[Sca-cooks] New Thanksgiving Cookbook

[Ron Carnegie]

    The English celebrated a thanksgiving in Jamestowne in 1607 which is considerably  earlier than the claim made by Berekely Plantation for 1619. I suspect there was one in Roanoke even earlier.  Not to mention the Spanish thanksgivings.

    However, these and the Plymouth Thanksgivings are not the same thing, though the Plymouth one is mostly a matter of myth. In fact it was originally a harvest celebration. A day of thanksgiving can well be part of a harvest celebration, but no harvest is needed.

    Most of what we mean in America when we discuss "The First Thanksgiving" are myths and having nothing to do with reliigious thanksgivings or any of the earlier events.


    Referring to the other Thanksgivings as "the first" is really not accurate, ad they are describing entirely different things.   This is very similiar to the hoax that there were other Presidents of the United States prior to Washington.  

    Of course Virgina is the first successful english colony in North America, founded at Jamestown.  Williamsburg was never a colony, but rather the capitol of a colony.  This was true for Jamestown as well, but you do see it refered to in the period as a colony.  Things had changed a lot by the time Middle Plantation becoam e Williamsburg.

Ranald de Balinhard


From: Elaine Koogler <ekoogler1 at comcast.net>
>Date: Tue Oct 11 09:43:23 CDT 2005
>To: r.carnegie at verizon.net, Cooks within the SCA <sca-cooks at ansteorra.org>
>Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] New Thanksgiving Cookbook

>Ron Carnegie wrote:
>
>>Don't believe everything they teach at Berkely Plantation. Their history is a little warped and contrived.  If you were to believe them most of American History began at Berkeley!  
>>
>>Ranald De Balinhard
>>
>>  
>>
>Actually, I obtained this information from history books, several of 
>them, about Virginia history.  When I lived and taught public school in 
>Massachusetts, I learned, much to my amusement, that Plimouth Plantation 
>was the first permanent English settlement!  No mention was made in 
>their school texts of Jamestown or Williamsburg (not the first colony, 
>but very important in the Colonial and Revolutionary periods).   And 
>then, of course, there's the ongoing dispute between Harvard and William 
>& Mary as to which was the first English college/university.  The truth 
>appears to be that William & Mary was chartered first, but that Harvard 
>was the first in actual operation. 
>
>Kiri  ;-)
>
>
>
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