all around us at Merry Mount, and it is time once again for the Earth to rest.  The gardens must be put away. Melancholy.  The vast fields that surround us have been harvested and the field mice now scurry to the barn looking for shelter.  Moocher, Maud, and Magnus await them.

Moocher

Maude

Magnus

A strong, cold wind blows here and great swirls of colored maple and oak leaves, corn stalks, and other remains of summer bundle up, lift off, and disappear into the beyond.

How many past residents of this dwelling have sat before a fire and pondered the passing of time?  How many more future residents will turn back the clocks, pause for a while, and reflect on time lost and time gained?

Merry Mount circa. 1945

To Think of Time

To think of time—of all that retrospection!  To think of to-day, and the ages continued henceforward!   Have you guess’d you yourself would not continue?  Have you dreaded these earth-beetles?  Have you fear’d the future would be nothing to you?  Is to-day nothing? Is the beginningless past nothing?  If the future is nothing, they are just as surely nothing.

To think that the sun rose in the east! that men and women were flexible, real, alive!  that  everything was alive!  To think that you and I did not see, feel, think, nor bear our part!  To think that we are now here, and bear our part!

To think how much pleasure there is!  Have you pleasure from looking at the sky? have you pleasure from poems?  Do you enjoy yourself in the city? or engaged in business? or planning a nomination and  election? or with your wife and family?  Or with your mother and sisters? or in womanly housework? or the beautiful maternal cares?  —These also flow onward to others—you and I flow onward, But in due time, you and I shall take less interest in them.

Your farm, profits, crops,—to think how engross’d you are!  To think there will still be farms, profits, crops—yet for you, of what avail?  What will be, will be well—for what is, is well, To take interest is well, and not to take interest shall be well.

The sky continues beautiful,  The pleasure of men with women shall never be sated, nor the pleasure of women with men,  nor the pleasure from poems,  The domestic joys, the daily housework or business, the building of houses—these are  not  phantasms—they have weight, form, location;  Farms, profits, crops, markets, wages, government, are none of them phantasms,  The difference between sin and goodness is no delusion, The earth is not an echo—man and his life, and all the things of his life, are  well-consider’d.

You are not thrown to the winds—you gather certainly and safely around yourself; Yourself! Yourself! Yourself, forever and ever!

               Walt Whitman (1819-1892)

We at Merry Mount savor time spent here and it is our goal to make the most of it, and create a place of beauty for those that presently occupy it, and for generations to come.

CPW