| Thanksgiving
Day in the United States is a holiday like no other: families
gather to celebrate and enjoy the blessings of this land of
freedom and plentitude. But to those of us who descend from
the original colonizing families of New Mexico, our special
day is April 30th. On April
30th four centuries ago, our ancestors, led by Don Juan
de Oñate, reached the banks of El Rio Bravo
(Rio Grande). The first recorded act of thanksgiving by
colonizing Europeans on this continent occurred on that
April day in 1598 in Nuevo Mexico, about 25 miles
south of what is now El Paso, Texas. After having begun
their northward trek in March of that same year, the entire
caravan was gathered at this point. The 400 person expedition
included soldiers, families, servants, personal belongings,
and livestock . . . virtually a living village. Two thirds
of the colonizers were from the Iberian Peninsula (Spain,
Portugal, and the Canary Islands). There was even one Greek
and a man from Flanders! The rest were Mexican Indians and
mestizos (mixed bloods).
The starting point for the colonists had
been in Zacatecas, Nueva España (now Mexico)
and by being part of the colonizing expedition they had
been promised the title of Hidalgo, men with rights
and privileges equal to Spain's nobility. Juan de Oñate
was a man of wealth and prominence, the son of Cristobal
Oñate, silver mine owner whose family had come to
the New World from the Basque region of Spain. Titles granted
to him by Viceroy Luis de Velasco were Governor and Adelantado
of New Mexico. The colonists suffered hardships and deprivations
as they headed north, but they were also headed toward posterity:
they would participate in the first recorded act of Thanksgiving
by colonizing Europeans on this continent—22 years
before the English colonists similarly gave thanks on the
Atlantic coast. The expedition is well recorded by Gaspar
Perez de Villagrá, the Spanish poet who traveled
with the group. He wrote, "We were sadly lacking in
all knowledge of the stars, the winds, and other knowledge
by which to guide our steps."
On April 30, 1598, the scouts made camp
along the Rio Grande and prepared to drink and eat their
fill, for there they found fishes and waterfowl. Villagrá
wrote,
"We built a great bonfire
and roasted meat and fish, and then sat down to a repast
the like of which we had never enjoyed before." Before
this bountiful meal, Don Juan de Oñate personally
nailed a cross to a living tree and prayed, "Open the
door to these heathens, establish the church altars where
the body and blood of the Son of God may be offered, open
to us the way to security and peace for their preservation
and ours, and give to our king and to me in his royal name,
peaceful possession of these kingdoms and provinces for
His blessed glory. Amen."
On April 30, many of us with roots in
New Mexico commemorate that first Thanksgiving, not with
"turkey and all the trimmings," but with the
knowledge that our ancestors helped settle and develop
this land—through tenacity, perseverance and deep
faith. It is partly through their contributions that America
was destined to become unique; providing freedom as well
as opportunity to all people wishing to come to its shores.
Happy Thanksgiving
Day!
Suggested reading:
The
Last Conquistador: Juan de Oñate and the Settling of
the Far Southwest, by Marc Simmons. University of
Oklahoma Press, 1991, pp. 97-101.
Don Juan de Oñate, Colonizer of New Mexico, 1595-1628,
by George P. Hammond and Agapito Rey. University of New Mexico
Press, 1953.
The above article is from the New
Mexico Genealogist, March 1999.
The
following article is from the
25 Nov 2002 issue of the Eastman Online Genealogy Newsletter.
http://www.eogn.com. It
has been reprinted here with the author's permission.
The First Thanksgiving
by Richard W. Eastman
Where was the first Thanksgiving held in
North America? If you guessed Plymouth, Massachusetts, guess
again.
On April 30, 1598, Spanish nobleman Don
Juan de Oñate and a group of settlers traveling northward
from Zacatecas, Nueva España (now Mexico), reached the banks
of El Rio Bravo (Rio Grande). The first recorded act of
thanksgiving by colonizing Europeans on this continent occurred
on that April day in 1598 in Nuevo Mexico, about 25 miles
south of what is now El Paso, Texas.
After having begun their northward trek
in March of that same year, the entire caravan was gathered
at this point. The 400-person expedition included soldiers,
families, servants, personal belongings, and livestock.
Two thirds of the colonizers were from the Iberian Peninsula
(Spain, Portugal, and the Canary Islands). There was even
one from Greece and another from Flanders. The rest were
Mexican Indians and mestizos (mixed bloods).
Pauline Chavez Bent has written an interesting
account of this first Thanksgiving, which you can read on
the New Mexico Genealogical Society's Web site at: http://www.nmgs.org/art1stThanks.htm.
Many Americans mistakenly believe that
the Pilgrims were the first to settle in this new land.
However, the following all preceded the Pilgrims of 1620:
- Several settlements and temporary villages
were established by the Vikings and possibly by the Irish
more than 1,000 years ago. None of the settlements survived.
In 1559, Tristan de Luna y Arellano led an attempt by
Europeans to colonize Florida. He established a settlement
at Pensacola Bay, but a series of misfortunes caused his
efforts to be abandoned after two years.
- Pedro Menéndez de Avilés arrived in
1565 at a place he called San Augustín (St. Augustine,
Florida) and established the first permanent European
settlement in what is now the United States.
- Spanish settlers mentioned earlier settled
in what is now the western tip of Texas and New Mexico
in the 1590s.
- In 1604, Samuel de Champlain, along
with Sieur de Mont, established what is now known as the
first Acadian settlement on the North American continent
on the Isle-of-St.-Croix, at St. Croix River near Calais,
Maine. After experiencing a harsh winter and extreme cold
on this small island, they moved their settlement into
the rich agricultural area of the Bay of Fundy, which
subsequently became known as Acadia. The permanent French
colony of Port Royal was established in 1605.
- The islands of St. Pierre and Miquelon
were colonized by France in 1604. The colony survived
and still exists today on these tiny islands ten miles
south of Newfoundland, Canada. The islands still belong
to France. Many people today are unaware that France still
has territory in North America.
- In 1607, some 100 men and boys sailed
from England and landed in present-day Virginia and founded
Jamestown. They found a hostile environment that probably
would have destroyed the colony but for the resourcefulness
of Captain John Smith, who managed to organize and motivate
the settlers and save them from starvation.
- In 1608 Samuel de Champlain established
what is now known as Quebec City.
With several colonies already established
prior to the Pilgrims' later arrival in 1620, one can assume
that others also celebrated an occasional thanksgiving feast.
The only surviving record of such a feast,
however, is the one in 1598 by Don Juan de Oñate and his
group of Spanish settlers.
Comments to Richard Eastman: Visit the
newsletter message board at http://www.eogn.com
and click on "Message Board."
Comments and feedback to this article
on the NMGS web site: write to info@nmgs.org.
See also feedback to
online articles from NMGS readers.
Found on the Eastman Message Board:
|
"It is good to know about the 1598 celebration. Seems like I have heard that before. Again, the Pilgrims and their followers were champion promoters. I still like the prayer at Berkeley, Virginia as a more thankful one. Good luck New Mexico. You have an uphill battle against all the classrooms in our great (but not always correct) country."
Posted by: Darrell Davis | December 06, 2004