August 1, 2002

• Hey Ya'll -

  
  

  Well, I glanced back through Plymouth Plantation to see if I could find a reference to Yorel's ancestor.  I didn't find him mentioned directly, but there was a funny incident that I thought I'd share.  The Pilgrims who formed the passengers of the Mayflower and founded Plymouth colony didn't believe in the observance of Christmas.  (Because they knew that Dec 25 wasn't the actual birthdate of Jesus, they felt it was an inappropriate appropriatrion of a pagan tradition.)  The next group of people to join the colony used this as an excuse to avoid working one day.  They told the Pilgrim colonists that their conscience demanded that they observe Christmas instead of cutting wood.  But when the Governor of the colony returned home unexpectedly to find them playing ball in the street, he confiscated their athletic equipment and told them it was an offense to his conscience that they were playing while others were working to feed and house them.  He suggested that a day of sober fasting would be a more fitting observance of the holy day. 

  
  

  Based on the other information that Yorel shared, I don't think that his ancestor would have been among the slackers.  He mentioned that his ancestor arrived provisionless when the supply ship that was supposed to be preceeding him had to turn back due to foul weather and taking on water.  The people who arrived on that ship came several months after the Christmas incident.

  • 5:45 pm
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