My Thanksgiving message

I recall many hunts of the past this evening as I sit in my rocking chair with my companion gun dog Brittanys at my side. The cold front has arrived which I think is apropos for our country’s Thanksgiving. My desire to light the fire in our fireplace is welling up inside me. It IS the season that hunters cherish most.

Many times my family has enjoyed the bounty of the upland harvest in our home. Those memories will forever remain imprinted in my mind. I am sure we will have more, God willing. The ‘thanks’ is what is important to me.

Thanksgiving of the distant past … were about mutual thanks. While I’m no historian I do know that it was a time that our forefathers harvested the bounty of the land and shared with others, thankful for the harvest.

I am a firm believer in remembering the past. I found this quote on the net.

“First Thanksgiving
In 1621, the Plymouth colonists and Wampanoag Indians shared an autumn harvest feast which is acknowledged today as one of the first Thanksgiving celebrations in the colonies. This harvest meal has become a symbol of cooperation and interaction between English colonists and Native Americans. Although this feast is considered by many to the very first Thanksgiving celebration, it was actually in keeping with a long tradition of celebrating the harvest and giving thanks for a successful bounty of crops. Native American groups throughout the Americas, including the Pueblo, Cherokee, Creek and many others organized harvest festivals, ceremonial dances, and other celebrations of thanks for centuries before the arrival of Europeans in North America.

Historians have also recorded other ceremonies of thanks among European settlers in North America, including British colonists in Berkeley Plantation, Virginia. At this site near the Charles River in December of 1619, a group of British settlers led by Captain John Woodlief knelt in prayer and pledged “Thanksgiving” to God for their healthy arrival after a long voyage across the Atlantic. This event has been acknowledged by some scholars and writers as the official first Thanksgiving among European settlers on record. Whether at Plymouth, Berkeley Plantation, or throughout the Americas, celebrations of thanks have held great meaning and importance over time. The legacy of thanks, and particularly of the feast, have survived the centuries as people throughout the United States gather family, friends, and enormous amounts of food for their yearly Thanksgiving meal.“

This explanation makes me think of the annual harvest festival in my little town located in eastern Montana. It is exactly as described. About cooperation and interaction of the townspeople, area farmers and ranchers. One rancher broke his neck earlier in the year and local farmers and ranchers rallied by cutting, bailing and storing some 900 round bails of hay so that his cattle could make it through the cold Montana winter. That’s Americana at its finest. What a wonderful bounty they shared at the harvest festival.

Our free society is truly something to be thankful for. I thank the Veterans who fought for our freedom, especially those who made the ultimate sacrifice. Yes, gas is high, housing markets are volatile but in the end, we ARE better off then our ancestors who’s average live expectancy was quite young.

I thank God for the Brittany, French or American. I am thankful that the Brittany is part of the tradition that includes sharing the experience afield as we harvest our quarry.

Many of us have a long standing tradition of sharing Thanksgiving with our families then heading off for a hunt in pursuit of upland game with our Brittanys. Cold weather, frost bitten cheeks, speech marked with the fog of cold air, numb fingers as we tightly grip our freezing cold shotgun, thermos, kennel, Brittany, all together comprise just a part of our traditional hunt. I can think of no better way to celebrate Thanksgiving then by being in the great outdoors building warm memories with friends, family and our Brittanys.

This time of year is God sent IMHO. It’s a time that reminds us to be thankful for our heritage, our families, friends and our Brittanys.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Dave