In 1636 during the Thirty Years War--one of the worst wars in the history of mankind in terms of the sheer number of deaths, epidemics, the economic results--there was a godly pastor whose name was Martin Rinkert. In a single year, this pastor buried 5,000 people in his parish--about fifteen a day. He lived with the worst that life could do.
But if you look in your hymnal, you'll find that in the middle of that time, he wrote a table grace for his children, our thanksgiving hymn:

"Now thank we all our God
With hearts and hands and voices,
Who wondrous things has done,
In whom his world rejoices."

If I'd spent the year holding 5,000 funerals of the people I served, could I write for my children a song of thanksgiving? It's an unusual thing that in history many who have the least to thank God about thank him the most.

– Joel Gregory, "The Unlikely Thanker," Preaching Today

This is part 4 of a number of facts associated with THANKSGIVING. This is an all American holiday. Although the US and Canada celebrate the day on different dates, the purpose is the same.

Even more first Thanksgivings:

Don Juan de Oñate was the son of a noble Spanish family. His wife was the grand-daughter of Cortéz and the great-grand-daughter of Moctezuma. Don Juan de Oñate led the first major colonization effort into what is now the United States. He began his journey in January of 1598. The expedition was made up of more than 400 men. 130 of these men had their families with them. Several Franciscans also traveled with the colonizers. Their possessions were packed into 83 ox-drawn, wooden-wheeled wagons and carts, and with 7000-8000 horses, oxen, sheep, goats and cattle, they formed a four-mile long procession through the desert.

The journey began in Santa Barbara, Mexico, south of Chihuahua and carved a new and shorter trail through the desert north of El Paso. The expedition plodded through the hot and torturous desert for more than four months. Supplies were low and the colonists were often forced to eat roots and berries, drink water from the occasional water holes or from cactus and other plants. The weary and ragged travelers arrived at the banks of the Rio Grande on April 20, 1598.

The river was indeed a beautiful and refreshing sight. For ten days they refreshed themselves, drinking their fill of water, swimming in the deep cool waters of the Rio Grande, and resting in the shade of the giant cottonwoods. They hunted, fished, and ate as they had not done in months. On April 30, Don Juan ordered all to put on their best clothes and to gather for a thanksgiving. He memorialized the occasion with a proclamation (La Toma) that claimed the land for the King of Spain. A play (the first in America?) was created and presented depicting their success.

The day following the feast the colonists began the last lap of their journey toward a new life. It took them four days to arrive at the Rio Grande crossing near what is now downtown El Paso and another four months to reach their final destination north of present day Santa Fe.

OK – Yesterday and today several examples of early Thanksgivings in the New World were presented. Why don't we hear much about these celebrations? Perhaps it is because they were not English speaking settlers.  Tomorrow we look at several more "First Thanksgivings," from English colonists.