HANGING OUT IN BETHLEHEM

Dear Friends...out there somewhere....it means a lot that some of you are so far away...even in Russia, South Africa ....and somehow we are making contact.

Loretta is a Humes High friend I haven't mentioned before. We graduated (along with Larry, Beanie, Carmine, and Dorothea) in 1951.

She called me yesterday to relate an experience she had last Christmas Eve...and has been hesitant to share sooner because it sounds so weird.

Anyway, Loretta had a rich husband  who left her more money than all of the rest of us girls have put together!! She has one son, a daughter in-law she is constantly irritated by, and two darling granddaughters. 

It is Loretta's custom to attend Christmas Eve Candlelight service at _____Episcopal Church.  The two girls (6 and 8) went with her last year, and one put her coat over her head during the entire service. 

Loretta was so irritated and said so as they left the church.
                          

On top of that her maid had said she couldn't help at the Christmas Day Open House. She wanted to spend Christmas with her own family.

"Girls, can you beat that? And after all I have done for her...why, I gave her a fortune worth of my old clothes only recently. And then your mother, you would think she would help...but noooo, not her!"

They went out to the Mercedes  and got in...as Loretta scolded Marcy for misbehaving during the service.

Marcy said," Well, when all the choir members started down the aisle with all those candles burning I thought the place would catch on fire...anyway, it all was so boring!!"

It was dark already. They drove along and suddenly the five year old, Sue, started crying that she was hungry and wanted to get a hamburger or something." Marcy turned on the radio very loud. TURN THAT RADIO DOWN!!!!Loretta was totally exasperated!!! 

Then the car started sputtering....then it quit running, as Loretta pulled off to the side of the road.

"I can't even find my cell phone....Do either of you girls have  it?"

Marcy said that she could see a sign...maybe someone here could help.

The old weather beaten sign read --TH--L--HEM...letters were missing. They decided there really was no town here any longer. It was so dark...but they thought they heard something ahead...and being three of them, they decided to get out of the car and look.

Although it was dark they saw some old buildings there.  Maybe a power outage...no electric lights.

                            

 In the moonlight they saw a man walking along with a girl riding on a donkey....Marcy said that the girl looked like she was going to have a baby.

They noticed the couple wore peculiar clothes for today, more like robes... 

Marci said that the man looked like a hippy with long hair and sandals. 

The man walked into a building then returned shaking his head "no."  They seemed to be going further and walked toward a building that looked like a barn.

"What should we do, Granny Loretta? Can we help them?" ventured Sue and Marci almost in unison.

Loretta couldn't bring herself to leave and suggested they wait.
Then suddenly in a distance they heard beautiful singing coming from the heavens and a very bright light which settled on that barn.
                                 

Then they heard a loud voice which seemed to be talking to people out in the field..but the girls and their grandmother could not make out what was being said..
                         

"LOOK!" Marci whispered..."Look at those men coming down the street...should we be afraid?"  These hippy looking men were also in robes. They were in town to see something?  and headed toward the barn.  The bright light seemed to be hovering there. 

"I am the smallest, nobody will even notice me." So Sue ran along the side of the road out of sight and followed the men. Then Marci did the same.

Loretta was frozen...didn't even yell for them to come back...not knowing what to say or do.

In a little while the girls returned. "It was so beautiful, Granny Loretta,  The young girl was holding her new born baby and the men were bowing in front of them. We did too...couldn't help ourselves. We did too!!!"


                     

They went back to the sign...it was gone. Then returned to the dark town...it was gone also.

"What has just happened??? Was that the baby Jesus? Was that Bethlehem?" 

They stood together silently for a moment then started laughing and hugging each other. When they got back to the car, the motor miraculously started up. Marci turned on the radio, up very loud and they all sang  loudly  JOY TO THE WORLD together with a rock sounding group on the air.

Maybe you don't believe Loretta's story. Knowing me, you know I do.
MERRY CHRISTMAS~~!!

