As Americans prepare to commemorate Thanksgiving Day tomorrow, it is important to reflect on all that has changed since that first Thanksgiving in Plymouth, and all that has remained the same.
Much is different, and many features have been added to what we consider typical of Thanksgiving today. There were no televised parades or football, for example, and no need to rush out to Black Thursday sales after dinner.
One thing that remains the same is that, in many ways, beer is central to Thanksgiving, and to the story of the Plymouth colony.
Those sailing aboard the Mayflower sighted Cape Cod in November, 1620, after 64 days at sea. On the ship, they ate bread, biscuits, pudding, cheese, crackers, and dried meats and fruits. Instead of water, they brought barrels of beer — a standard practice in the days before refrigeration, because beer remained potable longer than water.
Now, Cape Cod was not the destination they had when they set out from England. They attempted to sail south toward their destination in Virginia, but contrary winds and shoals kept them where they were.
In December, a scouting party went ashore, fearing a possible confrontation with unfriendly Native Americans. They soon discovered that the local population had been decimated by smallpox.
That first winter they suffered from cold, starvation and disease; half of them were dead by spring. Those still surviving were in danger of suffering the same fate.
Everything changed one day in the spring, when a lone Native American walked into the settlement and said, in English, which he had learned from the sailors who had brought the smallpox:
“Welcome, English. I am Samoset. Do you have beer?”
The Pilgrims were astonished. Of all the places they could have come ashore, they had been found by someone who was friendly and somehow spoke their language, and knew about beer.
Even today, many years later and many miles from the Plymouth colony, thirsty pilgrims in Southern California prepare to set out on another Craft Brewery Pilgrimage in a few months.
What are you most thankful for?
[Image by Mike Licht, NotionsCapital.com]
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