The First Thanksgiving, painted by Jean Leon Gerome Ferris (1863-1930).
My doctoral advisor at Duke, Grant Wacker, sent this along, with the comment, “It offers the usual Hall wit, erudition, and elegant writing style.” Yes, it does. Here’s a taste, and Happy Thanksgiving to all!
THANKSGIVING 1971, the 350th anniversary of the “first” of the harvest celebrations in Plymouth, Mass. Invited to speak to a local historical society about that long-ago event, I described the ritual significance of food to the colonists and the Native Americans who attended. Afterward, someone asked, “Did they serve turkey?”
This was no idle question, for it captured the uneasiness many of us feel about the threads that connect past and present. Are our present-day values and practices aligned with the historical record, or have they been remade by our consumer culture? Is anything authentic in our own celebrations of Thanksgiving? And isn’t the deeper issue what the people who came here were like, not what they ate in 1621? Continue reading
Medieval Wisdom for Modern Christians
Grateful to the dead 