*******************************************************feel free to write me at old7lady9blogger80@gmail.com
after all, we ARE friends! Love annie in memphis

LEAF DANCE by WILLIAM BENJAMIN BREWER (1933-2012)

                             

    Catalpa's full of yellow leaf
And of these two,
One beside the other,
Enter into frantic dance
Their heavy-hanging peers
Remain without a quiver
As they view this pas de deux,
Bold and unexpected.

    At length beyond the trunk
Another leaf has heard the tune
From magic harp so far away.
This leaf then starts a copy,
Emulation as best he could
Of those two dancers' step.
But soon as if embarrassed
By ineptitude,
The convert halts
And then hangs down a leafy head.

    In autumnal hills beyond
The mystic music stops
As suddenly as when the dance began
Throughout the leaf community 
Those that neither danced
Nor ever celebrated,
Those that gave as evidences
Of hearing rhythm from afar
By the thousands hung
Content as ever without motion.
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I found this poem written in pen and ink in a loose leaf notebook, which I didn't even know about until after Ben died on Good Friday, 2012.. I love them and am happy to share them with you. with love, annie in memphis
I wish I could have found a photo of leaves dancing, but I know you can imagine them....
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HANGING OUT WITH FOOD AND FUN!! Nov. 1621

                                       FOOD AND FUN

Nov 1621.
                                    



This lovely painting doesn't show 90 Indians and 53 Pilgrims. But it is so sweet and it points out the outdoor setting because there wasn't a building large enough for all the participants.


             
There was a high table where the leaders of the Pilgrims and Indians sat.

The people at the Thanksgiving (they called Harvest) festival used knives and spoons to eat. They had no forks. We ate with our hands. If there were bones encountered, we spat them on the ground.  There was an abundance of food and it was hot. It was cooked over an open fire.  I stood in the background watching until I saw my new friends sit down and they motioned me over.  

We drank water, fruity juices and cider; there was a scarce amount of alcohol. I drank cider and found it very pleasing.

Yes, there was turkey but no cornbread dressing and gravy.



WE ate a little turkey, but mostly venison, grouse, duck, seafood. Lobster and swans. There was even bass. sweet potatos  but no pumpkin pie. Priscilla said they were too low on sugar and flour to make pies.  But I especially liked the roasted squash and with the sweet fruits, it was a delightful meal. Tray after tray was brought out full of hot food. We had corn porridge and dishes made of cabbage and onion.  No bread or butter. But the enthusiasm for the food could not have been greater.And just watching everyone digging in made me dig in too!!

                             THEN CAME THE FUN

There was a lot of singing. I did not recognize a single song. But obviously singing was important to the Pilgrims because they knew all the words and sang out with gusto!!

 The children occupied themselves playing games.  The  Wampanoag children taught the Pilgrim children how to play the pin game, in which the objective was to toss a ring onto a pin. They also played things like blind man's bluff and tag.  Games like hide-and-seek and leapfrog may were also part of the entertainment. It was wonderful watching the children having so much fun together.

to celebrate the harvest, both the Pilgrims and the Indians danced and sang during the celebration. Women danced the jig and sang hymns.

 Men competed in target shooting...Indians with their bows and arrows and Pilgrims with their muskets.

Men practiced marching in formation and showed the Indians the "exercising of the arms," an activity in which they marched in formation and fired their muskets. 

The Wampanoag put on their own display of dancing and chanting for the Pilgrims.

There was so much that was interesting to see that I scarcely knew which direction to look. But for sure I felt a mood of joy and thanksgiving to their merciful Lord who had brought them through. I felt the same way!!

The celebration would last several days. But when time came for everyone to turn in, there was no place for me to sleep. So I decided to slip away, knowing no one would even remember I was there.

