'Tis the Season to Be Grateful

Give Thanks, 29" x 21",  #6-, 8-, and 9-cut wool on linen. Crocheted edge of wool strips. Designed by Linda Pietz and hooked by Nola Heidbreder, St. Louis, Missouri, 2018.

Ask the average American what Thanksgiving is all about and you will probably get responses such as family, turkey, pumpkin pie, football, and Pilgrims. Few of us stop to think about the origins of this holiday.

The Pilgrims sacrificed everything they knew to sail to a new and strange land in order to worship God as they wanted rather than how the Church of England dictated. They were crammed below deck, through rough and stormy seas, as the Mayflower was blown off-course to Cape Cod. Scratching out a meager harvest, their first year was beset with hunger and disease. At one point, they were only allotted five kernels of corn per day. Roughly half of the original group succumbed to starvation and disease during that first year.