Thanksgiving Secret

Posted on November 26, 2013November 26, 2013 by Dusty Roads

What would you say if I told you the first Thanksgiving wasn’t in Plymouth? I bet you’d ask me how many glasses of holiday wine I’d had! But I promise you, it’s true.

Long before the Pilgrims even set foot on Plymouth Rock the Spanish had settled parts of Florida. 55 years before the Mayflower the costal town of St. Augustine was established and the settlers came together to share a feast with the native Timucuans.

Now you may not want to let the children read the rest of this post. Because I’m going to tell you something else about Thanksgiving.

Back up north the Pilgrims were starving, that’s true, until they learned to cultivate the rocky soil and hunt the native game. Legend says that it was the Native Americans that helped them survive and that in gratitude the Pilgrims invited the Wampanoag to celebrate the harvest.

Once again, not quite true. The Wampanoag were actually invited to that Thanksgiving feast for the purpose of negotiating a treaty that would secure the lands of the Plymouth Plantation for the Pilgrims. It should also be noted that the INDIANS, possibly out of a sense of charity toward their hosts, ended up bringing the majority of the food for the feast.

But even that story is disputed in some corners. Some say the Pilgrims weren’t expecting any Indians that day. If that’s true then the Wampanoag that came down the trail that morning were some of the first gate crashers!

The history of the White Puritan Settlers and the native tribes of America is complicated and punctuated with many wars and bloodshed. We were no kinder to the local population in the east than we were years later when we expanded to the West.

It’s a long, sad story but if you want to know about what really happened, here is a good resource for further reading. http://www.manataka.org/page269.html

Something to think about as Thanksgiving nears.

Happy Halloween

Posted on October 31, 2013October 31, 2013 by Dusty Roads

History of Halloween

Halloween is a holiday celebrated on the night of October 31. The word Halloween is a shortening of All Hallows’ Evening also known as Hallowe’en or All Hallows’ Eve.
Traditional activities include trick-or-treating, bonfires, costume parties, visiting “haunted houses” and carving jack-o-lanterns. Irish and Scottish immigrants carried versions of the tradition to North America in the nineteenth century. Other western countries embraced the holiday in the late twentieth century including Ireland, the United States, Canada, Puerto Rico and the United Kingdom as well as of Australia and New Zealand.

Halloween has its origins in the ancient Celtic festival known as Samhain (pronounced “sah-win”). The festival of Samhain is a celebration of the end of the harvest season in Gaelic culture. Samhain was a time used by the ancient pagans to take stock of supplies and prepare for winter. The ancient Gaels believed that on October 31, the boundaries between the worlds of the living and the dead overlapped and the deceased would come back to life and cause havoc such as sickness or damaged crops.

The festival would frequently involve bonfires. It is believed that the fires attracted insects to the area which attracted bats to the area. These are additional attributes of the history of Halloween.

Masks and costumes were worn in an attempt to mimic the evil spirits or appease them.

Trick-or-treating, is an activity for children on or around Halloween in which they proceed from house to house in costumes, asking for treats such as confectionery with the question, “Trick or treat?” The “trick” part of “trick or treat” is a threat to play a trick on the homeowner or his property if no treat is given. Trick-or-treating is one of the main traditions of Halloween. It has become socially expected that if one lives in a neighborhood with children one should purchase treats in preparation for trick-or-treaters.

The history of Halloween has evolved. The activity is popular in the United States, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Canada, and due to increased American cultural influence in recent years, imported through exposure to US television and other media, trick-or-treating has started to occur among children in many parts of Europe, and in the Saudi Aramco camps of Dhahran, Akaria compounds and Ras Tanura in Saudi Arabia. The most significant growth and resistance is in the United Kingdom, where the police have threatened to prosecute parents who allow their children to carry out the “trick” element. In continental Europe, where the commerce-driven importation of Halloween is seen with more skepticism, numerous destructive or illegal “tricks” and police warnings have further raised suspicion about this game and Halloween in general.

reprinted from HalloweenHistory.org

Now that you know a little of the history, remember that there are those people or individuals who take Halloween to a more sinister level. They use the pagan roots of the holiday as an excuse to torture and maim small animals, commonly black cats but also dogs, birds, rabbits and any other household pets. Please, to keep your pets safe, keep them indoors tonight, especially your black cats. Be a responsible pet owner and provide the safe haven they need.

Making Memories

Posted on December 17, 2012December 17, 2012 by Dusty Roads

Was there ever a girl alive that didn’t want to have a horse of her own at some point in her life? I sure don’t know of any, myself in included. I was lucky enough to live in the country and by hook and by crook managed to have 2 horses over the course of my teen years. JFK because of the brand on his flank (and affectionately called Jack) and Pepper, my Dad’s favorite.

But city life , even suburban life and the high cost of upkeep in that kind of environment makes it much harder for many young girls …(and boys) to realize those dreams. That’s why a tradition that a friend of mine has started in her neighborhood is such a wonderful memory maker.

It started with last year right around this time. My friend and her neighbors hired the big Clydesdale draught horses for a holiday hayride. They didn’t tell the kids last year, just let them see the wagon coming down the road with those big old horses clip clopping away. I’m told it was quite the hit. In fact it was so good that they decided to do it again this year. The only difference was that the kids knew the horses were coming this year.

I was privileged to be allowed to drop by and watch the event and get some pictures of the horses and wagon. I wasn’t prepared for the absolute joy and excitement of these kids. They were all ages and they were squealing and yelling and bouncing around! They saw those horses coming way before I could see them in the gathering dusk.

As the wagon pulled up the children raced to say hello to the horses and pet them before they climbed into the back of the wagon and began singing Jingle Bells at the tops of their young lungs. The horses and wagon made a loop around and came back for a 2nd load. By then it was getting quite dark but nothing dampened the kids’ spirits. It was beautiful to watch.

I hope these families continue this tradition in the coming years. It is really a “memory maker” and an experience that not every child gets to have. I can imagine these children being grown with their own families and reminiscing about the bonfire and the hayride they took as children and when it comes right down to it isn’t that what the holiday season is really about? Isn’t it about the love and traditions and making memories? It’s not about the IPADS or the American Girl dolls. Christmas or Hanukkah or Kwanza or Yule or whatever tradition you follow, aren’t the memories made more important than the material things that will soon be outgrown or tossed aside?

I don’t remember many of the presents I got over the years..maybe one or two…but I do remember things we did. Christmas Eve we watched the movie Amahl and the Night Visitors and while we were engrossed in that my parents snuck our presents under the tree from the “Florida” Santa, (Presents sent from family that lived there). Christmas morning was reserved for the presents from our immediate family.

After the movie we opened those Florida gifts then went to Midnight Mass. It always seemed to snow and driving home was always a slipping, sliding adventure but we always made it. Those are some of the memories of Christmases past that are so rich that I can smell the incense and remember the excitement.

It is my sincerest wish that these children will have this memory for a lifetime. That when they think back to their own Christmases past they will remember this adventure too because that would be all the more special! And that’s what Family and holidays are all about.