So I pulled on the rope and came back to the present day. I was feeling so good to have celebrated the first Thanksgiving as an l8 year old. And now I wish you all in 2012 a...HAPPY THANKSGIVING.  
                                      

.
By the way, the people I saw for the most part wore colorful clothes and did not have silver buckles on their shoes....at least that is how I remember it...But I think the pictures are cute anyway.

vv


love, annie in memphis

                    

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HANGING OUT WITH FRIENDLY INDIANS, Nov. 1621

November, 1621


  Before the feast began I had an opportunity to talk with: Mary Chilton (14), Constance Hopkins (13 or 14), Priscilla Mullins (19), Elizabeth Tilley (14 or15).
Soon they were needed to help the women bring out the food. I noticed that there were many more Wampanoag Indians ...90...than there were Pilgrims...53. Their chief Maisasoit was there also. 

Four Pilgrim men had gone out and killed enough fowl to
last three days.  Turkeys were also caught.The Indians brought deer to add to the feast. It is believed that Maisasoit and the Wampanoage Indians kept the Pilgrims from starving during those early years.

Squanto,  from Patuxet tribe, was most helpful in teaching the Pilgrims after the first winter. He taught the pilgrims to plant corn. 

He had learned English while he was captured one time, but that is another story. 

Priscilla pointed him out sitting with Pilgrims and other Indians waiting to eat. I knew from history that Squanto would die at 37; and it was sad knowing that, as I looked at him.



Although the Indians and Pilgrims couldn't understand each other, it was amazing how well they got along.  



   Happily, nobody seemed to think it was odd that I was there soaking it all in. But this is MY DREAM, after all!!!

 
In the next entry I will share what I remember about the entertainment and the feast.
Til then, love, annie in memphis
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HANGING OUT WITH PILGRIMS November 1621

Well, dear Friends, out there...I often think of you and wonder who and where you are...but enjoy knowing strangers read my blog.

 I have decided it might take the rest of my life to finish DON QUIXOTE. So as I was contemplating the chapter XXII, when Don Quixote was lowered by rope down into a cave...and while resting on a crevice he had a dream or an awake experience. I found myself being lowered into  past history to 1621; then I had a dream or an awake experience hanging out with Pilgrims. It was so amazing. I did not go to Plymouth as the old lady I am today but as a 18 year old girl. I  hoped to spend the whole three days of festivities there (as Don Quixote spent three days in the Montesinos cave.) 

Once I opened my eyes in Plymouth I was thrilled at  being present at the first Thanksgiving. I did not hear anyone use the word Thanksgiving but Harvest Celebration Day.

The Thanksgiving meal had not been served yet, when I arrived. 
I found myself in conversation with Priscilla Mullins. 

Around 19 years old, she was so pretty and yet so strong. Life had been hard since she first set sail on the Mayflower. The trip was arduous; people were seasick. The ship was dark. It stank. The ship was not comfortable for passengers because it was actually a cargo ship used to transport wine. 
They arrived in December  and then during a devastating winter of  bitter cold and snow, half the members who arrived died from sickness. Priscilla was the only one of her family who lived through it. As she shared her life with me, there was nothing self pitying about her.I asked her where she lived since her family died. She answered that she lived with several families. So she had no definite home....

I asked Priscilla if she had any duties. She said that she spun wool and flax, taught children and helped with the cooking. For the Harvest Feast she plucked the fowl and got covered in feathers before the job was done!!

I told Priscilla that I thought we were having a Thanksgiving Day celebration.

 She said that this was a Harvest Day celebration the way they had back in England at the end of harvest. She said they had such a big harvest their leaders wanted them to do this. 

Priscilla continued, "Of course we are a religious people and are very  thankful. But this particular event is more like a party
with games, secular songs and feasting." 

I didn't tell Priscilla that in 2012 Americans still remember it as the first Thanksgiving in our country!!! 

She could not know that 242 years later a president named Abraham Lincoln would declare a day of Thanksgiving as a regular holiday for our country along with Christmas. Even though the Civil War was going on, he wanted us to give "Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the Heavens." 


We stood outdoors talking. The feasting and fun and games would take place outdoors. I can't tell you how moved I was to be there. 

