As October ends we await two weeks of warm weather with anticipation so that the crops can be harvested to prepare for winter. It is called "Indian Summer." This event has been taking place for hundreds of years, and to think how we have taken it for granted!
Visit SoBoBo! View the new exhibit that is vibrant in color and creates the excitement and anticipation as we await Indian Summer's arrival. Let's celebrate our thanks by giving a gift that can last forever. . .acceptance.
Before we had refrigerators and freezers the harvested foods would be "canned" in jars, pickled, and/or dried - not freeze dried - dried by hanging them in the attic where heat rose from below drying out the foods. A root cellar was used to keep certain foods from drying out and going bad, perhaps the true first refrigerator since a root cellar is underground and is always cold.
The Native Americans who were here first in North America knew of this event and without hesitation would automatically harvest their crops and prepare them for the winter months so that they will be able to survive over the winter bearing the frigid weather.
When the Pilgrims had landed in New England for the first time, they had no idea what they were about to experience. Meeting the Native Americans was truly a blessing for they had taught the Pilgrims their ways of growing and harvesting of their crops and how to prepare them for the bitter winters.
It is said that at the end of the Harvest, a gathering would take place giving thanks for the blessing that was bestowed on them. The blessing of the Native American friends who taught the new people the ways to live in the new land. The blessing that the survivors of the voyage from England had landed safely on the new soil. The blessing of the Harvest for all to share in preparing for the bitter winter ahead.
Thanksgiving was born in remembrance of this wonderful event! And "the White Man" had given the name "Indian Summer" to give distinction in the change of weather and in the understanding of a wondrous event each year. Isn't it wondrous how Mother Nature works?! A two week thaw in the winter also takes place which allows the snow and ice on the mountains to melt, flowing towards the lakes, reservoirs, rivers, ponds - this in turn gives water that is needed for all living things.
As anticipation builds during the Season(s) of Giving we think about visiting relatives, preparing and cooking Thanksgiving dinner, eating pumpkin pie, having the time off from work and/or school and yes of course - the first day of Holiday shopping!
But yet, some of us will be giving thanks that our fathers, brothers, sisters, mothers, cousins, uncles and aunts have come home from the Iraq War or from Afghanistan ALIVE. Some of us will be celebrating the continuance of life because of being healed from a sickness, or have finally gone into remission. Some of us will be hopelessly jubilant as we learn of being pregnant, getting engaged or married. Some of us will be thankful for the job we have finally attained after being unemployed, no matter how menial it is. Some of us will be thankful that unemployment hasn't run out and we still have food on our tables and a roof over our heads.
No matter how slight or overwhelming our reasons for being thankful are they should always be recognized as achievements and gratitude should always be humbly made.
We should, however, remember the Native Americans who actually had given the gift of life to the Pilgrims through teaching, sharing and helping. The Native Americans should not be shunned for being different because they after all, have made a difference in our lives. Perhaps we should be humbled by their first gesture of friendship knowing it was a gesture of acceptance, to live in harmony with the new strangers who had entered their world.
We need to recognize that Thanksgiving is truly more than just our own little worlds we live in. It is definitely within the "grander scheme of things" whether we want to realize it or not. So pass on the anticipation and the excitement of the upcoming Holiday by giving it forward to those near and dear to you and even those you pass along the way....for one never knows when a gesture of acceptance just might save a life. . .
Enjoy the warmth of Indian Summer as we prepare for the winter months and anticipate the excitement of Thanksgiving! Many Blessings!!
