It’s getting colder and the virus is still spreading. Hundreds of
thousands of people are dead. It’s 399 years later, and Thanksgiving
has changed less than you might have have hoped.
When the English arrived in what is now Massachusetts they found the
Wampanoag devastated by smallpox:
The people not many, being dead and abundantly wasted in the late
great mortality which fell in all these parts about three years before
the coming of the English, wherein thousands of them died,
they not being able to bury one another; their skulls and bones were
found in many places lying still above ground, where their houses and
dwellings had been; a very sad spectacle to behold.
—Of
Plymouth Plantation, Bradford.
Smallpox was still spreading, however, and later he writes (warning:
gore):
This spring, also, those Indians that lived about
their trading house there fell sick of the small pox,
and died most miserably; for a sorer disease cannot
befall them; they fear it more then the
plague; for usually they that have this disease have them in
abundance, and for want of bedding and lining and other helps, they
fall into a lamentable condition, as they lie on their hard mats, the
pox breaking and mattering, and running one into another, their skin
cleaving (by reason thereof) to the mats they lie on; when they turn
them, a whole side will flay off at once, (as it were) and they will
be all of a gore blood, most fearful to behold; and then being very
sore, what with could and other distempers, they die like rotten
sheep. The condition of this people was so lamentable, and they fell
down so generally of this disease, as they were (in the end) not able
to help on another; no, not to make a fire, nor to fetch a little
water to drink, nor any to bury the dead; but would strive as long as
they could, and when they could procure no other means to make fire,
they would burn the wooden trays and dishes they ate their meat in,
and their very bows and arrows; and some would crawl out on all fours
to get a little water, and sometimes die by the way, and not be able
to get in again.
But those of the
English house, (though at first they were afraid of the infection),
yet seeing their woeful and sad condition, and hearing their pitiful
cries and lamentations, they had compassion of them, and daily
fetched them wood and water, and made them fires, got them victualls
whilst they lived, and buried them when they died. For very few of
them escaped, notwithstanding they did what they could for them, to
the hazard of them elves. The chief Sachem himself now died, and
almost all his friends and kindred. But by the marvelous goodness and
providences of God not one of the English was so much as sick, or in
the least measure tainted with this disease, though they daily did
these offices for them for many weeks together. And this mercy which
they showed them was kindly taken, and thankfully acknowledged of all
the Indians that knew or heard of the same.
The path of smallpox through the people of the Americas is one of the
greatest tragedies of history, not only in how it killed so many and
so brutally, but also in how it left the people so vulnerable to the
English and other Europeans. The story above, with some of the
English trying to help their neighbors through smallpox, feels a lot
like how we generally celebrate Thanksgiving: a positive episode in a
history that is, overall, shameful.
We are incredibly lucky that the virus we are fighting today is so
much less lethal, and our medical care so much better. Still, at
this stage where we have multiple promising vaccine candidates and the
end is visible, it is even more important that we not give up. We
cannot afford to celebrate Thanksgiving as we’ve done traditionally:
indoors, in large groups, talking over a long meal, after traveling a
long way to spend a holiday in close proximity with a different group
of people from our regular contacts.
If your family is pressuring you to travel, the
CDC recommendations may be helpful. We won’t be gathering around
a big table with our extended family this year, precisely because
being able to do so is so important and we don’t want to trade one
year now for many in the future.
Figuring out how to celebrate in a way that makes sense for you and
your family is tricky, however, and is going to vary by your personal
situation. We’re planning to have Thanksgiving with our household,
and possibly one other person who had covid in April. For someone who
lived alone, things might feel pretty different. We’re also probably
going to take a masked and socially distanced walk with our relatives
who live in the area, and I think outdoor activities are generally
underrated.
Thanksgiving and Covid
Link post
It’s getting colder and the virus is still spreading. Hundreds of thousands of people are dead. It’s 399 years later, and Thanksgiving has changed less than you might have have hoped.
When the English arrived in what is now Massachusetts they found the Wampanoag devastated by smallpox:
Smallpox was still spreading, however, and later he writes (warning: gore):
The path of smallpox through the people of the Americas is one of the greatest tragedies of history, not only in how it killed so many and so brutally, but also in how it left the people so vulnerable to the English and other Europeans. The story above, with some of the English trying to help their neighbors through smallpox, feels a lot like how we generally celebrate Thanksgiving: a positive episode in a history that is, overall, shameful.We are incredibly lucky that the virus we are fighting today is so much less lethal, and our medical care so much better. Still, at this stage where we have multiple promising vaccine candidates and the end is visible, it is even more important that we not give up. We cannot afford to celebrate Thanksgiving as we’ve done traditionally: indoors, in large groups, talking over a long meal, after traveling a long way to spend a holiday in close proximity with a different group of people from our regular contacts.
If your family is pressuring you to travel, the CDC recommendations may be helpful. We won’t be gathering around a big table with our extended family this year, precisely because being able to do so is so important and we don’t want to trade one year now for many in the future.
Figuring out how to celebrate in a way that makes sense for you and your family is tricky, however, and is going to vary by your personal situation. We’re planning to have Thanksgiving with our household, and possibly one other person who had covid in April. For someone who lived alone, things might feel pretty different. We’re also probably going to take a masked and socially distanced walk with our relatives who live in the area, and I think outdoor activities are generally underrated.