December 12, 2000
By Ken Flynn
El Paso Times
Just when we think we've heard all the challenges possible from the state of Florida, comes a new one.
From the land of the pregnant chads we hear the claim that St. Augustine, not Plymouth, Mass., or El Paso, Texas, is home of the first Thanksgiving in what is now the United States.
The basis of the claim is a recent book, "Cross and Crozier," which documents the celebration of a special Mass of Thanksgiving Sept. 8, 1565, in St. Augustine. The St. Augustine diocese thus holds bragging rights for the celebration of the first Roman Catholic liturgy in a continually occupied territory.
But the First Thanksgiving in the United States? Was their celebration a sit-down-invite-the-Indians-feed-your-face banquet, a la the traditional holiday we celebrate the fourth Thursday of November?
Researchers say it was not.
They say conquistador Pedro Menéndez dined with members of the St. Augustine expedition after the Mass and sent a gift of food to the Indians.
The priests in the Don Juan de Oñate expedition celebrated Mass in a makeshift chapel under a tree on the banks of the Rio Grande on April 30, 1598. It was the Roman Catholic Feast of the Ascension. Mass was solemn, sung and probably long, since it included a sermon.
The secular fiesta that followed, although never comparable to a Mass, also was impressive. One of the conquistadors, Marcos Farfàn de los Godos, wrote a play, performed by soldiers under a shade tree on the banks of the Rio Grande. It was a comedy-drama depicting how easy it would be for the Franciscans to convert the Indians. How wrong he was.
And how wrong of us to think there would not be claims of earlier thanksgivings.
Already, the Diocese of Pensacola in Florida's Panhandle is claiming to be the site for the celebration of an earlier Mass. Others are digging into their history in such unlikely places as Georgia and North Carolina.
Our own bishop, Armando X. Ochoa, must surely be proud to hear of the long history of the Catholic presence in the United States. While this quiet, gentle, ecumenical, peace-loving man is staying out of the historical wars, he does offer condolences of sorts to those of us who still hang on to our First Thanksgiving in El Paso.
The important thing to remember, the bishop said, was that these explorers took time to thank God. And that's all that matters.
Nobody, not Fray Marco de Niza in 1539, nor the priests with the Coronado expedition in 1540, or anyone in Florida can ever match, in detail, the account of the Thanksgiving on the banks of the Rio Grande in 1598, El Paso historians say.
The traditional thanksgiving in November is a holiday worthy of all of us. Would that we all look into our own community histories and celebrate a second day of thanksgiving. It could be a day of reconciliation. Native Americans were here first. They welcomed the newcomers and helped them survive, showing their hospitality in a myriad of ways.
When the European settlers needed the Indians, they were trusted allies. When they were no longer part of the balance of power, they were systematically cheated out of their lands, betrayed and executed.
When you stop and think about it, neither we, nor Massachusetts nor Florida have anything really to celebrate. Except an opportunity to make things better in the future.
Reporter Ken Flynn covers the Lower Valley for the Times.
And don't forget they took our names away and our native language and most people who carry spanish sur names in el paso and of native american pigmentation don't even know anything about their native roots which would include their native names, language,religious, pratices,etc. We were stripped of our identity by the europeans !
Posted by: miner football | November 27, 2009 at 01:52 PM
And the the natives of the land conquered it from other natives, stripping them too of their land, language, and identities.
But the tables are turning. Unchecked immigration has led to the stripping of Western European ideas and principles, and, as a result, much of America is slowly being transformed into a place where Spanish surnames are the most common. The Western European quality of life is also eroding, being replaced by the third-world standard enjoyed by the majority of the world's Spanish-speaking countries.
I suppose it's a shame that the old, native ways of life are gone. The times when the average life expectancy was below 40, and nearly half of children died before reaching adulthood. The constant fighting between tribes, and the cruel treatment of those captured by enemy tribes, forced to live as slaves if they weren't killed outright.
In time, at the current rate, America too will become a third-world country. Then where will our Spanish-speaking immigrants go? It's a long swim to China.
For those who care, I myself am a "Native-American". But I'm not a stupid one.
Posted by: Sangetsu | November 27, 2009 at 06:37 PM
yep, i liked the ways of wearing the loin cloth and but-flap.
Posted by: hickspanic | November 28, 2009 at 10:10 AM