 While we were talking other girls walked up to us. One was Mary Chilton, in her mid teens, thought to be first passenger  to set foot ashore from the Mayflower.

Interesting that I heard that handsome John Alden was the first to step ashore. Who knows? 

I was so glad to meet her. Then came Constance Hopkins. Her half brother was the only baby born on the Mayflower!! She and Mary were younger than Priscilla and me. But life had given them more maturity than you would expect from their years. With Constance was Elizabeth Tilley. She also lost her parents, an uncle and aunt during that bitter winter. She was taken in by the Carver family. I heard there was a teen age servant girl, Dorothy; but I did not get a chance to meet her.

There were some teenage boys, but I only saw them and didn't have conversation with anyone except the girls.


 I knew already what they could not know in the future.. I had read from history that they all would marry and have large families. These girls would live roughly to the age I am now.

Of course one marriage was most famous because of the Longfellow poem. Everyone knows Priscilla married John Alden. He did not talk with us. But I admired him from afar  as he stood and talked with some other men.
                                

If Priscilla was already in love with him I could not tell. 

John Alden was a Mayflower cooper and was only hired for a year; but he decided to stay on in this new place...and the rest is, well "history!"

  
Of course Priscilla could not yet know about this house where she and John would live one day.

I enjoyed being young again. I was about to start my freshman year in college, and Priscilla could not read!! Yet she was so much wiser than I ever have been or will be.  

The girls left to help the adult women to start bringing out the food. I looked around and saw there were more Indians there than Pilgrims. There were only about 53 Pilgrims left.  There was a general feeling of good will between the two groups. I didn't talk with anyone except the teenage girls so far.

THE 53 PILGRIMS AT THE FIRST THANKSGIVING :

4 MARRIED WOMEN : Eleanor Billington, Mary Brewster, Elizabeth Hopkins, Susanna White Winslow.
5 ADOLESCENT GIRLS : Mary Chilton (14), Constance Hopkins (13 or 14), Priscilla Mullins (19), Elizabeth Tilley (14 or15) and Dorothy, the Carver's unnamed maidservant, perhaps 18 or 19.
9 ADOLESCENT BOYS : Francis & John Billington, John Cooke, John Crackston, Samuel Fuller (2d), Giles Hopkins, William Latham, Joseph Rogers, Henry Samson.
13 YOUNG CHILDREN : Bartholomew, Mary & Remember Allerton, Love & Wrestling Brewster, Humility Cooper, Samuel Eaton, Damaris & Oceanus Hopkins, Desire Minter, Richard More, Resolved & Peregrine White.
22 MEN : John Alden, Isaac Allerton, John Billington, William Bradford, William Brewster, Peter Brown, Francis Cooke, Edward Doty, Francis Eaton, [first name unknown] Ely, Samuel Fuller, Richard Gardiner, John Goodman, Stephen Hopkins, John Howland, Edward Lester, George Soule, Myles Standish, William Trevor, Richard Warren, Edward Winslow, Gilbert Winslow.

William Bradford, Of Plimoth Plantation :
In the original 17th century spelling
"They begane now to gather in ye small harvest they had, and to fitte up their houses and dwellings against winter, being all well recovered in health & strenght, and had all things in good plenty; fFor as some were thus imployed in affairs abroad, others were excersised in fishing, aboute codd, & bass, & other fish, of which yey tooke good store, of which every family had their portion. All ye somer ther was no want.  And now begane to come in store of foule, as winter approached, of which this place did abound when they came first (but afterward decreased by degrees).  And besids water foule, ther was great store of wild Turkies, of which they tooke many, besids venison, &c. Besids, they had about a peck a meale a weeke to a person, or now since harvest, Indean corn to yt proportion.  Which made many afterwards write so largly of their plenty hear to their freinds in England, which were not fained,  but true reports."

In my next blog entry I will tell you about the Indians who came to the first Thanksgiving celebration. I was just fascinated as I watched these 90 men so different from the Pilgrims in many ways.
.love, annie in memphis


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